I have to say, I enjoyed this. Part of it is just how good Tamora Pierce is at world-building (I'm a particular fan of the Stormwings, and I'm also partial to the book's depiction of crows). And the other part is probably that the heroine, Aly, is awesome, and achieves that awesomeness through her intelligence. It doesn't quite rise to the level of Awesomeness by Analysis (to put it in TV Tropes terms), but she's always thinking ahead, keeping her head, and doing the best she can.