I would have given this three and a half stars if I'd had the option, since it was better than the second book. For one thing, it actually resolved and the plot twists at the end were genious. For another, the way Mr. Beddor used the caterpillars in this one was very clever. 
 Every once in a while I felt disoriented reading it because the cast of characters was so large, and naturally, when you have that many characters it's impossibly to adequetly spend enough time on all of them. The sound effects in the text continued to annoy me and I still found myself wishing for more indepth insights into the main character's thoughts. I found the budding romance between Alyss and Dodge lacking, but then, it's clear this isn't a romantic book but more of an action tough-boy read. Maybe I'm just in the wrong genre. 
 Overall, I enjoyed the series and admired the author's imagination.