My boys (13 and 11) voted for me to continue reading the Gregor series as their bedtime story. They both liked it, as they did the others, though the 13-year-old enjoyed it more than the younger. My 11-year-old doesn't want any 'mushy' stuff in his books, nor does he like excessive violence. This one had a bit too much violence in it for him, but he still voted to continue. 
 Gregor annoyed me less in this book, and the same goes for Boots, so I went ahead and bumped it up to 4 stars. It's an easy read, and the characters are very familiar to us by now. There's still a touch too much flashbacks to the other books, but I understand that information is put there for readers who pick up a series in the middle. How many people really do that anyway? 
 Ripred continues to be a favorite character in our house, and I don't see that changing. The Nibblers feature prominently in this adventure, which involves a trip to the Firelands. No prophecy is continually guiding people's decisions, and that may have also had something to do with my renewed higher rating. 
 In the end, I'm glad to be reading this series.