This was SO good, I would have really enjoyed this as a child. The characters are fun - though obviously rather tropey - and the action is thrilling, and while violent, definitely okay for younger readers. Most of all I enjoyed learning about all the groups of creatures living outside the abbey - the sparrows and the guerilla shrews particularly. The one star reduction stems mainly from the first third of the book being a bit tedious to get through, but this is surely more a me-thing than a book thing.
While I am not sure I'll move on to the sequels (at least not in the near future), I had a great time, especially thanks to the 1997 full cast recording of the audiobook.