This trilogy really delivered, getting better with each successive book. Initially I kept seeing echoes of other children's fantasy books in the plotline, enough so that it was a little jarring. But by book 3, Stephens definitely owned the story and it felt fresh and engaging. I'm looking forward to seeing more from him as an author.

I do still feel that it makes a better tween book than a teen book, even though the lexile reading level of book 3 is more than 100 points higher than (cough) Twilight (cough). As an adult reader I could possibly in the last chapter read more into some scenes that would make it a teen book, but I think a child reading it from an 11 year old's point of view would simply read the words for what they say. (He lay beside her and held her as she sobbed.)