honestly this one isn't great and feels kind of clumsily written. i read 45 before this one accidentally and didn't feel like anything was missing, and that's because this book is entirely skippable

whoever wrote cassie for this one definitely went overboard on her morality stuff. she spends several parts of this book debating the morality of going through people's luggage to find food and warm clothing, and also contemplating how she's killed 4 or 5 people and embroiled several more in fights this book. she seems a lot less mature and robust than the cassie of the previous few books who made hard decisions and struggled with them but was resolute.
the indigenous australian stuff feels quite cheap and kitschy, but i guess you can't expect good representation from this book. its just a funky set piece. they think cassie is a sign from the ancestors and take her to see their sacred spring, and the elder that gets injured was using the bug fighter scrap metal as a carving tool because 'it fell from the sky so it must be sacred'. it feels like a very dated and stereotypical view of indigenous people to me
also there is like 2 sentences that imply a weird kind of romance thing between cassie and yami, the indigenous kid who rescue her, mostly so that cassie can feel bad about it later when she's reunited with jake. like ??? she was in the outback for 24 hours being chased by yeerks, this kid helped her out, you don't need to make it weird