I generally enjoy the broader story that Bagwell comes up with and the imaginative ways in which the characters use magic in the books but the interpersonal writing kind of sucks. There is more melodrama in this book than a middle school packed with teens. The main characters come off more like a couple of angsty thirteen year olds than young adults. I found myself skipping ahead on countless occasions where the melodrama was just obnoxious. Also Bagwell tends to want to write out every emotion and every thought the characters have, telling you all about it, rather than letting a reader determine it from events. It’s like he’s trying to spoon feed you every bit of drama, which frankly is just boring and exasperating. I really hope his writing improves in these respects, but I won’t know, because I don’t plan on spending any further money on his books.