Maybe I would give it a 3.5. I wasn't that impressed with this one. I had a hard time getting into the story this time. A lot of information came out, which was neat, but for some reason, I still felt like the book was missing something. Maybe it's the way the characters have changed. I don't know if I like what has happened to the characters. The next installment won't be out until Mar. 2010, so I have a while to wait. I'll read the next one because it will wrap up this arc, and then I'll decide if I want to keep reading more or not. I wonder how many more there will be. Obviously, another 3 are needed for the next story arc. And, are we really any closer to the main battle?