I had extremely high hopes for this book originally, as Cube Kid is one of my favorite authors, and every book in the series had been better than the last, but was greeted with a very boring book.The first few chapters were works of art, being just as good, if not better than Crafting Alliances, but after Pebble was banished, it all went downhill. The entire plot focuses on Runt's relationship with Lola, who is a completely one-dimensional character, having no personality other than being "happy". All of Runt's other friends either contribute nothing or very little to the plot. Nearly the entire book is focused on four tests, and has several chapters that are meant only to fill up pages (like Pebble's record book). The new villain has no personality either, unlike Max, who eventually became Runt's friend, or Pebble, who at least cared about the village. The ending is abrupt, and does not feel like a finale at all. This feels to me like Cube Kid just wanted to get the series over with.