I preferred the 1st story better than this one. Her writing style is interesting and engaging as ever but the plot seems a bit awkward and amateur compared to the first. Even in the first story, the villain was evident from the beginning, even in this more than it was evident, a lot of awkward troops and arc were included. Some parts felt stupid and some felt complicated unnecessarily. May be I am judging a middle grade book way too harsh, but I was expecting more detective plot and plot twists.