3.5, rounded up.

This is one of those books that was written for a younger age than I am, so it feels a bit unfair to criticize the prose, as it accomplishes its goal. It just was not written for my demographic as there was a lot of repetition of the themes (pollution/deforestation bad, don't automatically judge entire species [e.g., stormwings] and kill them remorselessly, even they have a right to live unless they're attacking you, etc.) and spelling them out very clearly.

However, the story was interesting, it was nice to see Daine's wolf pack (though the non-leader wolves kind of just had one personality trait per wolf), and to meet the basilisk and other new animals. It was also nice to see Daine separated from Numair and the other humans, and manage (mostly) without their protection.

She also used her wild magic in a very impressive way - you can really do a lot just by talking to/effectively controlling animals, and seeing through their eyes/directing them.