The Secret Zoo: The Final Fight

My first thoughts when reading this book dealt with confusion. Because while I had finished the fifth book and started and read this one all in one day, the author took much longer (4 or more years) to write it. Within a few pages, there was a big glaring inconsistency between the two books and while it was fairly inconsequential, it was pretty noticeable. At the end of book five, they rescued Blizzard (and the rhino) from the other zoo...while there was snow on the ground and snowing. Also, the school playground was trashed and not fixed. Yet, 8 days later, Noah is walking through autumn leaves in an undamaged playground. A re-read before starting this book would have stopped this from happening and made my overall impression of it much higher.

I did enjoy the book overall. The majority of questions about Mr. Darby were answered. Only one really hanging question about the the kids with the chameleons was left but it really felt more like he was setting it up to make another series with them as the main characters.

The ending itself was good though it had its sad moments. There were some pretty graphic/gruesome descriptions of DeGraff at the end, just as a head's up.

Plus, I'm still confused about why Chick put the bully into this series. He just took up space and the final confrontation had Noah hitting him...because becoming your bully's bully is the right way kids should learn how to deal with one. I'm also confused why Chick had the 4 scouts steal something and made it a big deal and then never mentioned it ever again.

Overall, there were some good parts to the series, but the author never really was able to best the first book which really was a good read. He came close a few times but overall, I wouldn't say I recommend this series.