The Final Test was penned by Dory Perlman, and there's no indication - at least online - that she's ever had anything else published, before or since. In fact, I can't find any information about this author at all. Could this be another pseudonym situation? Inquiring minds want to know.
The Final Test is the second of the two books in this series that I didn't get to read until just a few years ago. And, just as with Sun Blind, my opinion of it is probably rather different than it would have been all those years ago. Which is where the similarities between these two books - and my opinion of them - ends. So let me start out by saying that this book was not badly written. Seriously. I mean it.
The problem I had with this book (again, from an adult's perspective) was that it was very obviously directed at the grade-school set. There were a lot of cliched elements and blatantly corny dialogue, and while I found the moped idea kinda cute, Dr. Reit arriving in a Ferrari at the last minute with The Cola Potion That Saved The Day was just too much for me.
I also thought that the author missed a great opportunity by not following up on the fact that Sheila actually kills someone in this book, for the very first time. To be fair, this moment was never mentioned in any of the other books either, and the series really didn't seem to have "room" for that kind of exploration anyway, which is too bad, because I would have liked to have read more about that.
Ah well. Maybe if the books had been longer.
Still, there were several redeeming moments and scenes in The Final Test, such as Lianne's archery lesson, the final showdown with Dynasian (which reminded me a bit of the big ending in the movie "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves", another of my Favorite Things as a kid), and of course, Sheila and Darian's first kiss. *mwah*
So, in the end, I'm probably just being overly nitpicky. For what it was meant to be and the time it was written, there's really nothing wrong with The Final Test.
MY RATING: 
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