The use of multiple authors for a series (of whatever length) is a common occurence in novels that are published by a commercial concern. (Ex: the 'Star Wars' novels are written by numerous different authors, of varying skill levles.) As for the deaths of humans, that is simply realism. This isn't 'Armada' or 'Energon' where everything is pretty and clean for the kiddies. It may well be excessive in the novels, but you sound as though you're complaining about it simply because it exists.

Zero out of ten. Fair ranking. I've read all three and I can say they were horrid, especially Cian's continuation in the last two. The violence was an actual change in media that made sense and I had no qualms with, and the sub-plots were easy enough to keep up with as were the characters. But the story was written, well, badly. It was a rather cheestastic ending as well. Your final opinion says it all on the matter quite frankly.