People often malign the fact that we never learn more about the higher beings that set up the events of the book, but I don't feel that's very much of a problem, and if it was one, it'd be more on the rest of the series for not revisiting it instead of on this book in particular for introducing it. Compare the Jake in The Arrival and at the end of The Weakness, and the Jake in The Test and The Revelation, and I feel there's a difference. While it's not made clear in the series, I feel this is the point where Jake started considering harsher measures whenever they presented themselves instead of rejecting them outright, beginning his slide into becoming what he was at the end of the series (even if it was more gradual before The Ultimate).
It also has quite a few solid Jake moments, especially through the conversations with Cassie and Tobias, where he wrestles with his morality as he deals with his sudden new situation in the future, reflections on his decisions in the present, and what is needed to win a war like the one against the Yeerks. We get a little bit of description in The Stranger, and the occasional view from the Yeerk perspective, like in Visser, but this is the first time we've seen this side of it, which I feel is important for this type of series. Sure, it's an illusion by higher beings, but I am sure that it's supposed to be an accurate scenario (at least, in general). The biggest reason I feel so is that it finally gives us a detailed first-hand picture of what life in a completely Yeerk-subjugated world would be like. It might not be as good as the all time greats (26, 22, Visser, etc.), but I feel it's solidly in the top 20%.
Contrary to many peoples' opinions, I feel that The Familiar is a good book.
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