Fablehaven - Book 4
Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuaryby Brandon Mull
Brace yourself for a shocking secret. Two hidden artifacts have been found. Three more remain unrecovered. More preserves face destruction as the Society of the Evening Star relentlessly pursues new talismans. Reading in Patton s Journal of Secrets, Kendra learns the location of the key to a vault housing one of the artifacts. In order to retrieve it, the Knights of the Dawn must enter a death trap a dragon sanctuary called Wyrmroost. The mission cannot proceed without stealing a sacred object zealously guarded by the centaurs. Anybody seen Seth? The race is on to acquire all five of the artifact keys to the great demon prison. Will the Knights of the Dawn conquer Wyrmroost? Who can stop the Sphinx? Can Vanessa be trusted to help? What artifact will be found next? Find out in Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. (goodreads.com)
Three words: Holy freakin' cow!I will admit, I started this book and thought I wouldn't like it at all and then WHAM! Total action and complete surprise twists and a really hilarious dragon. By the end of the book (yesterday) I had my mind made up that I was going to march right into the store today and buy the fifth and final book even though it JUST came out in hard cover (March 23). Only you know what? CANADA ISN'T CARRYING IT! Gah!When I professed my dismay and panic on twitter today, Simon & Schuster Canada assured me that they would be carrying the paperback version and have it out early next year - which really would just be when the book would hit the shelves in pb anyhow right? Hmm. I honestly do not want to pay $24 for this book, but this one was just THAT good that I am willing to.*deep breaths*Ok, so about this book, without giving too much away... First, I loved it. Second, Seth didn't irritate me at all and actually grew up a lot in this book. However his past actions have given him a reputation and so no one wanted to listen to him or let him tag along on what was going on, even though he was really helpful. A little "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" moral in there. And I have one real problem with this book which I will attempt to hide in invisible font (highlight below to see it as I don't want to spoil anything): Kendra's double dies and her family buries her, and yet when her Grandparents and Seth discover that she's actually still alive not once does anyone mention the fact that her parents still think she's dead. Not until the LAST chapter (500 pages away, people!) when they sort of say "oh, your parents still think you're dead and it's likely safer that way for now". Really? REALLY? I don't know why but the entire book the lack of acknowledgement that her parents still thought she was dead or really any mention of the parents at all bothered me SO much. Anyone else?So, with that out of my system, I have to say I think this might be my favourite book in the entire series. It had a very Harry Potter-esque feel with the magical gadgets and ideas and quests. The dragon that befriends Kendra cracked me up and I read almost every passage of dialogue between them to my husband (I am sure he was thrilled).If you haven't read this series yet - do so. If you have and gave up because you can't stand Seth - give this one a chance. He's still foolhardy, but this time around his rash decisions are made in the best interest of the group and not just for selfish reasons. Something happens at the start of this book that really changes his view of the world.I don't know if I can wait until January 2011 for the final book. I might break down and order this through amazon... but I am going to try. I was so full of energy at the end of this book and it was driving me mad that I didn't have the next one. We'll see how my willpower holds up.Fablehaven Series