Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥/5
Genre: Fantasy
Category: Young Adult Literature
When Mull finished the Fablehaven series in early 2010, he announced that he might continue the idea, but it would be after he had a chance to think about the series again and write other ideas. When I finished the fifth book, Keys to the Demon Prison, I was disappointed that there was no sequel series yet and hoped quite fervently that Mull would write another series. And, after seven years of waiting, my dream came true.
Dragonwatch continues the story of the main characters from Fablehaven, Kendra and Seth Sorenson after they defeated the Demon King and stopped the uprising of Zzyxx, the Demon Prison. It’s now been several months afterward, and Kendra is enjoying the quiet while Seth isn’t so much. Seth’s hopes for more adventures and saving the world again comes true when a wizard and keeper, Agad, comes from one of the famous “dragon preserves”, which are of the most dangerous magical creature reserves in the entire world. To gain the dragon’s assistance in stopping the Demon King in the Keys to the Demon Prison, Agad made a deal with the dragon king and leader, Celebrant to give him co-control of the preserve if he helped stop the demons. It now turns out that Celebrant, want to overthrow the preserve, Wyrmroost, and roam free once more in the world. The only problem is that last time dragons were free, they almost destroyed humanity. Now, Agad needs Kendra and Seth to become co-takers of the preserve to stop the uprising and keep the dragons contained.
Mull’s style is still incredibly similar to when he wrote Fablehaven seven years ago. When he switches between Kendra and Seth’s points of view, I can understand and relate to each of them without losing empathy for the other. I completely understand Kendra’s need to follow the rules, while relating to Seth wanting to take risks and explore this amazing, magical new world he found. And while I wanted to strangle Seth during parts of the book for his idiocy and endangering others, his huge risks and gambles pay off and saved lives, just like they did in the first series. But for all his stupidity and inability to be tactful, he balances Kendra out and the two of them are able to manage their first few days in their manor on the dragon preserve, Blackwell Keep. That’s right: first few days. The whole second half of the book only covers two or three days at maximum, all of which is spent preventing Celebrant from taking over, uncovering ancient secrets, and risking every life on the preserve to keep order. It’s intense from start to finish, with it only going to get worse from here in the next books.
The thing I love most about this book is that Mull is able to keep the epicness of his previous books without coming across as impossible or being too much of a stretch. It’s hard to top defeating the demon prison, finding an ancient sword, and slaying the Demon King from the last book, but Mull manages to do it. He knows that Kendra and Seth have incredible powers from their previous adventures and that they’re not the kids that first came to Fablehaven on a trip with their grandparents. They are strong, determined and can navigate the magical world. So, he gives them a new and incredible challenge to further stretch them and try them without it being too much. And I’m curious to see what happens next with Kendra and Seth trying to manage the Wyrmroost, having just won the day and royally pissing off Celebrant.
Overall ConclusionI sat down and read this book in a whole day. I can’t remember the last time I did that, save for the Fablehaven series and Harry Potter. I came home from work expecting to only read a few chapters before working on other projects, but I completely got sucked into the story. My husband came home and found me completely curled up on the couch, already halfway through the book and eager to see how it ended. The writing is superb, the ideas and world amazing, and the characters fun and relatable. Mull has never failed to impress me with his stories, and he hasn’t failed me with Dragonwatch. I give this series a complete 5/5 stars and recommend it to anyone to read.
Interested? Purchase Dragonwatch on Amazon!
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