I have a lot of friends who read and enjoyed the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull, and to them I highly recommend this book.
“Dragonwatch” picks up soon after the battle of Zzyzx, making Kendra 15 and Seth 13. While the Demon King has been overthrown, their ancient enemies – the dragons – are rising up. Feeling imprisoned in their sanctuaries, the dragons want to break out. But the past has shown dragons to be ruthless killers, and the task is given to Kendra and Seth to keep them at Sanctuary: Wyrmroost.
Through their explorations of Wyrmroost, they face challenges of not only dragons, but diplomacy, dragon slayers, the visualization of their fears, and a labyrinth dragon nest. Adventure is always lurking around the next corner.
There are naturally a lot of references to the first five books, but honestly, as long as you know the general gist of what Fablehaven is as a sanctuary for magical creatures, you can figure it out. I only read the first “Fablehaven” (I stopped because I couldn’t stand Seth’s immaturity and lack of consequences). “Dragonwatch” gives introductions and brief explanations all the same, so as long as you have the reading mentality of a high schooler, you can fill the gaps easily enough.
This first book of Dragonwatch definitely sets a nice base for a “second series.” It resolves well, but introduces new ideas, characters, and plot turns for the world of Fablehaven. Though I wasn’t a big fan of Fablehaven, but I’m interested to see where Dragonwatch goes. ****4 Stars****
This book will be released March 14. (yea for ARCs!) PS. There’s a super awesome deal through Deseret Book, if you preorder “Dragonwatch,” you can get 15% off AND the first five books FREE in audio! 🙂 – I bought it so I can finally read the rest of the series. 😉
C. Rae D'Arc 