Saturday, November 14, 2009

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary


Title: Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
Author: Brandon Mull
Genre: Juvenile Fantasy
Got it from: library
Why I read it: fourth in a series
Grade: B+

Synopsis: 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.




My Review:
I love the imaginative aspect to these books.  There are so many different kinds of fantasy creatures that it really makes things interesting.  If that were the only focus (and sometimes that's all I let it be) then these books would be excellent.  The problem that I have found is there is very little character development.  For one thing, the main characters, Kendra and Seth, have grown hardly at all over the last four books.

But the bigger problem lies in the fact that besides Kendra and Seth, I hardly know or care about any of the other characters.  It seems they only exist to help the two children, or to move the story along, but we don't get to hear about who they are beyond a name and a few basic defining characteristics.  I think that makes the story weaker, and it could be so much better.

I am really enjoying this series.  It's a fun read, but that's about it.  It's not anything I'll really be thinking about after I finish.

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