Book Review: Dragon's Nest

Review:  #286
Title:  Dragon's Nest
Series:  Deltora Quest 3 - 1st book
Author:  Emily Rodda
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  As with all first books in a series, it takes it upon itself to set up the overarching plot, which reduces the amount of space available for the real objective.  The destruction of the crystal in the beginning of the book, while important, feels depressing and forced.  However, when the Shadow Lord’s plan was revealed, it was shocking, and it makes sense.  You could tell that a lot of planning went into the book.  While you can summarise the whole book as just a few events, they all felt important, and created an air of urgency and suspense.  The villain was surprising, and everything feels just right, fitting together with the overall lore well.  There are some very interesting elements and monsters in the book, it feels like the author had designed and made sure the biology and ecosystem of Deltora worked and made sense.  A lot of moments happened where you were shocked, there were some very good writing here.  Also, there’s the enjoyable rhyming warnings and puzzles.

Rating:  7/10