by Boomert - Deltora Quest 3 - Dragon's Nest By Emily Rodda 09 Jan 2010

In Dragon's Nest, Emily Rodda offers readers the next exciting instalment in the 'Deltora Quest' series. While able to be read independently of the previous 'Deltora' books, Dragon's Nest continues to follow the fortunes of Lief, the young King of Deltora, in his quest to rid the country of the pervasive evil of the Shadow Lord. With the help of companions Jasmine and Barda, Lief sets off to find the remaining dragons of Deltora, his only chance against the Four Sisters hidden in his land centuries before by the Shadow Lord to bring about Deltora's downfall. Rodda draws heavily upon quest mythology (as in the previous 'Deltora' series), with tangible influence from works such as Ursula Le Guin's 'Earthsea' novels. The quest journey is intrinsically bound to Lief's maturation as he increasingly comes to realise the responsibility that his role as king demands. Although some of the characterisation is predictable, the action of the novel provides intrigue and involves the reader in the good versus evil struggle. Dragon's Nest is a well-crafted, exciting novel and will be of great interest to readers and booksellers as will be both fun to read and easy to sell. This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker