The Forests of Silence

Deltora Quest is one of the hallmarks of my childhood. I eagerly read and reread each book in the series when the next one came out. When they were all out, I read and reread the series whenever it struck my fancy. Which, quite frankly, was a lot. It's hard not to love them though, they're just typical fantasy and fantasy is my one true genre - no matter what else I read, it's always fantasy I come back to.

Quest stories are the quintessence of classic fantasy. There's nothing like a hero with a quest against evil. In Deltora Quest, the hero is Lief - a sixteen year old boy who wants nothing more than to return peace and happiness to his kingdom. When he is offered the chance to fulfil a promise his father made, he jumps - leaping show more headfirst into danger to try to make a difference.

The Belt of Deltora is the only thing that can defeat the Shadow Lord who rules but it was broken many years ago, the seven gems scattered across the realm and guarded by only the most evil creations. Lief sets out to find the gems and reunite the belt so that the Prince of Del can claim his throne and push the evil of the Shadow Lord back into the Shadowlands and away from the kingdom. Lief begins his journey with the beggar Barda, an old friend of his parents but it's not long before they're also joined by Jasmine, the wild orphaned girl they meet at their first stop - and her companions Filli (a possum? mouse? type thing?) and Kree, a raven.

Each book follows the trio as they travel the land for the lost gems, weaving a tightly written narrative with lots of action and adventure. Along the way they meet new people both friends and enemies, have to confront their own hopes and fears and figure out and solve many riddles, puzzles and problems to complete their quest.

I loved the first book. The first half takes us back to the beginning - the history of Del, the friendship between Jarred and Endon and the unfolding of the Shadow Lord's plan to take over. When the King dies and Endon is crowned, Jarred warns him of his suspicions about putting the Belt of Deltora away to be guarded in a tower instead of wearing it and the danger he thinks the Chief Advisor (a man called Prandine) presents but Endon doesn't listen and instead, Jarred runs from the castle, swearing to always come to the aid of Endon if he calls. A bunch of years later - he does. I always really liked the rhyme about disturbing the bear to get into the castle and the fact Jarred and Endon had their own code to write secret messages. I adored the fact that Queen Sharn is the one who saves both Jarred and Endon from Prandine by using her wits and tricking him.

The second half takes place sixteen years later. The Shadow Lord has taken over and now rules the land. A crippled Jarred can no longer undertake the quest and so, it falls upon his son, Lief to fulfil the promise he made to Endon. Lief jumps at the chance to prove himself and so him and Barda pack up and head out to their first destination, the Forests of Silence. They find trouble straight away and it's only through the compassion, quick thinking and bravery of Jasmine that they are saved. She leads them to her 'nest' and agrees to lead them to the evilest part of the forest where the gem is most likely to be. There they find that a golden knight rules, killing anyone who tries to steal his treasure - the Lilies of Life. They defeat him and take his sword which contains the Topaz. When Jasmine accidentally touches it the ghost of her dead mother returns and tells her that she should leave her home and travel with Lief and Barda to help them in their quest and so Jasmine joins the journey.

Jasmine would have to be my favourite character. She is totally badass. She's a great strong female role model - she's brave, ruthless to her enemies, full of love for her friends and loves to champion an underdog. While I do love Lief and Barda, Jasmine is awesome. Lief can actually be regarded as rather soft compared to her which is an interesting dynamic and one you don't really see that much. He finds her brutal for stripping the Grey Guards that invade the forest - even though they are evil and would kill her in a heartbeat. It's an interesting dilemma. The truth is she's a survivor and will do what she needs to do in order to protect herself and her loved ones, distasteful or not.

And so ends the first book with the first gem returned to the Belt and our heroes united against the evil of the land.



5 stars. show less

The Forests of Silence starts with the king’s childhood with his friend Jarred. Everybody seems to be living peacefully until The Shadow Lord invades the land of Deltora and the king and Jarred have to leave the castle and hide.

Some years later, Lief, a young boy who lives in a village near the castle, starts a journey to recover the seven stones of the magic Belt of Deltora, a powerful belt that will help the next king defeat the Shadow Lord.

The plot was nice and I enjoyed it. At first I was a bit confused, because from what I understood by reading the summary, the main character was supposed to be a boy named Lief and not the king or Jarred. But everything makes sense as the plot develops.

The first half of the first book is an show more introduction to the series and the world of Deltora. It is told from Jarred’s point of view and we learn that the inhabitants of the castle are isolated and believe Deltora is a peaceful and happy place and that the future king, Endon, is not allowed to go outside. It is very different from the life of the people who live outside the castle. They are starving and think the king doesn’t care.

The second half of the book starts with Lief’s birthday and we find out that he is Jarred’s son.

This series is aimed at children or younger teenagers, so the bad people are bad and the good people are good. But this does not mean that the good people are perfect. Endon doesn’t believe his friend when Jarred tries to tell him that he suspects the king has been murdered and doesn’t realize that the person he trusts has been ruling over Deltora and nobody has noticed. When he becomes aware of his mistake it is already too late.

Although I enjoyed this book I have to say that it was a very light reading and that the plot was predictable. The vocabulary was also very easy. But this is my point of view as an adult; younger readers might not mind this so much. show less

My sister and I both read these in fourth grade (I graduated high school this May, for reference), and to this day they rank among our favorite series read, ever. And we both have read a LOT of books.

I forget the plots and the characters names and what even the major point of the quest was... but I do remember the fantastic time that I had reading these books. I remember running to the Childrens' section of Barnes and Noble and hoppping up and down waiting for my dad to buy us the next book, and physically fighting with my sister to read it first (this was before my dad set up the foolproof rotation system we later set in place to ensure peace in the household). I remember reading these books in class underneath my desk, completely show more engrossed. That is, until the teacher yelled at me for not paying attention to the lesson. I continued reading the next day anyway, the books were so damn good.

I'm sure that if I went back now and read these books, they would lose their magic for me. They're intended entirely for children, and to rate them on an adult's scale is to do them a gross injustice.

Let your child read the first book, and I can bet you you'll have a new and excited reader in the house. show less

I love re-reading this series. This has got to be the third time I've read this book now and it never gets old. The rise and fall of the royal family is briefly explained in the first half of the book then it jumps immediately into the real plott. It's straight to the point without leaving out any details that a reader might find important. The main cast is thrust together at a nice pace and the settings are written vividly. I especially love that everyone has their own personality and way of thinking. No two characters are exactly alike. This book sets the series into motion very well.

A good adventure for younger readers. My seven year old daughter enjoyed it very much. I, on the other hand, found it somewhat light weight and simplistic, with some unoriginal trials and such like. But that only tells me that I want books for slightly older readers, and should not detract from this story that younger readers will thoroughly enjoy.

This short fantasy tale offers a nice introduction to the Deltora Series. Having a simple but polished plot, it offers an entertaining story for juvenile readers.

This is the first book in the Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda. I think the series is 8 books in length but I am not certain. These books were about what I expected them to be. They say they are aimed at the 9-12 year old age and I think they are really much younger books than that.

These books were a super easy read. I read a lot of young adult books and I think these would be classified more as childrens' books; kind of beginner chapter books. They are written very simply. The writing is easy to read and the vocabulary used very basic.

I thought the the character conversations were very forced. They all sounded awkward, like the characters were reading from a bad script. I know the author is trying to keep vocab easy but especially show more the beginning of the book was hard to get through.

The story itself is also not that creative. It is a very classic evil lord takes over the realm and young boy must collect the seven magical gems to overcome him story. The characters are very stereotyped; I felt like I was reading a session of Dungeons and Dragons where the players weren't all that interesting or creative.

Despite the fact that I didn't enjoy the book that much, I think a younger kid might. This book would be a good starter chapter book and a good entry into the fantasy realm for a kid just starting out reading on their own. In many ways it reminded me of the choose your own adventure books I read as a kid; except you couldn't choose anything in this book.

There was some charm in this being such a classical type of fantasy adventure story. I just honestly think that they are many better fantasy books out their for both children and young adults. This is a good starter series nothing more. I don't think I will read any more of these. I will keep this book around for my son though and when he is older he can read it and see if he wants to continue with them. show less