Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

I loved the first three books in this series. They were fun, clever, and well written. The fourth book is something else entirely. Something far better.

It's as though Mull went from being a very talented storyteller to being a novelist in the time between Shadow Plague and Dragon Sanctuary. His prose is more mature, his characters more complete, his story lines deeper, than in the previous books. What makes this a true success is that those things were never lacking in the first place; he simply improved upon great traits and made them exceptional.

This book is a whirlwind of action. It's such a fun, fast paced book to read. The story kicks off with excitement right from the beginning and keeps it until the end. It's also an emotional roller coaste - I won't say anything to give it away, but it's easy to care about the characters and what they are going through. The characters just get even more awesome in this book too! Man, I can't wait to read the last book. Mockingjay is coming out soon and I don't know which one I'm more excited to read!

I am continually impressed with this middle grade series. I have to think it was outlined well in advance, as details from past books come into play int his one. I can also see why my son likes these books so much, even though he is getting old for them (13). His reading skills and speed have improved as we has worked his way through this series over the last couple of years (yes, he reads other things too--for school and for pleasure).

This time, the Knights must travel to a dragon sanctuary where humans have no guarantee of safety. They must collect a key from the dragon temple, off limits to all. Who will make the trip? Who will survive? How might they succeed in this quest?

The Society of the Evening Star is relentlessly pursuing the the hidden artifacts to unlock the demon prison. The Knights of the Dawn are forced to try to recover the artifacts to keep the safe from evil hands. Two have already been found. Kendra discovers the location of a key guarding one of the vaults in Patton Burgess' journals - the dragon sanctuary of Wyrmroost. Retrieving the key is a suicide mission, yet the Knights must attempt to get the key before the Evening Star. Who will survive? And who can be trusted?

These books continue to get better as they go along. I enjoyed have Kendra, Seth and the rest of the gang going somewhere outside of Fablehaven and seeing what the magical world is like outside of Fablehaven. I did feel like show more a lot of this book was set up for the final book in the series but it was still very good. I definitely didn't suspect one of the twists at the end and I'm still not too sure I'm happy about that! show less

At times this book seemed to drag, but I was amazed by how much Brandon Mull was able to condense into 500 or so pages. The Fablehaven books, especially the later ones, are interesting in that there is more than one plot driving the books. Each of the books are leading up to finding all of the keys of the demon prison Zzyxx, but everything else seems to be filler stories. Don't get me wrong, the books are still fun to read, but I think the reason why they get boring at times is because of the lack of major plots. There are a lot of mini climaxes and conclusion, but they can't be quite as satisfying as a truly plotted ending. :)

I only have one more thing to say--I am glad that I finally made it through the first four books so that I can show more finally read the new one! Yay! show less

This is the fourth book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. This book was absolutely wonderful. Mull does it again, delivering a complex and dangerous plot, with humor, and non-stop action.

Kendra and Seth are back at school. Kendra has been trying to read the secret journal that she was given to figure out where the rest of the artifacts are hidden. Unfortunately she ends up getting kidnapped by the Society of the Evening Star. The rest of the family thinks she is dead. So Seth is sent to Fablehaven for his protection. The group at Fablehaven has to do what they can to recover the remaining hidden artifacts; first they must go to the Dragon Sanctuary and hope to live long enough to get the key to the next artifact.

This was a show more wonderful book. All of the characters are just fabulous. In addition to all of our favorites from the last book, some new and very interesting characters are added. Mull is so creative with his writing, I am never able to guess what will happen next. The plot pulls you right through the book, the action scenes are wonderful. It was awesome to learn about Seth having his own special set of powers; I liked how they compliment Kendra's in a way. It is a rare book that can keep some many creative things coming at you and such a wonderful plot going that you can never guess what will be next.

This is also a very emotion evoking book. There is humor, at times I was cheering for the characters, at times I was almost in tears at some of the horrible betrayals that happened in this book. It was just riveting.

Needless to say I am absolutely dying to read the next book. This is definitely a keeper series. I think if you enjoyed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1) or The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1); you will really enjoy this series. I actually think everyone should read this series, it just keeps getting better and better! show less

What can I say?I already said that the previous one was amazing.For this one I could only say beyond amazing.I started the series for casual reading.Never did I think it would be this good.But the series is becoming better with every book.

The plot of the story was excellent.We saw so many different kind of magical creatures in these books but the dragons were the scarce of them all.Well have no fear because the dragons are here!A whole preserve full of dragons.They are deadly,they are cunning,they are mighty predators and our heroes have to overcome them to retrieve a hidden key.So we are in for a wild ride in the dragon sanctuary.But wait only dragons!How can that be possible?It is magical preserve after all.So add a sky giant to the show more ingredients to make the stew more tasty and make matters more difficult.
But they succeeded to overcome all the obstacles on their way to only be betrayed by one of their own at the end.That part of the surprise was so shocking that I couldn't believe it along with Kendra.So are the surprises over?No,the traitor got eaten by a dragon(That part was real funny) and after returning to Fablehaven Seth and Kendra were informed about some other ominous news.

I won't disclose anymore details.I have tried to leave it spoiler free as much as possible.Brandon Mull had nailed it and I am really eager to see what more brilliance he will have to offer in the next book. show less