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Tressa has been broken, but she can still be fixed. With the help of the Black, she can still be fixed. But going for help means leaving her friends, and that might not be a good idea. Then again, leaving also means finding other friends and old acquaintances. The truth will start to unravel. For Bastian, he is left holding the friends together as they go searching for the missing eggs. But on the Isle of Repose, strange things are afoot, and dark forces stir. Friends become enemies, and even those closest to him harbour dark secrets. When will Tressa return? But when she does return, she brings war with her. The Dragonlands are thrown into chaos when the Red show their hand, and our heroes are at the heart of it. But Tressa has a bigger part to play than even she knows. The strange honey is calling...
So, this just got more interesting. This is the third part of Megg Jensen’s Dragonlands series, of which I think there are five. Be in no doubt – the stakes are ratcheted. People die. People who were dead aren’t anymore. There are some serious weirdos about, and the true nature of things is starting to rear its ugly face. Things are getting juicy…
This book picks up from the second instalment almost instantly. There is a strange but intriguing prologue, and then we are right back in it with Tressa and Bastian and Jarrett and the others. Tressa has been left a little ragged after the climax to Hunted, and she has to go off to recover and *ahem* find herself. The others go off in search of the dragon eggs, and come across their own adventure.
Simply put, war ensues; chaos reigns; there’s lots of dragons; and we still don’t know what that damned honey is all about! Or do we? You’ll have to read to find out.
Anyway, so what’s great about this book? Well, it follows nicely in the style of the previous books and stays very true to itself. The story continues to move apace with barely a break, and we are constantly unlocking treasures. It’s easy to read on.
The darker shades in this book (read Bastian and Jarrett’s journey) are really good, and feel much more sinister than anything else – and all the better for it! There’s some really good use of imagination here, and I thoroughly enjoyed the sequence.
And then there are the twists and turns, of which there are many. It’s not like the previous books didn’t have twists, but nothing was quite so “breath-catchy” in the previous books. Here, there are some great twists, particularly towards the close, and this draws us on. It’s guaranteed to get exciting.
That being said, there were a few things that could have done with a bit of tightening up. Not much, but worth a mention. Here goes.
This book is where the war really kicks off, but any sense of scale is still somehow missing. There are some big dragon battles (awesome, right?), but for some reason they didn’t feel as grandiose as perhaps they deserved. The impetus in the book was really driven by the shock moments (which is no bad thing!), and the scale itself was somehow a bit lacking.
Then there’s the POV. The prologue can be forgiven for the simple fact it’s a prologue, but there are POVs thrown in when it is clearly for effect. On the whole we kept true to Tressa and Bastian, but just occasionally… And they weren’t necessary either. If anything, the tension leaked away a bit.
Oh, and some of the relationship stuff was a bit annoying for me personally, but that’s certainly a taste thing!
Overall, this is a great book, and it really sets us up for the ongoing series. Things are about to get interesting, and I will definitely read on in the future. I hope you enjoy it too!