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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I was very satisfied with this ending as a kid, and I think it still holds up. The paranoid tone of the first half was quintessentially Deltoran, and the second helping of despair after the task seemed completed was delicious. Of course, the scenario of failure was too dark for me to believe even as a kid that it was actually in the cards, but things like Lief's guilt over misinterpreting Josef's fevered warnings were delicious.
An important aspect of the Deltora feeling was always the weird creatures, and dragons are the most overplayed, least weird fantasy creature of all time. This series thankfully didn't focus on them a great deal, but I also like the way Rodda depicted them. She combines the idea of dragons as intelligent beings and dangerous predators. They can think and reason, but also see humans the way we see mice, yet they're not evil a la Smaug. She also tries to give the dragons distinct personalities, though given their limited page time they mostly end up being either helpful or unhelpful (the lapis dragon's pushiness being an exception).
As a kid I didn't catch the bit at the very end that the dragons can reproduce parthenogenetically, which is a reference to the first Rowan of Rin book, which Rodda later connected explicitly to Deltora with the recent Star of Deltora series. This tendency of authors to try to link all their works can sometimes be exhausting and cringeworthy (CLAMP), or subtle and rewarding (Olaf Stapledon), and it remains to be seen which Rodda ends up being, but this aside was subtle and nostalgic enough for me to give it a pass.
The foreshadowing of the twists ranged from decent to great.
The Shadow Lord's contingency plan, on the other hand, was great. I noticed on this reread that Barda asks rhetorically at the beginning of Dragon's Nest why the Shadow Lord made the Noradzeers move out of Hira rather than enslaving them where they were, and we find out exactly why three books later. I thought I caught another mention during Shadowgate but couldn't locate it. Barda's puzzle box was also very cute. Then the tale of the four sisters, which adds the idea that the Shadow Lord is so ancient, that his youthful exploits when he was human have since unknowingly passed into Deltoran mythology. It's a first rate fantasy idea. The whole thing blew my mind as a kid with the layers Rodda put into it, and I think she deserves some credit for it.
The Dragons series as a whole achieved a good balance between introducing new things and recalling the old. This ran the gamut from returning plot devices like the dreaming water and Doran's soulstone, to exploring the implied eastern tip of Deltora missing from the map in the first series, to featuring the only monster from the Deltora Book of Monsters that did not appear in the first two series. The whole thing manages to feel fresh while also being very much Deltora (except for the ghost ship). Returning characters like Manus and Steven are balanced out by additions like Lindal and the Masked Ones. Personally I would have liked to have Tira (the girl from Noradz) or Claw (the mutated man from Shadowlands) appear before the very final scene, but I can't possibly call that a real defect of the book. That final scene pulled out the stops in that regard. Do you remember who Fardeep or Nanion were? The ending was very saccharine, but hell, they earned it.
If I could have one wish granted for this series, it would be to more deeply explore the relationship between Jasmine and Doom. Their situation is so strange, being estranged almost Jasmine's entire life, and completely changed as people since they last knew each other. But since they're both highly independent and practical, Jasmine holds nothing against Doom. They don't seem to have any drive to get to know each other any more deeply than as comrades, but they deeply trust and respect one another. It would've been very easy to write their relationship as extremely strained or awkward, but Rodda instead goes for this odd dynamic, where despite their incidental contact as close confidants of Lief, they're more comfortable keeping things as they are than trying to force some kind of father/daughter bond.
Definitely way more interesting than the thin layer of romance this and the Shadowlands series had. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it, but its not like there was much choice. Rodda unusually had almost every character but Lief and Jasmine be much older than them. I think the only other female characters around their age were Tira and Neridah, and the only male one was uh...Dain? Maybe Zerry counts? I wonder if this was a product of the series' being targeted towards boys? Rodda was clearly inserting more romance into these latter two series than the original, yet it was so little that as a kid I didn't notice it at all. Kind of puzzling.
I read Secrets of Deltora as a kid, but I never read the second half of Tales of Deltora, or the two Deltora related series Rodda wrote after this, so I'm interested in seeing what reading her material without the veil of nostalgia is like.
An important aspect of the Deltora feeling was always the weird creatures, and dragons are the most overplayed, least weird fantasy creature of all time. This series thankfully didn't focus on them a great deal, but I also like the way Rodda depicted them. She combines the idea of dragons as intelligent beings and dangerous predators. They can think and reason, but also see humans the way we see mice, yet they're not evil a la Smaug. She also tries to give the dragons distinct personalities, though given their limited page time they mostly end up being either helpful or unhelpful (the lapis dragon's pushiness being an exception).
As a kid I didn't catch the bit at the very end that the dragons can reproduce parthenogenetically, which is a reference to the first Rowan of Rin book, which Rodda later connected explicitly to Deltora with the recent Star of Deltora series. This tendency of authors to try to link all their works can sometimes be exhausting and cringeworthy (CLAMP), or subtle and rewarding (Olaf Stapledon), and it remains to be seen which Rodda ends up being, but this aside was subtle and nostalgic enough for me to give it a pass.
The foreshadowing of the twists ranged from decent to great.
Spoiler
Paff being the guardian was the only possible candidate. She was introduced in Dragon's Nest, then repeatedly mentioned without getting any actual character focus. The only other real candidate during the events of this book was Doom, which though it had some aspects that made sense, would've been a hack move overall. While he had opportunity and conceivably motive, he'd been demonstrably loyal so many times, it wouldn't have made any sense for him to turn traitor now, as opposed to all those times he had the complete run of the castle and only Sharn and Josef to push back on him (though my brother and I joked that he'd purposefully filled the Deltoran Resistance with fractious idiots).The Shadow Lord's contingency plan, on the other hand, was great. I noticed on this reread that Barda asks rhetorically at the beginning of Dragon's Nest why the Shadow Lord made the Noradzeers move out of Hira rather than enslaving them where they were, and we find out exactly why three books later. I thought I caught another mention during Shadowgate but couldn't locate it. Barda's puzzle box was also very cute. Then the tale of the four sisters, which adds the idea that the Shadow Lord is so ancient, that his youthful exploits when he was human have since unknowingly passed into Deltoran mythology. It's a first rate fantasy idea. The whole thing blew my mind as a kid with the layers Rodda put into it, and I think she deserves some credit for it.
The Dragons series as a whole achieved a good balance between introducing new things and recalling the old. This ran the gamut from returning plot devices like the dreaming water and Doran's soulstone, to exploring the implied eastern tip of Deltora missing from the map in the first series, to featuring the only monster from the Deltora Book of Monsters that did not appear in the first two series. The whole thing manages to feel fresh while also being very much Deltora (except for the ghost ship). Returning characters like Manus and Steven are balanced out by additions like Lindal and the Masked Ones. Personally I would have liked to have Tira (the girl from Noradz) or Claw (the mutated man from Shadowlands) appear before the very final scene, but I can't possibly call that a real defect of the book. That final scene pulled out the stops in that regard. Do you remember who Fardeep or Nanion were? The ending was very saccharine, but hell, they earned it.
If I could have one wish granted for this series, it would be to more deeply explore the relationship between Jasmine and Doom. Their situation is so strange, being estranged almost Jasmine's entire life, and completely changed as people since they last knew each other. But since they're both highly independent and practical, Jasmine holds nothing against Doom. They don't seem to have any drive to get to know each other any more deeply than as comrades, but they deeply trust and respect one another. It would've been very easy to write their relationship as extremely strained or awkward, but Rodda instead goes for this odd dynamic, where despite their incidental contact as close confidants of Lief, they're more comfortable keeping things as they are than trying to force some kind of father/daughter bond.
Definitely way more interesting than the thin layer of romance this and the Shadowlands series had. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it, but its not like there was much choice. Rodda unusually had almost every character but Lief and Jasmine be much older than them. I think the only other female characters around their age were Tira and Neridah, and the only male one was uh...Dain? Maybe Zerry counts? I wonder if this was a product of the series' being targeted towards boys? Rodda was clearly inserting more romance into these latter two series than the original, yet it was so little that as a kid I didn't notice it at all. Kind of puzzling.
I read Secrets of Deltora as a kid, but I never read the second half of Tales of Deltora, or the two Deltora related series Rodda wrote after this, so I'm interested in seeing what reading her material without the veil of nostalgia is like.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Such a satisfying ending. Twists, friendships etc. All accounted for and simply amazing. Loved it.
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
AHHHHHHHHV KDJDJFNFNFNF DJDJDBFBDJJD FUCK I LOVE THIS!!!! The dragons my beloved,,,,,,,,
I finished the series. (Exclude the short story collection & the star of deltora series) I loved going on a journey with Lief, Barda & Jasmine. The stories are predictable, but thats why I love reading them when I'm not feeling too well. I found this one to have a bit too much information in it. The book could've been atleast 30 to 50 pages longer to build the story a bit more. Generally this series is a 5 stars even though none of the books got 5 stars. The books hold a special place in my heart and I'm excited to read more books from Emily Rodda. 7.43 on CAWPILE.
https://dunnooowrite.wordpress.com/2017/07/02/dragons-of-deltora-4-the-sister-of-the-south/
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
