Dragonwatch

RATING: like 4 dragons 🐉🐉🐉🐉 (but 3.75 stars)

I didn't realize how much I missed the Fablehaven universe until I picked up this book! (Keep this in mind.)

You can read the full review on my blog!

I'll admit, I finished the original Fablehaven series several years ago and did not have time to reread it before reading Dragonwatch, so of course I didn't remember everything from way back then.

I'd also like you to know that the original Fablehaven series is so good. If you haven't read that yet, I do not want this review to discourage you from reading it! 

MY THOUGHTS: (very minor spoilers)
After I was a few chapters in, I was so ready for more adventures in the Fablehaven world, you would not believe how fast my mood changed.

And dragons? Who doesn't love dragons?

Although I was almost sure that everything had been touched in the original series, it looks like there's a lot more to go! I have no idea what could possibly happen next after this book, so there's a good sign!

Around page 150, I realized that I was more or less a fourth of the way in and not that much had happened... The beginning was a lot of catching up, “remember when this specific event in our past happened and we met so-and-so?”, and even discussions about magical-world politics. 

Then... when I reached the halfway point, I realized that the whole time there were two main questions being asked: it was either, “Can Kendra and Seth actually take care of Wymroost?” or “Why the heck are Kendra and Seth in charge of Wymroost?” My answers to these questions are, “Of course not (have you met Seth??)” and “I have no clue, but probably to move along this series”. 


The ending was okay. It may have been a little anticlimactic, but you know what? I think that's how a lot of first-book-in-a-series books are these days.

Overall, I liked that the main characters, Kendra and Seth, had not changed much compared to how other parts of the original series were portrayed. I still laughed at their interactions, their sibling love continued, and there was still a “SETH, NO!” moment before the ending. Yay for consistency! 

In the end, though, I'm so glad reading this new series reminded me of when I read Fablehaven for the first time! I was scared it would not live up to the original series, but as far as sequel series go, I think it was okay.

I hope the next book is better! 

I liked the part when goodreads crashed and deleted my 3 paragraph dissertation on why this book is bad.

I loved the first series. This book is basically a setup plot for the next series. It decides that Seth's character development is going to get undone and then redone over the course of several days, and it illustrates this by having Seth (who, again, is an experienced individual when it comes to all things magical) use his cousin for a heist of some treasure. Why does Seth, who's several years older by this point, still want treasure so much? Dunno, he's a dumb boy haha don't you get it? He's dumb. Why does he decide to bring along his cousin, who will probably spill the beans to his grandfather even if everything went perfectly? Dunno, he's a wittle bit stuwpid. Why is Seth's cousin a jerk? Dunno, mean cousin haha.

I'm not impressed with how all of the nuance of Fablehaven got drained out of this book. It's almost there in the end, but this one in particular feels like Mull just setting up a lot of events to happen so that he can write more books. Here's a little dude who solved the maze for you. Now you're stuck being a dragon caretaker, because this series deals with dragons. Bracken is gone because of course he needs to be. And there's two family members who, as of yet, do nothing aside from be there at the beginning and end.

This book was ok. The dialogue was clunky at places. If I didn't have some hopes for the rest of the series, it would be even lower. All in all, it'd better pick up from here, because this doesn't even respect the source material that's made by the same author.