Wrath of the Dragon King by Brandon Mull

The dragons have declared war on humans. Two of the seven dragon sanctuaries have already fallen. Will Wyrmroost be next?

After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Kendra and Seth, Celebrant, King of Dragons, prepares to unleash his fury and take control of his native preserve. Armed with information from a new ally—Ronodin, the dark unicorn—Celebrant seeks a legendary talisman—the dominion stone.

However, the powerful stone is protected by a cursed castle. Can Kendra and Seth foil Celebrant's plan and beat him to his prize? Will the two young caretakers rally enough support from the creatures of Wyrmroost against the greatest threat the magical community has faced in ages? One this is for certain. Dragons are wicked smart. It will take more than Kendra, Seth, and their current allies to outwit and outmatch the wrath of the Dragon King.

After almost a month of reading this one... I'm finally done!

RTC

This needs to be merged with book 1.

Writing this after reading the rest of the series, I can confidently say that this and book 1 are complete filler. If they were in one book, it would be excusable, but being 2 is a waste of real estate in an otherwise excellent sequel series. Is there any reason why book 1 needs to be spent re-treading character development on Seth and finding the magical macguffin staff that is never brought up again? No. This book sets up the fetch-quest that's actually relevant to the story, along with the primary players. Book 1 gave us the rock dragon that exists as a replacement for Agad. This finishes the setup for the rest of the series by isolating the grandparents and getting the author out of the inconvenience that is tying his main characters to a magical preserve. He also uses Knox and Tess about the same amount as he did last book - that is, hardly at all.

This book isn't bad. Neither is book 1. But neither are they good. They are necessary tools to get to the actual meat of this series. If they were put into one, the concepts in the later books could actually get explored.

Edit: I forgot that this book spends the second act derping around with talking animals and a stingbulb version of Patton. This is truly a waste of time, and one of the key reasons this and book 1 need to be one book. Just for that, this gets -1 star from what I originally gave it.

The second book continues to deliver excitement, if not much character development. The plot feels very similar to the original series.

Age range: 10-16
Younger readers may find it a little scary. Older readers may find the tone too juvenile.