The Dragon’s Tooth is a middle grade/YA fantasy adventure, and the start of a series called Ashtown Burials, by N. D. Wilson.
Two years ago siblings Cyrus and Antigone’s lives changed completely. After an accident left their father dead and their mother comatose, their older brother Daniel had to leave school to take care of them. To get by, they moved out of their familiar California home into the aged, drooping roadside motel in Lake Michigan their parents owned, in hopes of making some income.
It’s not doing all that well.
Now their lives are about to change completely… again.
An old man with bone tattoos over all his body except for his face arrives, and demands a specific room in the motel. In less than 24 hours, the old man is dead, the motel is in tatters, and Daniel is missing.
Not to mention, Cyrus and Antigone are in possession of strange keys and are being hustled to a secret society called the Order of Brendan, who apparently are explorers that have kept the world’s secrets, protected powerful artifacts, and confined unkillable prisoners for generations.
Somehow, the Smith siblings are tied to this society. They must survive here; thrive here, if they want a chance of finding their brother – and not losing yet another family member…
I loved The Dragon’s Tooth! This is an honest-to-goodness imaginative, magical, exhilarating adventure!
At the beginning, there’s a gloomy, mysterious, eerie air that really pulsates. Even though the characters are young, the tone is more than accessible to readers of all ages – which I, as you probably know by now, adore!
N. D. Wilson has created characters that are complex, humorous, heartbroken, and startlingly real for a middle grade fantasy book – not commonplace or cliché personalities, either. And as we are introduced to the expansive, enigmatic, creepy but thrilling placed called Ashtown, my bibliophile heart soared!
From start to finish I was captivated with The Dragon’s Tooth!!! Glued, enchanted and awed by the adventure, depth, intricate puzzles and fully encompassing story created here. It actually reminded me a little of how it felt to read Harry Potter for the first time, which is extremely rare. As though I was entering a story that knew where it was going, was going to take me on a journey, and really pull my imagination out of reality and into a real-feeling fantasy world! Fantastic!
The Dragon’s Tooth is dark, grim yet quirky, and enthusiastic! Family secrets, magical revelations, impossible quests, and unanswered questions makes this novel a “children’s” book meant to be read by more than children!
Here is an action-packed, heartfelt, funny, surprising, sprawling tale with a robust adventure ambiance. I loved it!
I’m absolutely THRILLED to know it’s a planned FIVE book series! I now MUST find book two, The Drowned Vault, and book three, Empire of Bones, is coming out later this year!
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