Adolescent Novel - The Land of Dragons by Emily Rodda

This book combines several stories from The Land of Dragons and what is to become known as Deltora. Some of the stories have never been told before outside the Deltora quest series and are mostly of ancient legends.

Each chapter provides a succinct message. Chapters one and two set the scene for the entire book. The following chapters jump all over with individual stories which seem to connect to the beginning and finish of the book in one way or another. Many of the chapters are limited to telling specific stories of one person or a family or group of people.

Due to the nature of the book it is often very difficult to follow unless there is full attention paid by the reader. The vocabulary in this book is also very specific to the Deltora quests and the stories within it.

In a classroom this book would highlight the importance of more advanced book layouts. The story has many short chapters but each chapter is clearly identifiable.

Daniel C. Kelly