What an exciting way to write this book; one character completely loses his memories and has the abilities of a shadow charmer. Seth's biggest frustration throughout this book is that people keep telling him who he is, and he wants to be by himself to decide this. He is not sure who to trust, and he is being manipulated left and right. Meanwhile, his sister continues on the battle to save the sanctuaries from destruction by the dragons. What I loved most about this book is that both characters got to shine and figure out more about their abilities. Especially Kendra as being fairy kind and the ending was nerve gripping as she battled it out with the under the king. I am excited to check out the next installment.

It was shallow and superficial compared to his previous's books, like Fablehaven. NO real action happened here, these characters that I loved seem rather flat here, and I felt that it was lacking.

A good addition to the series! I highly recommend Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series to kids and anyone who reads Middle Grade fantasy, and now I would also recommend they read this sequel series as well. Although it is certainly not as good as the original series, it still has a bit of magic.

My main issue with these books is that they are, perhaps, a bit too long. It's sometimes hard to keep my attention throughout every scene, but due to my attachment with this series, I still continue to read. I recommend this series to anyone who is willing to give it a try, and to anyone who enjoys magical creatures and sibling antics.

"She decided evil was most dangerous when operating with a smile."


This followup to the Fablehaven series has been just as good, if not better, than the originals. This third installment took me longer than expected to get through, but not because I didn't like it. It was emotionally hard hitting, after the events of the ending of Wrath of the Dragon King and that slowed me down.

There isn't a lot to say about this one without giving away spoilers for the previous books, but if you've read those and enjoyed them, I think it's safe to say that you will enjoy this one as well. It had a lot of action, new creatures, fascinating potions, and a conclusion that was just about perfect. It left me curious for book four without having me furious that I would have to wait at least a year. I highly recommend this series if you read and enjoyed Fablehaven.

I had a bit of a harder time getting into this one than the others, but once I did, I flew through the rest of the book.

I adored Fablehaven, so Dragonwath has been a real delight. It's like coming home to an old friend.

I am a huge fan of the Fablehaven series so I was excited to dive into the side series Dragonwatch! I have recommended the Fablehaven series to my advanced reading students over the years and will be continuing to recommend those and the Dragonwatch series as well. I really enjoyed this story. It had me on the edge of my seat! More! I need more!

My son LOVED this book. And as soon as his friend across the street found out he had an early copy of it, she devoured it too. Then they had a long chat about it. Great to see such enthusiasm and discussion.

I absolutely love this series as it continues on from the Fablehaven series. When you start this book, be prepared not to put it down until the end.

Great book series that once again meets all of the requirements for a great Brandon Mull book. Readers will once again love the world that Mull has created and the adventures that exist.

Definitely a great addition to the Dragonwatch series! I totally enjoyed revisiting this fantasy world with all it's new mythical creatures. Talking Octopus, somber wraiths, an evil unicorn and dragons. I'm here for it. The writing was just as action packed and intriguing as the other two books. I loved the writing of this book much more as well.

Seth and Kendra are still my favorite characters ever. I loved seeing their growth from books one to three. In this third installation we find that they both are facing life changing decisions. Seth is dealing with the curse and has lost all his memories. He's fighting against the world to figure out who he truly is and how his powers work. It was amazing to see my baby re-learn himself and his powers. I loved that he didn't just allow people to tell or remind him of who he was. He was determined to find the answers for himself without the influence of others.

Kendra is trying hard to save her brother and the world at the same time. I enjoyed seeing her make sound decisions and silly mistakes. I loved seeing how battle with her own ideas as well. Kendra is such a strong young female protagonist. She thinks things through in depth and always goes with the best possible answer. When things looked grim she always thought positive.

I just love how this series continues to pick up with each turn of the page and each book. The character interactions are always comical to me. Seeing the addition of new characters just added some spice to the series. That ending though...my, my...I'm excited for anything that's next for these two.

Brandon Mull has such a way with inviting you into a world and intensifying the action while character growth is seen each and every book. Such a great read!

Totally recommend this and plan to re-read this series with my son when he gets older.

Braden's Review: (age 11)

I really liked it because it was awesome and amazing I really like the details of the story and the
storyline. I have wondered what would become of Seth after Wrath Of The Dragon King. I loved
Mull’s imagination and all the twists and turns. It is definitely another inspiring novel.


Joey's Review: (age 14)

Brandon Mull returns to Fablehaven with a sequel that's wandering yet still sure to please fans with familiar characters, nods to early adventures, and new thrills among the dragons of Wyrmroost. I think he really nailed the “not knowing anything about your past part of the story for Seth. Although the “find another treasure to save everyone” story line is getting a bit repetitive.

Guest book review from my 12 year old...because I got an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review and he and my husband fought over the iPads to read it every night. Now my 10 year old has taken over the book, and my 15 year old called dibs on it next. We all love Brandon Mull around here.
.
.
.
I liked this book because it has a lot of unexpected things that happen so it is hard to tell what is going to happen next. It also introduces a lot of cool new characters. There are some old characters too. My favorite is the evil unicorn because he is just pretty cool....I mean, he is an evil unicorn. The ending is super good and now I have to wait forever for the next one!

I love all of Brandon Mull’s books but this story just seemed... extra funny and even more adventurous than usual. Seth has no memory of his identity and is with Ronodin in the Phantom Isle. Kendra and her friends travel from Wyrmroost to the Crescent Lagoon, both for protection and to help the fallen sanctuary of Crescent Lagoon. We’re introduced to new characters, like a giant, a new wizard, selkie, and mer folk. This book is an all-around good time. The characters are brave and interesting and the world-building is absolutely amazing- we learn about underwater colonies and more about the Under Realm. I can’t recommend this book or any in the Fablehaven/Dragonwatch séries enough.

Brandon Mull has a delightfully wicked way of wrapping up a story by introducing what the next story arc is going to be or where it will happen. Then follows it up with a book that picks up right where the previous one left off. This is great! For anyone who has all the books and binge them one after the other. But incredibly frustrating for those of us who read them before the next book releases!!

That being said, this third installment is marvelous! We learn more about what happened to Seth at the end of book two as well as Bracken’s whereabouts. Kendra does a fantastic job of coping with the loss of her brother while trying to maintain her responsibilities. We get to see Warren and Vanessa again. And my favorite, the Fairy Queen, makes an appearance 🙂

If I say too much more, I’ll give away spoilers for either this book or the previous ones. Hopefully you’ve already read them, but here are links to my reviews if you want to check those out.

Dragonwatch

Wrath of the Dragon King

The mission should these two young caretakers choose to accept it is for Kendra to save Seth and restore the sanctuary while Seth becomes indebted to the Underking. Kendra summons the help from magical creatures of the light while Seth draws help from the darkness.
The journey they began in Fablehaven helped establish skills and knowledge for new adventures in the dragon sanctuary.
Once again Kendra and Seth draw upon the magical creatures to aid in their adventures.
This is a character driven story with quick introductions of previous characters. I read Fablehaven in 2009, so it’s been ten years since I’ve ventured into Brandon Mull’s fantasy world. Truthfully, all I remember are the main characters names: Kendra and Seth. I wasn’t expecting all the same characters. I did expect some new supporting characters, but not at the rate that they were introduced.

Overall:
I was expecting the same type of story as Fablehaven. I remember loving this series.
This is a stand-alone sequel series to Fablehaven. Since I loved the Fablehaven series and all its cast of characters I thought this would be an extension of that series. Meaning I had hoped that the writing style and adventures would be similar. What I found was a similar cast of characters, but an entirely different agenda. The writing and the adventures were not even the same caliber as Fablehaven. It’s as if it’s not written by the same author.
I’m not finding my groove or rhythm with this book. I was expecting to like this story much like I did Fablehaven. Unfortunately, this doesn’t read anything like that series. Sadly, I can’t help comparing this book to Fablehaven because it was so outstanding.
The real heroes are the new magical creatures. They are the ones with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve these quests that Kendra and Seth were assigned.

Actual rating: 4.5/5 stars

The fact that I was able to get an advanced copy of my most anticipated release of the year is still blowing my mind. I truly thought I was going to get rejected, yet here we are.

This, of course, was fantastic. I've read every single one of Brandon Mull's books and loved them all, so I never had any doubt in my mind that I would adore this, as well. It definitely did not pan out the way I expected it to, but that was a good thing. I definitely thought Seth was going to be a lot more far gone than he was, which was a relief. I loved seeing how his good heart conflicted with the lies Ronodin fed him.

I enjoyed Seth's parts in this one especially. It was interesting to see what was going on in the Under Realm with him, and how his actions unwittingly affected Kendra and the others. I was expecting Ronodin to be more outright evil, but I guess I should have known by now that that isn't the kind of villain Brandon Mull writes. (I think this is a good thing, but it was just different than what I expected).

While I liked the inclusion of Knox and Tess, they kind of confuse/frustrate me just a little. Not only was this the first book to shift away from Kendra and Seth's heads for only three (3) scenes, but I don't completely get Tess's purpose. Knox seems to be something of a replacement for Seth, which makes sense but also kind of sucks. Tess, though. She's fairystruck (why do we need another person with fairy powers????), and she's been kept out of the action the entire time. There must be some sort of plan for her in the next two books, otherwise why would Brandon Mull just leave her behind when they started moving around? It befuddles me.

The whole ending, while pretty satisfying and a good set up for the next book without another (cruel) cliffhanger, seemed a little lackluster. Both events that were/could be seen as the climax seemed to fall a bit short and I wasn't nervous or tense through either of the scenes. I suppose it's because this is the middle book in the series and there isn't as much a reason for a big epic battle when there's still so much to be done, but it felt a little odd to me.

Still, as you can see from my rating, I loved this so, so much. I already can't wait for book #4.

I was heartbroken at Seth's memory loss in the last book. This book focuses on his journey and the choices he makes when he can't remember who he is. There isn't as much focus on the dragons, but I was okay with that.

5/5 stars. Special thanks to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for giving me an early copy of this book.

Master of the Phantom Isle is a fast-paced book that kept me reading all night. I could not put the book down and could not be bothered as I read this book. Mull truly delivered a fantastic continuation of the Dragonwatch series and I was happy to see Kendra and Seth continue their dangerous journeys through this world. There was so much thrill and complexity delivered in this book and my heart was pounding almost every second I was reading this book.

This fast paced book is surprisingly nuanced and deep in the way it delves into light and dark, good and bad. It raises complex questions with no clear cut answers. This is something I have rarely seen in other children/young adult novels and I’m applaud Mull for taking his work to the next level. It also delves into identity, and how experiences, relationships, and values really define who you are.

One person’s character development shined through the novel. In his journey, Seth becomes the most interesting character in the world. With his lack of memory, Seth must find out who he is despite all the odds stacked against him.

The world-building continues to be amazing. Just when I think Mull’s world could not be expanded on more, Mull creates more layers to his already intricate world. Seth visits the Under Realm and Mull takes us through an incredible journey through this mysterious realm.

My only complaints are the couple instances of deus ex machina and how I felt that some of the minor characters weren’t needed.

However, I believe this is Mull’s best book by far and I truly cannot wait for the next installments of the series. Mull continues to raise the stakes and surprise me in his writing.

Arc Copy...I admit, even though I have read the first two Fablehaven books that...ok I'm late to [arty but I feel that will not be disappointed because the narrative starts hot on the heels of what I assume are events from the previous, and both Kendra and Seth are their "road trips", which in Seth's case, literally finding himself.

A definite winner! When I began this series, I wasn't sure that I liked it as much as the original Fablehaven series, but I thought Brandon Mull did a great job with this book. It can't be easy writing a book from the point of view of someone who has lost his memory of who he is--his entire identity. And yet, as we progress, we know that Seth has still retained his true essence. It's interesting how he rediscovers that even while he struggles with his dark powers and what he has done or not done. In this book, the book is split fairly evenly between Seth's point of view and Kendra's point of view and she searches for him and Bracken, and as he struggles to learn his powers and how it impacts (good and bad) with who he wants to be. Some old friends come back (Warren and Vanessa) and you see a little bit more from their cousins, Knox and Tess. Although the story clearly continues at the end, it's a perfect set-up for the next book, but it still feels like a complete story. I am now going to wait patiently for the 4th and 5th book, but it's going to be hard!

Special thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. And a great big thank you to the author for such a great story!