The Dragon’s tooth (Ashtown Burials #1)
N.D. Wilson
The short:
A very strong beginning to another great trilogy. N.D. Wilson creates a secret society on earth that is original and believable. Rowling and Riordan fans cannot go wrong with this book! Ashtown feels magical and historic. I wish I could go there myself.
This novel is entertaining for all ages. It is packed with adventure from start to finish and at no point loses pace. This book is very suspenseful. Readers will enjoy the amount of suspense as Cyrus and Antigone figure out what the heck has just happened to them.
The Long:
This series reads very differently than what I expected. The dragon’s tooth felt like a suspense-adventure. Wilson 100 cupboard series started similarly, with mysterious happening mixed with new adventures. This new series has more action in the first installment than the 100 cupboards. I felt like I was Cyrus and experiencing the same question that he had throughout the entire story.
Wilson does an amazing job painting a scene with words. His characters experience a number of events and witness so much in Ashtown. Every item, character, and event feels very original and unique if you are trying to compare them to other series.
Wilson’s characters are creative and feel very natural. They are a blend of real and crazy that does not push them to the extreme. The society is a great mix of the past with the future; giving Ashtown the feel of a walk through live action role play history book, while walking through a museum (kind of like night at the museum.) I wish I could find this place and fight others in hot air balloons games and ride a shark and use quick water.
Pros:
Spectacular Imagery
Nonstop suspense and action
Very original concept
Cons:
The second book wasn’t out right after I read the first.
The Story:
(Taken from Goodreads)
For two years, Cyrus and Antigone Smith have run a sagging roadside motel with their older brother, Daniel. Nothing ever seems to happen. Then a strange old man with bone tattoos arrives, demanding a specific room.
Less than 24 hours later, the old man is dead. The motel has burned, and Daniel is missing. And Cyrus and Antigone are kneeling in a crowded hall, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as caretakers of the world’s secrets, keepers of powerful relics from lost civilizations, and jailers to unkillable criminals who have terrorized the world for millennia.
The Writing:
N.D. Wilson writes this story mostly from the point of Cyrus. He does very little background of what going on to Cyrus as you is read through the story. Some readers found this to be a negative; I found it to be a strong aspect of the writing and tone of this book. Wilson wrote this novel in third person POV, but I felt like I was reading a first person point of view. I was confused about what was going on because Cyrus was confused about what was going on. When in life to you enter a new situation, and somebody standing behind you is telling you what’s happening and why; never, that’s when. Cyrus is plunged into a mysterious society and life very quickly. He had to figure out what was going on as it happened, just like the reader had to. I loved this style of reading.
The Characters:
I will leave most of the characters out for this review so you can be introduced to them like I was. Wilson’s characters are fresh and original and often surprising as the book unfolds. Every character involved with the society is quirky, has unique skills, and the right amount of back-story for you to really understand all of them.
Cyrus Smith- Cyrus is an impatient youth. His life has come onto some hardships. His father is dead, his mother in a coma, and he lives in a rundown motel now owned by his older brother. He seems a little fed up with most of the world, and going to a secret society filled with pretentious people doesn’t make him any happier. He rises to the challenge set forth in a way I would expect a boy his age too. He was challenged and no one thought he could do it; that got his competitive edge going to prove them wrong.
Antigone Smith- The strong willed sister of Cyrus. She is the brains to Cy’s athleticism. She and Cy both enter the secret society and become members together. She is a strong female character and an extra POV that rounds out the POV of Cyrus very well.
Conclusion:
Definitely read this one. This series will be one for the bookshelf. Wilson really improved from his last series, The 100 cupboards, which I thoroughly enjoyed. If you are a fan of N.D. Wilson, you will love it. If you were disappointed with the 100 Cupboards series, this one makes N.D. Wilson’s writing worth another try.
I loved this book and can’t wait to read the second in the series. If you are a fan of Hogwarts or Camp Half-Blood; you must read this book and become a fan of Ashtown!
Zero2Fiction 