The Silver Door (The Three Doors Trilogy 2) by Emily Rodda

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Three magic Doors you here behold.

Time to choose: Wood? Silver? Gold?

Listen to your inner voice, And you will make the wisest choice. 

Rye is willing to risk everything to save his brothers, lost in the terrifying world beyond the Wall of Weld. Sonia is determined to find and destroy the Enemy who is sending the ferocious flying beasts called skimmers to ravage the city. The companions barely escaped with their lives during their first thrilling adventure beyond the golden Door. But they won't give up. 

Their desperate quest must continue. Deep in the ancient heart of the Keep of Weld, two more doors await them.

This was a great follow up to The GoldenDoor. It was great to see the story and characters develop. I felt that the world that Rye, Dirk and Sonia entered going through the second door was much more elaborate and detailed than the one through the gold door. I felt that this story was a little darker than the first. The world was more desolate and destroyed and there was an ominous presence of evil there that I can’t wait to explore even more in the third book.

I enjoyed how this story built on the first, with underlying characters and themes. I especially enjoyed the development of the relationships, in particular the different relationships between Dirk, Rye and Sonia. I also liked viewing the difference in the brotherly relationships between Dirk, Rye and Sholto. I really enjoyed Sholto as a character. In The Golden Door, I didn’t particularly like him because I found him to be cold and uncaring, but in this book you saw that most of that was a façade. I love his cleverness and his ability to think quickly in a dangerous situation.

I found the new characters introduced in the story interesting. The difference between the people of the Scour, the people from Nanny Pride’s farm and the employers of The Master was interesting to see contrasted. I loved the people from Nanny Pride’s farm, even if at times desperation made them ruthless. I felt that they were just trying to keep their family together and do their best to survive. I also really liked bones from the Scour, even if he was creepy at times. I found that the provided a little humour to the story when it was needed.

The magical creatures in this story were definitely a lot more menacing than the first. The thought of flesh eating snails that could clean up a body in one night was slightly terrifying and the serpent birds are not a creature that I would ever want to cross paths with. As always, the skimmers sound terrifying, particularly with their new features.

Reading this story has definitely made me want to read The Third Door. It was more captivating than The Golden Door and I give it 4 ½ stars!

I read this book for the Take Control March 2013, 2013 TBR Pile and the Australian Women Writers 2013  reading challenges.

Mel.

Up next: Seven on Saturday - Favourite Villains 

Review: Rowan of Rin (Rowan of Rin #1) by Emily Rodda

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Bravest heart will carry on when sleep is death, and hope is gone.Rowan doesn't believe he has a brave heart. But when the river that supports his village of Rin runs dry, he must join a dangerous journey to its source in the forbidden Mountain. To save Rin, Rowan and his companions must conquer not only the Mountain's many tricks, but also the fierce dragon that lives at its peak.

  

This was a sweet, easy read. I would definitely class it as a children’s story, but it was still a really enjoyable read. I loved the world that Rodda created. Despite it being a rather small book, the world still had depth and we learnt some of the history. I loved how compressed the story was. It was fast paced and yet it was still descriptive and detailed. Rodda did a great job of keeping the story flowing and being very concise with the descriptions. I particularly liked the little riddles in the book, that weren’t only warnings and instructions for the explorers, but clues for the readers in what was to come.

I particularly enjoyed the messages that were carried through this book. I really enjoyed the exploration that to be brave you also need to have fear. It looked at how you can only be brave if you face your fears. The village of Rin praise strong people who are not afraid, yet when the strongest and fiercest of them all were tested they failed and the weakest and most afraid of them all succeeded. It also looked at how humans treat people who we think are different to us, that we may think someone is inferior because they were brought up differently or act differently to us, and it showed how often we are wrong.

I really enjoyed the plot. It was at times a little bit predictable, but I think if was in the age group that it targeted I wouldn’t have found it so. I enjoyed the quest and idea that each person was tested and forced to confront their fears. I loved each test and how they differed, and I have to admit I know where I would have failed. I liked that the solution to the main problem of the book wasn’t through violence but through healing.

I really enjoyed this book, the ending was really touching and I will definitely check out the other books of this series. I give this book 4/5 stars.

I read this book for the Take Control March 2013, 2013 TBR Pile and Australian Women Writers 2013 reading challenges. Click the pictures to find out more!

Mel.

Up next: Review – The Silver Door by Emily Rodda 

Review: The Golden Door (The Three Doors Triology 1) by Emily Rodda

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

The walled city of Weld is under attack from ferocious flying creatures that raid in the night, bringing death and destruction. The Warden calls for Volunteers to find and destroy the Enemy sending invaders, and the heroes of Weld answer the call one by one, never to return. Rye is officially too young to go, but his brothers are among the lost and he must find them. What terrors await him beyond the Wall. 

The Golden Door really would be called a Middle Grade book, but being a fan of Emily Rodda since I read the Deltora Quest series I decided to give it a go. 

What did I like about the book?

• The world building was great. Rodda is great at descriptions. It is so easy to form mental images of the places that Rye goes to. There is depth to the world, as well. We see the City of Weld with it's walls, that in some parts are crumbling, the forest outside the walls and the other towns/cities that they travel through. The descriptions of everything was really vivid. 
• The characters were great. There was such a mix of characters from old to young, good to evil and everything in between, yet you don't lose track of any of the characters. I loved the character interactions. The relationship between Rye and his two brothers were different in many ways. Then there were the relationship with Rye and the adults around him. My favourite relationship was between Rye and Sonia. I loved that Sonia annoyed Rye at the start before a friendship formed that was essential for the rest of the book. The differences in the personalities and characteristics of the people from different areas was also interesting to observe.
• The different creatures and monsters are great. I won't expand on this because I don't want to spoil anything.
• I also loved the little pictures scattered throughout the book of signs and other things. Each one often gave a hint and allowed you to guess what was going on.

What didn't I like about the book?

• It was a simple read. I could guess what was going to come and not much thinking was required from my part. In saying that, it is a book aimed at Middle Graders not 20 year old book lovers, so it is understandable. I just found that the writing was fairly simple as well, but again it is a Middle Grade book.
• I found that it was slow at times. There were parts where either the descriptions or the conversations slowed down the story line, particularly at the start of the book and I almost stopped reading a couple of times because I wasn't getting into the story.

I am glad that I persevered through the start because I did end up enjoying the story. I give this story 3.5/5 stars.

Mel.

Up next: Throwback Thursday.