Dragonwatch 3: Master of the Phantom Isle

• Third book in the NYT bestselling Dragonwatch series, sequel to the Fablehaven series.
• In the Dragonwatch series, each book features one dominant fantastical creature whose main objective is to help the dragons take over the world. The series showcases Brandon Mull’s signature world-building abilities populated by new creatures and wildly clever mash-ups of a wide variety of ancient fables, folk legends, and myths.
  • In book 1, Celebrant is the Dragon King trying to liberate the dragons from their sanctuaries which he sees as prisons.
  • In book 2, Celebrant works with Ronodin, the Dark Unicorn, to obtain a magical talisman to overthrow the dragon preserve.
  • In book 3, The Underking, ruler of the Underworld, poses the main danger with the objective to free Celebrant from his dragon prison and once again raise a dragon army in their quest for world domination.
• We leave the terrestrial world of leafy, dark, woodland locations of the Fablehaven and Dragonwatch universes and enter for the first time an entirely new world: an aquatic fantastical dragon sanctuary called Crescent Lagoon, a remote archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. The archipelago consists of an elusive “ghost” island also known as the Phantom Isle, the domain of the Underking and gateway to the underworld. The Phantom Isle is the island version of a ghost ship with the ability to appear and disappear from view but always resides within Crescent Lagoon, surrounded by a deep, vast, tranquil, yet terrifying underwater kingdom.
• Features an intriguing mix of new creatures like a sea dragon who guards the Phantom Isle and an aquatic city of fierce and formidable mermen and mermaids. The underwater world is also inhabited by sea zombies-the “undead” bodies of people who perished at sea.
• Also includes several beloved creatures and characters from Fablehaven who are reintroduced to the story. As the dragon sanctuaries are falling, old friends come forward to join the army being amassed by Kendra to marshal resources and save her brother, Seth. Tanu returns with his potion-making skills. Warren, a Knight of the Dawn, is once again healthy and a highly-skilled fighter, and Vanessa, known to have vampiric abilities capable of exerting control over her victims while they sleep.
• Tess and Knox, the younger cousins of Seth and Kendra, play a key role by influencing a former dragon king. Their journey is similar to Kendra and Seth who are their mentors. These cousins are also a constant reflection of who Seth and Kendra were as youngsters and a reminder that we can never escape too much from our pasts.
• Bracken, a unicorn of light who is able to transform as a human avatar, is a prisoner in the underworld and, as her closest ally, Kendra will stop at nothing to save him.
• For most of Fablehaven and Dragonwatch, Kendra and Seth have had similar hero’s journeys, each equally learning new powers and skills, sometimes making progress and sometimes falling behind in their quest to save the world from demonic and draconic dominion. In Kendra’s journey she’s always exhibited qualities of the light creatures: she does the right thing, sticks to the rules, and thinks through steps to achieving goals. Seth has more dark qualities: he’s sometimes impulsive, arrogant, and tends to focus on the goals but not the process to successfully achieve those goals.
• In book 3, the story focuses on Kendra’s hero’s journey. She is the warrior, coming to the aid of a weakened Seth who is held by Ronodin on Phantom Isle. He is a boy who has retained all the knowledge and power which is still at his command, but his mind has been erased of memories of personal details, so he really doesn’t know who he is. He’s forgotten the life experiences and lessons learned and relationships he’s developed along the way. He is completely oriented toward achieving the power-hungry goals put before him by Ronodin. He is being used as a pawn for the selfish, chaotic designs of the dark unicorn.
• Unicorns play a major role with the return of Bracken, Kendra’s light unicorn love interest from Fablehaven. 99% of unicorns are light: they exude goodness and their purpose is to heal. They represent learning and power and sophistication compared to the dragons in Dragonwatch who are selfish, brutish, and care only about their needs as creatures on “top of the food chain.” Ronodin is one of the very few “dark unicorns” and the story sets up a wild chess match between all three forces battling out for dominance. However, Ronodin is a law unto himself, always serving his own needs of creating chaos. He would love to overthrow humanity and see magical creatures rule the Earth.

ISBN: 978-1-62972-604-5
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Publish Date: 2019
Page Count: 384