A New Review on an “Old” Series

Recently, my 15-year-old daughter and I came across a series by bestselling author, Emily Rodda. You may have already heard about it, as the books came out in 2012-2013, but in case they passed by under the radar, I’m here to shine the spotlight on them now.

I can’t say enough good things about this three-book series, mostly because of the twist at the end. I mean, the characters captured my heart immediately, thus I cared about their plight and the plot. Even without the ah-MAZE-ing twist, I still would have applauded these books—but then the end just blew it out of the water! And it made everything I read up to that point even better—and turned the entire plot on its head. In the most unique way I’ve ever seen in a book.

Mind-blowing. That’s how my daughter and I kept describing this series long after we’d finished. Just a dropped jaw and an endless shaking of the head. And if you’re one of those people who reads the end before you read the beginning—PLEASE DON’T! You will not get the full impact that way, and you will ruin the experience of reading the series. This is one time you do not want spoilers!

The actual reading won’t take long. I’m a “slow” reader, in that I don’t have long stints of time in which to sit and pore over a book, thus it usually takes me a few weeks to get through one. That’s just how it is in my present season of life. But this series—all three books—I finished in a matter of two or three weeks. Which means most of you will have it done in one-and-a-half or less. 🙂 What drew me to this particular series was 1) it’s clean; no controversial issues, no innuendos; 2) it’s fantasy, and I lurve fantasy—always have; 3) it deals with an isolated town, walled off from the outside world, which is loosely similar to a fantasy WIP I’ve got simmering on the back-burner of my mind, so I was curious how this town played out its isolation in comparison. (I was happy to see our storylines diverge almost immediately.)

So, what are these books about? 

Here’s a mashup of the series as a whole, cut and pasted from Amazon (and manipulated by me so there are no spoilers 😉 ): 

The walled city of Weld is under attack from ferocious flying creatures, called skimmers, that raid in the night, bringing death and destruction. The Warden calls for Volunteers to find and destroy the Enemy sending the 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.

The only way in and out of Weld is through three magic Doors. The golden Door is grand and majestic—a Door for heroes. The silver Door hints at mystery and knowledge—a door for schemers. But the plain wooden Door has always held the most appeal for Rye. Twice before, he’s left Weld on a quest to save its people. Twice before, he’s failed. And if he can’t discover the enemy sending the skimmers in time, he has no hope. With everything depending on Rye’s success, nothing can prepare him for the horror that waits behind the wooden Door.

The one negative to these books is the heavy reliance on “telling” instead of “showing,” using words like “realized,” “felt,” “saw,” “heard,” “seemed,” “knew,” etc., and a heavy use of “to be” when dealing with description. But I was willing to overlook this issue because, again, the author made me care about the characters early on and I became invested in the story.

What does this tell you about following the writing rules?

Still follow them! 😀

Just…don’t cling to them at the expense of the story. And if you can weave in an incredible twist that makes mouths drop and minds explode, go for it.