A shining star among the recent proliferation of Mormon fantasy novels has been Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series. And now with the release of the fourth installment, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary, Mull raises the stakes of his story, as well as the quality of his writing. In Dragon Sanctuary, Kendra and Seth Sorensen spend most of their time away from their grandparent's preserve for the protection of magical creatures, as Kendra is kidnapped early on in the book and then ventures to the forbidden Dragon Sanctuary, Wyrmroost, to search for a key to finding one of the artifacts that can unlock the great demon prison. As with the previous Fablehaven novels, Dragon Sanctuary hooked me from the first chapter, but this time I was pleasantly surprised to find that Mull's writing had significantly improved. There was a noticeable decrease in the embarrassingly silly character banter that has afflicted the series, the narrative was smoother, and the overall feel of the book was more professional. Dragon Sanctuary is also more intense and exciting than its predecessors - Mull throws a dramatic curveball toward the end that I didn't see coming, but which I thought worked surprisingly well. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a book as much as I did Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary earning it a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
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