Finally nabbed a copy of the fourth Fablehaven book (Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary) late last weekend. I had to go to two different stores to find it because the first store had sold out. The story starts right off with a bang and keeps flying through some pretty crazy and exciting adventures right up to the end. I enjoyed seeing Kendra and Seth's relationship improve and Seth grows up a bit in this installment. There are some wild twists in the story and now that I've finished it I can't wait for the last book to come out. I've enjoyed reading all of the books and the story gets better and more exciting with each one. I think I'm going to start reading the series over from the beginning to tide me over.

We purchased the audiobook for the first novel and decided we didn't much care for E.B. Stevens' inflections or dramatic interpretation. While I like most of his character voices, generally his reading comes off as annoying and over-exaggerated. Unfortunately this same fellow reads the Levin Thumps books too, with the same problems.

Speaking of purchasing books, how do you feel about paperback versus hardcover? I've decided that I much prefer reading a hardcover book. I like the sturdiness of it. I like the paper quality (the paper quality in so many paperbacks is barely above newsprint, and I hate paying $7 for a book that can't have cost more than $2 to print thanks to the poor paper used). I like a book that feels like it's going to last awhile. My oldest child, O., has the first two Fablehaven books in paperback, and by the time I decided that I liked them I bought the third one in hardcover. Now I want to go back and purchase the first two in hardcover so I have my own copies that will last. That means I'm going to go haunt my favorite used book website to find a good deal: www.abebooks.com. You can find just about anything there, for just about any price.

Want to read the Fablehaven books yourself? Here they are, listed in order:
Fablehaven
Rise of the Evening Star
Grip of the Shadow Plague
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (just released)
Keys to the Demon Prison (unpublished)

And the Fablehaven website is pretty cool. Kids who have read the books will definitely like it. If you want to find out more about the author, Brandon Mull, visit here.