The Drowned Vault: By N.D. Wilson

THE DROWNED VAULT

SUMMARY

It's been almost a year since Cyrus and Antigone Smith earned their places as Journeymen at Ashtown, home of an ancient order of explorers that has long guarded the world's secrets and treasures. While their studies go well, Cy and Tigs are not well liked since losing the Dragon's Tooth to the nefarious Dr. Phoenix. The Tooth is the only object in the world capable of killing the long-lived transmortals, and Phoenix has been tracking them down one-by-one, and murdering them.

The surviving transmortals, led by legendary warrior Gilgamesh of Uruk, descend on Ashtown in force, demanding justice. Cy and Tigs find themselves on the run in a desperate search to locate Phoenix and regain the Tooth. In the process, they uncover an evil even more dangerous than Phoenix, one that has been waiting for centuries to emerge.

REVIEW

While I liked the first book in the Ashtown Burials series, The Dragon’s Tooth, at the time I felt like it was a tad young for my taste. It started out with a bang but then seemed to slope towards a younger audience. Entirely understandable, but just not my cup of tea.

But The Drowned Vault left me with a completely different feeling. This book started out with a bang and just kept going. It didn’t spend eons catching readers up like I expected, instead it went straight to the action and kept running. Readers will love the increased interactions with transmortals (god like creatures who aren’t limited by silly things such as death), watching them use their powers, fight, and really charge up the story. These transmortals change the entire shape of the story, instead of just fighting a war on just one front, with Phoenix, now with the transmortals free, the O and B in shambles, and the Smiths on the run from everyone, lets just say readers will not be easily bored.

Of course, besides constant action, N.D. Wilson really stepped up his writing game this book, building on his characters and letting them grow and become fuller. This allows for both captivating reading as well as a deeper involvement with the book and characters overall, making a much more enjoyable read.

Really that sums up The Drowned Vault pretty succinctly. It is fun, exciting, full of action and good characters, and I absolutely can’t wait to find out what happens in the next book in the captivating series. 

INFO

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Published: September 11, 2012

Price: $16.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Drowned-Vault-Ashtown-Burials/dp/0375864407/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347902064&sr=1-1&keywords=the+drowned+vault