https://dunnooowrite.wordpress.com/2017/07/02/dragons-of-deltora-4-the-sister-of-the-south/

I might have cried a bit at the end.

Aw man, I'm so sad. It's like my childhood self has just waved good-bye to me after for visiting for awhile. Though luckily, there are three more Deltora companion books to read after (one albeit a dragon drawing book but I will gladly take advantage of that one's excellent dragon art techniques).

Anyway, onto actually talking about Deltora's final installment. While I don't rate this one as highly in the quartet (The Masked Ones and Isle of the Dead earn those placements), I think Rodda is able to remarkably tie all the strings together and end the damn thing with a fantastic dragon night battle, what more could you want? And I think it's a cute detail that this inspires one of the biggest festivals of the year, Dragon Night. What I would give to read a short story based around a Dragon Night celebration, I don't know. Alas, while the completion of the series is satisfying, the entirety of this final book itself is just too depressing with the Toran Plague nonesense and all the back and forth with the people of Del. Also on another ending note, don't you think it's funny that Lief and Jasmine name their kids after their dead parents (Anna, Jarred, & Endon) much in the same fashion as the Harry Potter ending? Which, I might add, ended only three years later. So I'm blaming Deltora for that silly & mind-boggling trope.

Side note, can we please get some short stories involving Doom's travel adventures? He sets out on all this big trips at the conclusion of the series and Rodda hints he's trying to uncover truths on bringing back the dragon population.

Turns out, for eager Deltora beavers, the companion books are not the only linked stories. Rodda announced in 2015 through the new Star of Deltora series that her other works, Rowan of Rin, the Three Doors, and the new Star of Deltora books all take place in the same world as Lief, Jasmine, and Barda's! So it turns out, my childhood nostalgia trip is not quite over ;)

5⭐️ I've been holding out writing this review because I don't wanna say goodbye. It's officially over

Star Rating: 5 stars
Date: 9/19/23 – 9/21/23

Note: This is the 4th book in Dragons of Deltora and the 15th and final book in the overarching Deltora series so this will not be an in-depth review.

I have been reading a lot of classic epic fantasy and science fiction, and I decided that I wanted a little bit of a “break” so I picked up The Sister of the South, book 4 in the Dragons of Deltora arc and the 15th and final book in the overarching Deltora series. This book is intended for young readers just getting into chapter books and is an amazing series to start children with if you want them to develop a love for fantasy as it is one of the earliest books I remember reading in the genre. I have been re-reading them over the last few years to try and make my Goodreads an accurate representation of my reading preferences so it gives me good recommendations, and they also make great “break” books.

This series tells the story of a kingdom called Deltora, once a beautiful, unique, thriving country filled with many different creatures and peoples, protected by magic and ruled by a benevolent and loved royal family. However, the Shadow Lord, a sorcerer from a neighboring kingdom grew jealous of Deltora’s abundance and launched a multi-layered plan to conquer the kingdom and destroy its wonder. He was thought to be successful until a young blacksmith’s son discovers a family secret and sets out on a quest of epic proportions that just might save his world. As I stated previously, this book is perfect to introduce young readers to the fantasy genre as it has many of troupes that more versed readers will recognize but demonstrated in a much more approachable way. Also, it has lots of puzzles and riddles included in the narrative with cool formatting, which will engage young readers and keep them reading.

Another of the things I think this series does amazing and that I want to highlight is the themes that it introduces to young readers. In this volume and at multiple points in this series, we explore censoring and inflammatory “media”, and with how our world is going, this is a great concept to introduce to kids and educators and parents can use the feelings that this series sparks in that regard to open conversions about this topic. It also delves into environmentalism and why we should protect our natural resources as well as the cycle of history and how we should learn from our mistakes to not perpetuate the horrors of the past. Finally, it discusses leadership and what makes a good leader and what it means to lead. All in all, if your young reader is ready to be challenged with more complex narratives, but you still want to have some literary weight, this may be a good series to try.

However, when it comes to my own personal experience, this book and series gave me exactly what I wanted from it: nostalgia and a “break” from some of the harder and more complex books I’ve been reading. I think the narrative is actually unique and fun and I really liked how as the series went on, the books slowly got more complex (It aged up with its readers, which is something all good middle grade series should do). I think it holds up as an adult, albeit in a different way than it did as a child, and I will be keeping it on my forever shelves, re-reading it again in the future, and passing it on to my children if I end up having any. 5 stars!!!!!!!!