An Exciting Beginning to a New Series: The Dragon's Tooth

My interest in young adult fiction stems back to my young cousin recommending the Harry Potter books to me back when Book 3 was still a new release. That cousin has gone off to college and, presumably, older reading levels. I give her credit, though, for my own interest in YA fiction.

I have nieces who read YA books and soon, I'll have daughters reading this stuff. It behooves me to know what's good.

Twilight, not. Regina Doman, yes.

And now, add to my list of fabulous books in YA fiction, The Dragon's Tooth, the first in N.D. Wilson's Ashtown Burials books.

Here's why:

It's fast-paced. You won't want to put it down, because you'll be guessing what comes next and waiting for the next surprise turn and twist.

It's well-written. Don't ask me why I wasn't expecting this, but for some reason, I wasn't. The plot holds, and I didn't feel like I'd been "cheated" when things turned out a certain way.

There's fun history. And that history, my friends, can be called Catholic, if you wanted. There's a morality within this book of good being good and evil being evil. There's also a bit of saint-lore and some other fun stuff included.

The characters are real people. I had the feeling that I could look over my shoulder and see Cyrus standing there, with Antigone shaking her finger at him. You get to see glimpses of the people in various situations and feel like you know them.

I'm really looking forward to the second book in the series. In the mean time, don't waste any time getting a copy and reading this for yourself!