My Review - be warned, there will be spoilers!!
The Writing
I was kept glued to its pages from beginning to end! Very fast-paced and action-packed! I felt like the writing and the pacing were much improved in this installment compared to the other two I've previously read.
The Plot
Ok, when the heroes come into contact with the denizens within the Dread Mountain, they learn that the Shadow Lord is finally getting suspicious that his precious gems are being collected and his allies are being killed off one by one, so by the time our heroes face off against the monster in Dread Mountain, Gellick, the monster toad who enslaves the Gnomes within the mountain to do his bidding is aware of that someone or a group of people are after the gem he's guarding and very boastful he is the Shadow Lord's number one ally (hahaha!)
Characters
New characters are introduced:
* The Kin (a flying animal, that is a hybrid between a dragon and a kangaroo lol) who were forced to leave Dread Mountain 16 years ago as they were being killed off by the Gnomes who allied themselves with the Shadow Lord and Gellick and been forced to live a shadow existence, stuck in their own dreams of their lost home.
They guard the Dreaming Spring where they encounter Leif, Barda, and Jasmine and the former befriends the youngest Kin, Prin, who doesn't dream as she only knows the Dreaming Spring and longs to see her family's home: Dread Mountain.
Oh, Prin, is also very stubborn, willful, and adventurous but is very doted on by her family as she is the only child born since the Kin were forced to flee, so it was great to see some character growth in a side character, also nice to see that the heroes are exercising some caution and patience, especially Lief who normally charges full steam ahead without thought, would like to see some more character growth in the others, though Barda's slowly warming up to his younger companions, even joking with them, so that's adorable.
We witness a vision that Lief has of his father, whose been captured and interrogated on Leif's whereabouts by the Shadow Lord's flunkies, obviously, Leif is concerned for his parent's safety and well-being and is ready to abandon the mission but both Barda and Jasmine convince Leif to stick to his convictions and stay on course.
Overall
I enjoyed this a lot more than the last two I previously read, the final showdown was good and well written, how that is done, well read on, won't give it away!
I guess I'm hoping that there will be more consequences for our heroes considering that the Shadow Lord is aware now that his plan to keep the Belt of Deltora dismantled so his reign remains unchallenged, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop, a confrontation to occur and I've been thinking on who the true heir is, but I don't wanna say just yet.