Mr Fennelly’s Book Reviews

  🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🔅   9/10 As a fan of the Forgotten Realms book series, when I saw the first book in this series, D&D Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! , I thought that it could be a good starting place to encourage my daughters' recent enjoyment of the D&D: Honour Among Thieves movie. This book is a direct sequel, again written by Madeleine Roux and illustrated by Tim Probert, and set in a school for monsters in the world of Faerun. Following the creation of the Danger Club in the first book, the main character Zellidora "Zelli" Stormclash (a human disguised as a minotaur) is now helped by her adventuring party which include a vegetarian owlbear, a mimic, a kobold and a blink dog. With the evil necromancer Lord Carrion, defeated in the first book, locked away in the school, Zelli's nightmares ensure that they meet once again leading to a fight for the survival of not only the school, but all of Faerun. Will the newly formed Danger Club be able to surviv...

🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🔅  9/10 As a fan of the Forgotten Realms book series, when I saw this book (and it's sequel) it piqued my interest straight the way as I thought it might be a good way to test the waters with my daughters as a gateway story, especially after they enjoyed the D&D: Honour Among Thieves movie. I decided to read it first and see how the story, characters and settings were created and if they linked to any of the stories that I know and love. By the end of the first chapter, I was very pleasantly surprised as the reader learns that the story is set in Faerun (with Waterdeep also mentioned) and it also introduces a variety of 'monsters' found in the previously mentioned books and movie. The story itself, written by Madeleine Roux, is set in a school for these monsters as they learn everything that they will need to go out into the wider world, terrorising towns, villages and dungeons across all of Faerun. The main character Zellidora "Zelli" Storm...

  🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲 🔅🔅  8/10 I used this story as a whole class reading book whilst teaching English to a mixed Year 3 & 4 class. I hadn't read it prior to this but I did have it on my TBR pile already (one of many books on the pile). Once I realised that I would be teaching using this novel, I began by researching about Nizrana Farook before reading the story. During my research, I found that the author likes to use the beautiful and varied setting of Sri Lanka in her stories as it is the country where she was born and raised and therefore reflects her own childhood (although there was no evidence to suggest that she has ever stolen an elephant!). The book's cover, illustrated by David Dean, is a reflection of the beautiful setting that is depicted throughout the story.  I thoroughly enjoyed this story and the title of the book does give away an important part of the plot but is not the initial reason that Chaya is in trouble. Her first crime, told in the opening ch...

  🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲 10/10 I had read a few reviews and seen quite a few recommendations for it to be used as a class reading book by primary school teachers, so when I saw it on offer just £4 I couldn't resist. After reading the whole book on the same day that I started it (and I'm not a super speedy reader so this is a rarity) I can understand the reason that it is held in such high regard. The book's cover, illustrated by David Dean, is beautiful and hints at some of the challenges that Ami and her teammates will face whilst at The Escape.  The story begins with the team of apparent strangers meeting at The Escape before the Host informs the group that to escape they must: Find the Answer. Save the world. The Host's message sets the tone for this fast-paced story which is full of thought-provoking puzzles and games. The cliffhangers throughout the book ensure that the reader will want to continue and follow the teams attempt to escape, with each one raising the ind...