D&D Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed!


🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🔅  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" Stormclash was abandoned as a baby and taken in by a minotaur couple, one of which is a Professor working at the Dungeon Academy. As she grows older and attends the school, Zelli lives a duplicitous life as she masquerades as a Minotaur, which leads to her spending most of her time alone. However, due to her kindhearted nature she forms a friendship with some unlikely creatures and they set off on their own mission, one that leads out of school and into the wild and dangerous lands of Faerun.

If your child or young adult seems to have an interest in mythical creatures or the game of Dungeons & Dragons then this is a great starting story to hook them into the D&D universe.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant by Nizrana Farook

Image
  🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲 🔅🔅  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...
Read more

D&D Dungeon Academy: Tourney of Terror! (contains spoilers for book 1)

Image
  🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🔅   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...
Read more

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston (Spoiler-Free)

Image
🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲 10/10 Absolutely loved this story. I bought it for my daughters but also received it as a gift from a mystery person for a mini personal library that I’ve started as I begin my teacher training. From the eye-catching cover, illustrated by Brittany Jackson, and the intriguing blurb, I expected this to be an interesting read and it most definitely did not disappoint. A fast-paced, yet detailed story following Amari Peters as she deals with issues revolving around being an outsider from the ghetto in a prestigious school. Her differences become more pronounced whilst on a quest to find her brother Quinton and prove the detectives wrong as they that believe he’s got himself mixed up in the gang culture that is rife in their neighbourhood.  However, all was definitely not what it seemed as she enters her brother’s world, one in which the famous Quinton Peters disappearance is highly publicised. And that is where her quest truly begins. His world is one filled with m...
Read more