Shadow Tree

Dormia #3

by Jake Halpern

In this long-awaited finale to the Dormia trilogy, the dreaded nursery rhyme comes to life at last as a “dark shadow tree” threatens to cause the “world’s end.” And who will stop it? Alfonso is now an ageling, Resuza and Hill are slaves, Bilblox appears to be a traitor, and Leif is shipwrecked on the edge of a forbidding forest. An ancient prophecy states that the tree can be destroyed, but the price must be paid in blood, and whoever tries faces certain death. Nonetheless, a hero must journey northward, across the great polar expanse, to Dargora – the mythical city built of ice and human bones – and make the sacrifice before it’s too late.

All hope rests with a hooded girl, trudging her way through miles of desolate land. She walks slowly, carefully, methodically. Every so often, she stops to listen. She senses that she is being followed, but she is more concerned with the contents of her backpack. Nestled inside is a newborn baby, and he must be protected. He is all that matters. Soon the world will be as lifeless as the ground she is walking on, and only her charge can change the course of fate.

Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski are co-authors of the Dormia trilogy. They met in the wind-swept desert of the Middle East many years ago, and told a lot of stories. Thankfully, their families allow them to continue telling stories, starting with the Dormia trilogy and continuing with their latest project, Nightfall. Peter is a U.S. diplomat, currently working as Consul General in Calgary. Jake is a contributor to the New Yorker and his latest story, The Secrets of the Temple, is being developed into a movie by the producers at Heyday Films, who also made the Harry Potter movies.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Adventure

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 29, 2013

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this series over a decade ago when Dormia was first published and I found the concept truly intriguing. After a series of twists and turns of life, I was unable to pick up the trilogy's conclusion until now (I reread the first two of course).

I was not as happy with how this story unfolded to be honest. I always respected the main character because he had a strong belief in fate regardless of whether it was spoken or not. This made him an excellent person to allow events to unfold around him, a sort of nihilistic stoic you might say.

In this final book, his father was one of the main characters to be focused upon. I did not enjoy his character at all and was displeased with the ending as such. Leif's actions and words were impactful on the series and yet someone else stepped in to take the consequences of his actions. It made the ending dissatisfying and made the series feel more like it used the "found family" trope as a plot point rather than an impactful theme.

In this same thought process, it felt like the lore and magic system of the Founding Trees became overcomplicated and far too loose. Many new abilities and items seemed to appear and yet had very little details as such. The sleepwalking capabilities at the beginning were an excellent foundation but I definitely felt like it went too fantastical by the end of the story.

As a book for younger readers, it should flow well enough however I do feel like the overall themes and messages aren't the best examples to be offering to them. Simply killing off characters at an opportune moment to avoid dealing with loose ends is also not a practice I would condone for any young writers in the making.

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aww all done with Dormia—and as much trash as I talked about all the action sequences (this last book had an awful lot too) I can say that I was never bored reading them, keeping track of all that was said and written, remembering all the betrayals and playing out all possible scenarios in this impossible journey to the lost forgotten worlds of Somnos, Jasper, Barsh-ya-Binder and Dargora. Diving in these books was engaging to say the least and at times surprising. This last book brought back everyone I loved already with Bilblox, Hill, Resuza, Marta and Alphonso though the future for one turns out different than you hoped and there were the usual bad guys following them that I am now just realizing I never addressed in the previous reviews—surprising because I always love a good villain but I don’t know the duo of Nartam and Kiril just didn’t do it for me..yes they were evil and wanted to essentially ruin the world with a hideous killing tree that fosters an addiction to the heroin like black ash but they just were wooden to me and you never felt them or their motives and the heroes and heroines were definitely better drawn. So yea in this third installment the group is fighting off Kiril who obtained the ingredients in the last book from Leif’s founding tree in Jasber to grow a new monstrosity in the black greasy Shadow Tree that kills every plant for miles and regenerates to produce highly potent and addictive black ash to an endless supply. Despite most of them being captured as slaves for the whole book, the hero Alphonso recently changed to an ageling and switching ages and forms most of the story, his own father Leif determined to stop him from fulfilling a prophecy where he destroys the tree and kills himself and many other betrayals, secrets and prophecies the 300 plus page book takes you all around world to forests and caves and back again to rid the world of this deadly Shadow Tree that can only be stopped with a Foreseeing Pen from a one eyed monk hidden from the world for centuries... Again the family and friend saga comes alive and as you suspend your hold on reality and embrace the fantasy you have enemies real and imagined, budding romance, backstabbing friends and family members, misunderstandings and fantastic escape and action runs making this one by far my favorite of the three as I thought it had the most depth, required the most feeling for the characters and just read more fluidly for me. Would definitely recommend this series for young adults as it was fast reading fun times that is probably an awesome movie in the making but better read first as the pictures you create with your mind are really enough..I don’t know if I can take another foray into sleepwalking, treks to nowhere and analytical solving skills for awhile LOL but will read more from these authors anytime..Great escape reading..

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book overall but I noticed some misspellings that broke my immersion.

[Linda Limeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost cried when Hill died. The ending was very bittersweet and I feel like there could be more to Alfonso's story. I wanted to actually see him marry Resuza, not just k ow that it will happen.

[Chloe Pelletier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good wrap up

[Lynsie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm actually mad about this book.
I was able to take the flat characters, unnatural flow of conversations and emotions, and ridiculously dry plot with a generous 2-star rating. BUT. There were probably over 25 typos/grammar mistakes throughout the book. It's just sloppy work. I can understand that this book was probably self-published and that presents challenges, but this was just terrible. It seems like the book wasn't revised or edited, either for its story or for basic grammar conventions like spelling and capitalization and COMMAS. The writers got lazy, and I can't respect it at all.

[Sadie Cahill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know. I know that this series is a trilogy and i just like... finished reading it and I can't help but say that i need a fourth book of this series. Sorry. but i guess i can't stop asking for more but i should.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final book in the Dormia trilogy. I had been watching for it and then missed its publishing last year.
Interesting happenings occurred for Alfonso and company. It worked out well in the end.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending of this trilogy was quite masterful. I enjoyed and rejoiced in the ending.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

shadow tree

i liked it. it is not as well as the other books but it was good. the ending is good. but its kind of slow at parts

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good way to end the series, very exciting and a book to read several times.