Dread Mountain (Deltora Quest, #5) (Deltora Quest 1, #5)

by Emily Rodda

Deltora Quest is one of the hallmarks of my childhood. I eagerly read and reread each book in the series when the next one came out. When they were all out, I read and reread the series whenever it struck my fancy. Which, quite frankly, was a lot. It's hard not to love them though, they're just typical fantasy and fantasy is my one true genre - no matter what else I read, it's always fantasy I come back to.

Quest stories are the quintessence of classic fantasy. There's nothing like a hero with a quest against evil. In Deltora Quest, the hero is Lief - a sixteen year old boy who wants nothing more than to return peace and happiness to his kingdom. When he is offered the chance to fulfil a promise his father made, he jumps - leaping headfirst into danger to try to make a difference.

The Belt of Deltora is the only thing that can defeat the Shadow Lord who rules but it was broken many years ago, the seven gems scattered across the realm and guarded by only the most evil creations. Lief sets out to find the gems and reunite the belt so that the Prince of Del can claim his throne and push the evil of the Shadow Lord back into the Shadowlands and away from the kingdom. Lief begins his journey with the beggar Barda, an old friend of his parents but it's not long before they're also joined by Jasmine, the wild orphaned girl they meet at their first stop - and her companions Filli (a possum? mouse? type thing?) and Kree, a raven.

Each book follows the trio as they travel the land for the lost gems, weaving a tightly written narrative with lots of action and adventure. Along the way they meet new people both friends and enemies, have to confront their own hopes and fears and figure out and solve many riddles, puzzles and problems to complete their quest.

Tired and thirsty, the trio are delighted to stumble across a small pool of water. The sign naming it the Dreaming Spring with the words; 'Drink, gentle stranger and welcome. All of evil will beware' though gives them pause. Especially when Jasmine reports that trees surrounding the grove are completely silent. But when Filli and Kree both drink and remain unharmed they decide to risk it and once satisfied make camp deeper in the trees, setting Barda to watch.

Lief wakes up thirsty from a bad dream and decides to head to the Spring. There he is amazed to discover a Kin named Prin - a fabled flying creature he once had a soft toy of. The rest of Prin's Kin (yeah I can't resist that kind of pun) are dreaming and she is delighted at the idea of a playmate. When she suggests hide and seek, Lief can't bear to disappoint and so goes to hide.

Unfortunately Prin is captured by Grey Guards while he does. Barda and Jasmine agree to help him rescue Prin but in the meantime the Grey Guards drink the water and turn into two of the dead silent trees that cover the grove. When the rest of the Kin awaken they learn that only those who mean no harm can drink from the water safely. Furthermore the water is the Dreaming Spring - "whatever or whoever you picture in your mind when you drink, you visit in spirit when you sleep." Jasmine and Barda are comforted by this because they dreamt the Manus and Ralad people and Doom and the resistance members are safe. But Lief is further worried because he dreamt his home was empty and branded with the sign of the Shadow Lord.

They also learn that the Kin relocated from Dread Mountain when the Dread Mountain gnomes stopped trying to kill them using arrows and began actually killing them with poison tipped arrows. The grove was originally their winter home but now they stay all year long and use the water to dream of their mountain home. They are reluctant but when Barda asks them to carry the trio to Dread Mountain, three Kin step forward. They get up early the next day and proceed to fly towards Dread Mountain. I liked this;

Merin glanced up at the lightening sky and turned to Barda. “As I am the largest, you are to ride with me,” she said politely. Plainly, she was anxious to be gone. Rather nervously, Barda climbed into her pouch. Lief had to smile at the sight, and despite their fears many of the watching Kin laughed aloud. “What a large baby you have, Merin,” called Prin’s mother. “And how beautiful!” Both Barda and Merin preserved a dignified silence.

Rodda, Emily. Deltora Quest #5: Dread Mountain (pp. 40-41). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Poor Barda and Merin being mocked so. They fly all day before stopping for the night at Kinrest - a halfway point. However in the cave they find something puzzling - a grave about ten years old with the marker Doom of the Hills. I loved this part, the mystery of Doom deepens. Who is he really? An enemy? A friend?

Back in the sky, the Kin fly as close to the Mountain as possible before starting to make defensive manoeuvres to avoid any gnome arrows before landing.

“Lief, are you all right?” Stiffly, Lief uncovered his face and blinked into Ailsa’s dark, anxious eyes. He swallowed. “I am very well, thank you,” he croaked. “As well as anyone can be who has just crashed through a thorn tree.” Ailsa nodded solemnly. “It was not my best landing,” she agreed. “But there are no gaps in the Boolongs here. That is why we are safe from the gnomes. They do not like the thorns.” “I do not love them myself,” grunted Barda, who was sitting on the ground beside Jasmine, inspecting several wicked-looking scratches on the backs of his hands.

Rodda, Emily. Deltora Quest #5: Dread Mountain (p. 54). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Their landing had me laughing. Alisa nods solemnly. Perfection. The Kin leave shortly after, warning them of the coming storm. Just after they leave though, the trio are horrified to see Prin has followed them and falls prey to a gnome arrow. They rush to get to her and luckily manage to save her with the last few drops of the nectar. Only to run right into a Vraal. This time, Prin saves them with purple moss that burns before using the green moss to heal their injuries.

When they recover, Prin makes a path through the trees and they head up the mountain. At one point they discover an old gnome rest and Barda makes them shields using the walls (which is tree bark). They've just finished when they hear a troop of gnomes and discover the gnomes have made their own well trodden path. I enjoyed how they used their new shields to hide. And how disheartened they are to realise there's a track they could've taken instead of being all scratched up.

But they eventually make it up the mountain and find the door to go in. This is probably my favourite part. The door is dark at the top and light at the bottom with decorative grooves. To begin with Lief uses white dust to rub into the grooves too make the words appear. The words form a rhyme and say you should find an arrow straight and narrow, put it in the arrow shaped hole in the door and push. Which they do. But they hear giggling and hesitate to step forwards. Prin knocks Lief over and Lief suddenly sees why the gnomes are giggling. The decorative grooves aren't grooves - they're stretched out carved words that add to the rhyme and say 'if you want to die'. Because the door leads to a giant pit if you push the door. You need to pull the door to enter safely. Lol tricky. Very tricky and very clever. I loved it.

Although they make it inside they find themselves in a dead end, right before a door slams shut. Locked up, they struggle to come up with a plan without knowing what the gnomes will do. Prin laments that they aren't at the Dreaming Spring so they could dream what the gnomes are doing and Lief gets excited, remembering that they've still got water bottles full of the spring water.

They dream and discovers what the gnomes are up to and worse, what the guardian of Dread Mountain is. A giant slimy poisonous toadlike beast named Gellick that has been living with the gnomes for many years and has enslaved them all.

“Oh, yes,” Lief jeered. “It helped you drive away the Kin, so that now your paths and gnome-rests are smothered by thorny Boolong trees in which Vraal can lie in wait. It enslaved you, so that now you toil day and night in Gellick’s service, half starved and in fear of your lives. You have indeed made a wonderful bargain.”

Rodda, Emily. Deltora Quest #5: Dread Mountain (pp. 110-111). Scholastic Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The make a deal with the gnomes to destroy Gellick in return for the emerald stone he wears on his brow. They plan to use the Grey Guards' blisters against him but are horrified when Gellick calls them fools for using his own poison against him. That's when they learn that while the gnomes harvest the toad's poison, they only keep some to tip their arrows - the rest is taken down the mountain and left near the Shadowlands. Hope seems lost when Lief has a flashback to the Dreaming Spring and proceeds to throw the remainder of his water bottle into Gellick's mouth, turning him into a tree and regaining the fifth gem, the Emerald.

The adventure ends happily when the Kin return to the mountain and the gnomes greet them in friendship. I liked their plan to trick the Shadow Lord with deliveries of fake poison and the fact the Kin and the gnomes are going to work together to achieve it.



5 stars.