Embers of Destruction (Mysteries of Cove, #3)

by J Scott Savage

[sstaley]

This is the third and final book in this middle grade series. Please note here at the beginning of my review: you really need to read the first two books of the series before you read the third book. You will be pretty lost if you start out reading this third installment first.

I have loved this steam punk/fantasy series. I love dragons and you read of many dragons in this book. Embers of Destruction has a lot of action, along with some violence involving battles between the dragons and Trenton & Kallista's group of friends. They are on a search for survivors from a previous battle and end up finding a whole city of people being ruled by the dragons. At first, readers don't know how the dragons became the rulers of the city, but eventually the clues come together with the truth. I felt bad for Trenton as he tries hard to keep all of his friends together. Kallista is pulled in different directions as her loyalties are tested, those to her friends and her father. There are many moments when you could feel how down and out the tweens/teens are as they try to figure out a way to solve all of their problems. Once again Trenton proves to be my favorite character as he shows a lot of growth mentally and in his own personal character.

A small warning, there is a character death near the end that surprised me, but made sense story wise. It actually made me change my mind about this character in the long run. This story and series is great to teach readers about friendship, loyalty, and never giving up. All of the young people learn that they all can be more than they ever thought they could be. What a great thing to teach kids in today's world. Adults, kids, tweens and teens will love this book: And...of course, if you like dragons, this book and series is one you'll want to read. What a great ending to the Mysteries of COVE series.