Customer Reviews

Secret of the Spiritkeeper (Dungeons and Dragons: Knights of the Silver Dragon, Book 1)

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My 11 year old daughter loves this book. Great for anyone who likes the Japanese anime cartoon network stuff.

Secret of the Sprit Keeper by Matt Forbeck is the first book in the series Knights of the Silver Dragon. It is a story about a young thief named Moyra, a wizard's apprentice named Kellach, and his 12 year old brother Driskoll. These three kids travel all over Cruston, Broken Town, and The Dungeons of Doom looking for the Spirit Keeper which someone has used to steel Zedric's soul. They work together to fight evil, try to save their friend and become Knights of the Silver Dragon. But can they get back to save their friend in time?
I loved this book. It is filled with suspense, action, comedy and a few twists. It is one of my favorite books. It is really fun to read about all of the characters and their fun personalities! I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series Riddle in the Stone written by Ree Soebee.

This is the first in a series fantasy novels for young readers ages 8-12. Separate authors write the books, and it will be interesting to see how the characters vary.

The first tale, Secret of the Spiritkeeper, is set in the village of Curston. Fourteen-year-old
Kellach is studying under the great wizard Zendric. He's not a bad apprentice, but lacks
confidence and the attention span needed. Also, Kellach is still so new to the world of wizardy
that he only knows a few baby spells, nothing that could get him into any trouble. Well, not
much anyway.

Kellach and his 12-year-old brother Driskoll are on their way home when they meet their good
friend Moyra. A band of half-orc is chasing Moyra. Kellach performs a little magic and
distracts the lead half-orc, Kruncher. Luckily for all three of them, they are out past curfew (a
time when not a soul travel the Curston street if they want to see daylight) and wind up in front
of Curston's magistrate, Lexos, who lets them off with a warning.

On the way to school the next morning, Kellach and Driskoll discover the body of the great
wizard Zendric. His body is there, but the Kellach notices that the globe he has been warned
against has disappeared. And inside the globe is Zendric's spirit. Kellach knows that if he, they,
can find the globe in time that they can return Zendric's soul and thereby restore Curston's most-
respected wizard.

What follows is the adventure the threesome has as they begin their search. Like their heroes, the
Knights of the Silver Dragon (an order long decimated during the Sundering of the Seal) the
little band they overcome many obstacles, acting brave when they much rather be at home
studying in front of the fire. Along the way they travel outside the city into the ruins of the old
city that meet with fortune hunters, enter the old city and climb into the Dungeons of Doom
where they meet such creatures as an owlbear, goblins and the goblin-king and zombies.

It's a rip-roaring tale that is sure to delight anyone who reads it. Secret of the Spiritkeeper
reminded me a little of Harry Potter. And although I'm probably the only person on the planet
who doesn't like Harry, I did get a kick out of Kellach, Driskoll, and Moyra. They were more
human and seemed more age appropriate.

Secret of the Spiritkeeper is a self-contained novel that doesn't require a commitment to the other
three novels in the series to enjoy this one. In fact, that's probably the biggest drawback of this
book. There's no need to read further. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if the little
band can reconstruct a real Knight of the Silver Dragon origination.

Wizards of the Coast is best known as the makers of the enormously popular "Magic: The Gathering" collectible card game, "Dungeons & Dragons" role-playing game, and their related lines of fiction and home to top fantasy authors R.A. Salvatore and Margaret Weis. In 2004, however, Wizards decided to move into the realm of juvenile and teen fiction with the announcement of their Mirrorstone imprint. For the first two series under the Mirrorstone banner, they decided to stick with two subjects that they know very well: Dragonlance and Dungeons & Dragons.

Knights of the Silver Dragon is a Dungeons and Dragons series aimed at readers 8 - 12 years in age. The stories center upon the exploits of three young heroes in the town of Curston. Kellach, is a teenaged apprentice to the town's most powerful wizard, Zendric. Kellach's brother, Driskoll, is an adventurous 12 year old who dreams of becoming a great warrior like his father Torin, the captain of the Curston's town watch. The brothers are joined by their friend Moyra, a young female thief and daughter to one of Curston's most well known thieves, Breddo.

In the first book, "Secret of the Spiritkeeper", Kellach is joined by Driskoll as he goes to Zendric's tower for his daily lesson in the art of wizardry. However when they approach the tower they find the door wide open, highly unusual for Zendric. When they enter, Kellach finds his mentor lying on the floor, apparently dead. The tower has been ransacked and it appears that Zendric was the victim of thieves but Kellach finds that the only item that is missing is a strange, glowing orb that Zendric kept upon his mantle. Soon, the boys father, Torin, shows up with several watchers to investigate and sends the boys home immediately. Kellach believes that the orb has something to do with Zendric's death and believes that he can be restored to life if they find it.

After sneaking into the city prison to speak to Moyra's father, they find out that it was a half-orc street thug who stole the orb. They track him down but find that he has already sold the orb to a group of adventurers who have left town. They are headed to the Dungeons of Doom, whose denizens have troubled the people of Curston for many years and is the reason that people are not permitted to leave their homes after dark. Torin is furious with his boys when he finds out what they've been up to and forbids them to leave the house, but Kellach knows that they are Zendric's only hope, so they sneak out of house to save him. Now the three friends must enter the depths of those dangerous, trap-filled, underground passages, facing terrible creatures in order to find the magical orb that will hopefully restore Zendric to life.

Reading "Secret of the Spiritkeeper" takes me back to the earliest days of when I first played Dungeons & Dragons back in the late 1970's. In fact the adventure that these three companions went on was not unlike many of the early, low-level adventures that thrilled my friends and me when we first discovered the game. The story has that strong feel of playing one of those old modules from the TSR days, with a mysterious town, threatened by monsters, and the always present underground dungeon that was the ultimate goal of players. The book closely follows the spirit and rules of the game as Kellach carries the various components in his robes to cast his spells, and Moyra stealthily uses her thievery skills to pick locks and find traps. It is a fantasy story, but one squarely set in the strong foundation of the Dungeons & Dragons universe.

Author Matt Forbeck and the editors did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the game in this well-plotted and action-oriented story. The three main characters are all well-developed and have the same motivations and fears that kids reading the story have, making them easy to identify with. The frosting on the cake is gorgeous cover and interior illustrations by Emily Fiegenshuh which have a distinct, although subtle, Japanese Anime influence to them. Again, Kudos to Wizards of the Coast for sticking to what they know kids are interested in today. Each of the books in the series check in right around 180 pages with short chapters that average 6 - 10 pages in length. This is very important as it's much more fulfilling to put a book down for the night at the end of a chapter rather than in the middle. Short chapters make it more motivating to read, especially for younger children.

Kids love fantasy so it's no surprise that so many of the top-selling juvenile and teen books today are fantasy-oriented. They provide a sense of wonder, imagination and adventure. "Secret of the Spiritkeeper" is a wonderful start to what should be a thrilling series of adventures that will not only get kids interested in fantasy, but also the Dungeons & Dragons game as well. Those people at Wizards of the Coast are pretty clever.

This was like the coolest book of all time!
Its about these two brothers and there friend
whom go on A adventure to save there friend and travel through the dark scary dungons of doom.
its very entertaning and theres not A lot of romance.
Who ever draws the pictures on the cover is very
talented.

I also reccomend w.i.t.c.h

This book I thought was a really adventouous and a great mystery. It is also a good If you like magic and mystery. It is great for kids because the main characters are kids and they go out trying to help there friend who has had his spirit stolen from a mysterios orb called the spiritkeeper. If you love advenures and love magic and mystery you will love this book.

Read this one with my kids. Slow and dry in parts. Being a long time D&D player, I had higher hopes. I wanted my kids to see the fun of RPGs and the varied world that comes with it...alas, this book barely kept them interestd.

This story is about the adventures of Kellach, Driskoll and their friend Moyra. It tells about the first of many adventures that they have. Kellach is a wizards apprentice . Driskoll wants a sword really bad. Moyra is a young thief who lives with her parents in a small rundown house. Kellach and Driskoll live in a big house because their dad is leader of the
watch. The watch is like the police. Kellach and Driskoll's mom was killed when the seal that connected their town to the dungeons of doom was broken. Tons and tons of demons and vicious wolves and goblins came through and killed tons of people including Kellach and Driskoll's mom. But if you want to find out more you will have to read the book.

I think the author is trying to tell the reader that you should take risks and have fun adventures. I know that this is the message because they take tons of risks and vary dangerous tasks and adventures. Like when they go into the dungeons of doom they could just turn back and forget it but no they go ahead anyway and search for Zendric's soul. They know their task and they are going to stick to it.

I like this book because it takes place in olden times when they used swords and because it has a little fantasy. I think you should read this book because it is very descriptive and definitely one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.