Last week I posted about Paula Vince’s adult fiction novel, Picking up the pieces. Today I am reviewing another of Paula’s books: Quenarden Prophecies, which is completely different. It is a fantasy novel for teenagers and book one of the Quenarden trilogy.

The story begins when three teenagers, Beth, Troy and Nathan, follow an unusual little girl through a crack in some rocks into another land where, it seems, they are expected to save the country from an evil dragon.

This is an enjoyable tale of teenagers using their youthful enthusiasm and resourcefulness to solve a life threatening situation. In the process they learn their parent’s secrets and have to confront their own prejudices and fears.

While the book reaches a satisfactory conclusion, I dislike the fact that I need to read the other two books to reach the final outcome. However, for younger readers this may not be a drawback, but rather an incentive to stir their curiosity and engage their imagination.