This is a magnificent fantasy novel where the author uses her unlimited imagination to create a whole new world full of creatures in the best style of J.R.R.Tolkien with his middle earth from "The Lord of the Rings" or even C.S.Lewis with his "Chronicles of Narnia" series.
The plot is simple, but at the same time very rich. Chiril is a peaceful land that is invaded by enemies. Princess Tipper Schope must hide their most valuable treasure in order to avoid letting it be taken by the enemy. This treasure is composed of three statues that represents their link to "Wulder", bringing harmony and equilibrium that hold their world together. She choses an artist and a wizzard to help her on this quest of hidden the statues and bring them to safety at the valley of the dragons.
The good x evil theme is a constant presence in the whole book, evil represented by a creature named Grawl. During the development of the story the main characters learn to trust in Wulder, that is the representation of their God, or creator. There are many ties from this fantasy with the Christian Bible. We can clearly identify Wulder with God anf Grawl with Satan. Likewise in the Bible, the least expected characters are the chosen ones to go and face the dangers and count upon the strength of God instead of their own strengh to defeat the enemy. This is truly a wonderful book with a very beautiful cover and I would recommend this one to any fantasy fan. It is a must have in a permanet library of any serious reader of this genre.

This book was written by Donita K.Paul and was published in september 2010 by Multnomah Books and they were kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing through their Blogging for Books Program. Thanks, Mrs. Donita K.Paul, for such an inspirational book!
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I had such high hopes for this book because I love dragons and fairy tale/adventure fantasy stories. However, I just couldn't get into the story. Perhaps this is because this was book two of a series and much of the world-building was done in book one, but I felt that the different races were rather generic and not well-defined. The plot was intriguing, but the execution of the story did not resonate with me. I generally enjoy YA fiction, but getting through this one was a struggle. Since there are many other books that strike me as interesting written by this author, I am sad, as I don't think that I will be trying them at this time.

I received a review copy of this book for free through Blogging for Books. ( )

So much better than the first book! It was easier to understand, the characters were more enjoyable, and the plot made a bit more sense. Bealomondore, Lady Peg, and Hollee are now some of my all time favorite characters. ( )

This is the first book I've read from Donita K. Paul and what an introduction! She's made it to my safe-for-my-kids list ~ NOT an easy feat! (I'm a very picky mother that takes an interest in what my children read. I'm not usually one for dragons and such, but this was a good book.)

Wizards, an arrogant King, reluctant heroes, evil villains, and mystical creatures, Ms. Paul leaves nothing out. I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent here. If you loved C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, you'll probably enjoy this book. ( )

Dragons of the Valley is the wonderful sequel to The Vanishing Sculptor by Donita K. Paul.

Invasion is upon the land of Chiril and the main character Tipper Schope is tasked with protecting the statues crafted by her father from falling into the wrong hands.

The eccentric wizard Fenworth, librarian Librettowit, prince Jayrus, and many of the characters from the first book join this tale. Several new races are introduced which in turn presents several new faces that take a prominent place in the story.

As noted by some other reviews I found this one a little harder to get into compared to the first book. There was quite a bit of running around in the first eight chapters and different characters going this way and that on mini-adventures. For the most part it starts to all come together about mid-book and that is where this novel starts to shine.

I thoroughly enjoyed Donita Paul's use of witty dialogue especially Lady Peg (Tipper's mother) and the banter back and forth between the wizard and librarian. I found myself laughing out loud several times.

There is one dastardly character introduced in this story and his name is The Grawl. With the addition of this bad dude the story does have a darker tone when focusing on his plans. The way this evil character was written into the story was done perfectly and the ultimate conclusion of the story involving this character brings shows redemption.

Several times in this story I was hugely encouraged by the spiritual message. Paul has a canny ability to write a crazy tale of fantasy, but still pull in elements of the Christian faith to ask tough questions, encourage people, and illuminate grace. As this was written by a Christian author, by a Christian publisher, with an allegorically Christian God as the creator written into the story this should be expected if you chose to pick this one up.

Looking forward to the third book!

4/5 Stars

Note: I was provided a free review copy of this book by Waterbrook press through Librarything early reviewers program. ( )