Book Review: The Dream Guardian by Thea Stilton (Incanto #2)

 

Note: The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't available in English (yet). The original title reads Incanto #2: Le Guardiane dei sogni.

Book two. I didn't expect I'd pick this one up so soon after the first but these do make for some quick and fun reads. Spoilers ahead.

The sisters return in this second installment. When everyone in the realm suddenly falls asleep due to the evil magics of Egor the Dark, the five princesses set out on a journey to find a way to wake everyone up. Meanwhile, the youngest of the five, Yara, is feeling inadequate because she's being picked on for lacking proper princess manners and skills.

Just another fun, lighthearted read. Nothing groundbreaking or complicated in these books, but they're pretty charming. I like the simple yet fun concepts they introduce, such as a school for royalty and an un-going conflict between the descendants of a good and bad wizard. Egor the Dark is the descendant of the evil wizard, but the mentor of the five princesses is instead a distant relative of the ancient good wizard. 

I also like the simple conflicts each book presents. Last book it was to stop a sudden magically-caused winter, now it is to wake up everyone. Just fun and charming conflicts.

Plus, I liked the main characters more here. I feel like they (or at the very least Yara) have more of a distinct personality than in the last one. Yara's conflict also feels quite relatable to me as someone who used to be a tomboy and is to this day still a bit klutzy at times and was of course picked on for that. 

Book one didn't have as much as a central protagonist as book two, being more so about the five sisters as a unit, so I like the focus on Yara here. I think the new few books in this series will also be stronger if they focus more on one single character each time rather than all five. It feels a bit messy when they're all fighting for the spotlight in an already short and simple book.

Overall I liked this one just a bit more than the first. It's still not great but it's rather fun and charming in its own way.

Rating: 3.25/5