Lily Quench and the Lighthouse of Skellig Mor

Lily Quench #4

by Natalie Jane Prior

At the end of the earth is Skellig Lir, a dreamy enchanted island that is inhabited by mysterious people with strange powers. To get there, Lily Quench and Queen Dragon must brave magic, storms, and seas swarming with deadly sea dragons—and Ariane, the rebellious keeper of the lonely lighthouse of Skellig Mor.
 
In the depths of an undersea cavern, Lily struggles to communicate with the sea dragons and escape the skeleton-filled tunnels beneath the lighthouse. Only then can she complete her to enter the fantastical library that has existed since the beginning of the world.

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Dragons, Childrens

160 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2003

About the author

Prior was born in 1963 in Brisbane, Australia, where she also currently lives with her husband and daughter. Her first fiction book, 'The Amazing Adventures of Amabel', was published in 1990 and her internationally successful children's fantasy series, 'Lily Quench', has been published in more than twenty countries. Prior's work has been a finalist at the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards as well as being honoured and named as notable. Her work, 'Fireworks and Darkness', won the 2003 Davitt Awards for best young-adult novel and her work, 'Lily Quench and the Lighthouse of Skellig Mor' won the 2003 Aurealis Award for best children's short fiction. She has also been nominated for an Aurealis Award on three other occasions for best short fiction, long fiction and young-adult novel.

Reviews

[Lady Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5 / 5

For most of this story, I have to admit that it seems to work on quite a smaller scale than the previous Lily Quench books, in party because this time Lily and Queen Dragon are very much on their own, without Lionel, Evangeline, Mr. Hartley, and all the rest. That's okay though, because it's still quite an adventure to look forward to, int he lovely archipelago down at the south end of the world. There, they meet new friends, see new types of dragons, and also have their own seaworthy adventures.

I'm upping the rating to 5 stars because of this particular quote from the final chapter of the book, which for me is by far the best one and makes this entire book all the better and sweeter (thereby earning its last star):

"Human magic is nothing more than silly tricks. Real magic is about being more alive--about being closer to the way the world was when it was new."

That's just such a lovely thought, and definitely a quote to live by. I'll be recording that for myself later on as well.

Anyway, all in all, a lovely read and addition to his lovely series! Just what I need for when I'm looking for adventure, but not too much or too intense adventure, mind you.

Rating: 4.4 / 5

While a lot of this book's building up to something in the following installment of the series, the location, lore surrounding the Eye Stones, characters, and everything else is very well done.

Will be putting a pause on this series for now, but it was great re-living it.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 4.5 year old and I took a break from the Magic Treehouse series to read this one. The language is a lot more advanced, which worried me as far as kid attention spans go, but it wasn't an issue. I like sneaking the "big words" in there in context. I also liked that the heroine and even the antagonist were girls.

[Elle Harriet Silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the fourth book in the series, Lily Quench and the Lighthouse of Skellig Mor continues the adventures of its titular character. In this tale, Lily and her trusted companion, Queen Dragon, travel to an archipelago filled with magic to seek answers on the problem introduced in the previous book--to destroy the Eye Stones to prevent their kingdom's enemies from coming to invade Ashby.

This story showed how much Lily and Queen Dragon's relationship further developed from the very first book. Queen Dragon displayed more of her motherly protectiveness towards Lily in this book than the previous ones. This shows how much they have bonded and have grown to trust and care for one another--a great leap from their first meeting between one another as enemies in the first book.

Lily has also continued to show how brave she is and how she can get out of trouble on her own. She does these while reminding the reader that she is still a child--she cries, she worries, she admits her fears, she asks for help, but she does not give up.

Another child character was introduced in this story and I am certain that she will not appear in the next books, unless she showed development. Though, I am holding back to call her immature because she is, after all, a child, but compared to Lily, she was. Lily was dutiful, never straying away from her responsibilities. Meanwhile, Ariane kept complaining even if the people--and dragon--around her tried to help her. I did try my best to understand Ariane's situation, but she was so irresponsible and careless to the point that she would endanger others to get what she demands. I struggled to show any care for her because of this. I had hoped she would have a character development arc, but with just a snap of some fingers, she changed--suddenly taking up the responsibility she had tried to run away from in the whole book. It did not make sense to me at all, but I also felt little care about it because she's a character that I would not mind forgetting.

It seemed to me that this book had less twists and turns and mysteries than the books that came before it. Although, it did answer a crucial question raised in the third book.
It also seemed to me that the stakes were much lower this time. Though, Lily was in a few life-threatening situations here like in the previous books, as well as Queen Dragon who often was not in as much perilous situations as Lily.

All in all, I enjoyed reading this fourth installment in the series, just as I did with the previous books. I just wished that it, as well as the other books, had a more adventurous thrill to it. The sense of wonder and adventure tends to get erased because Lily dutifully does her travels like they were chores, because they kind of are for her. Still, this book is a fun, light read that I'm certain its target audience would enjoy much more than I did.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

they are getting worser and worser closer to the end and want to see what they pull out of the bag this time

[Euphemia]

Lily's growing up...
The story was interesting, and really foretold what would happen soon, with even a proper bridge into the next book, showing the setting across the wasteland to the field of pyramids.
Lily solved so many problems, and helped so many people true to her heart. And the people and other residents of the Great Southern Archipelago are so alive and magical... I wish I could go there to live such a peaceful life...

[Thara Ravishanker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not as exciting as the first few books. Nevertheless I still think that this is a good series of children's books. Recommended for young children age 5 and up. All the books are perfectly easy to read overall. I first read it when I was nine years old.

[Manndy · Rating 5 out of 5]

hthis book is good