abstract
| - Deltora Quest is a franchise and fantasy book series written by Emily Rodda comprised of three individual series: Deltora Quest, Deltora Quest 2 and Deltora Quest 3. They feature around the events of Lief, Jasmine and Barda and their struggles to banish the Shadow Lord once, and forever. Emily Rodda conceived of the Deltora Quest series as a classical quest featuring a continuing storyline told over several books. She purposely modelled the structure of the series on the structure of a video game, after noting how engaged her own children were with video games. The success of Rodda's previous fantasy series, Rowan of Rin, helped Deltora Quest get published as both series take place in completely fantastic worlds: Rowan of Rin was unusual because most children's fantasy series published at that time followed the Alice in Wonderland model where contemporary children found their way into a magical world. Rodda worked on the manuscript for some time before taking it to her publisher. She spent time developing the world of Deltora before working on the story in great detail—Rodda believes that fantasy authors must make their fictional worlds seem completely real. Deltora Quest follows the adventure novel format, and features genre staples such as sword fights and monsters. The continuing story of each series is broken down into stages through the use of plot coupons. Plot twists, red herrings and foreshadowing are also utilised, especially in regards to the back stories of the central characters. It also draws heavily on the conventions of the fantasy genre: it features magical amulets, a disembodied evil Dark Lord and a teenage boy hero. Each book includes some maps, diagrams or illustrations. The Deltora Quest series is well known for its array of fictional animals. The series is marketed for younger readers aged 8 to 14, although it has been recommended by fans for readers of all ages. Books in the first series all number about 120 pages in the Australian versions. In the second, they are around 141–155 pages each. Books in the third series are the longest, with each ranging from around 180 to 205 pages. In some countries the series are available in boxed sets and all-in-one volumes.
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