In William Joyce’s Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies, book 3 in The Guardians series, it’s been months since the Guardians last saw Pitch, the Nightmare King, who wants to turn the world into absolute darkness and terror. When Katherine loses a tooth, a new Guardian is revealed to be none other than the Tooth Fairy. Toothiana shares that baby teeth can provide memories, and Katherine is desperate to remember her parents who she has no memories of. Book 3 in the series opens up shocking revelations, new characters, and the question about whether or not Pitch is so easily defeated.
Why do these books have such slow beginnings that are only vaguely interesting, but then close on such highs? All three books I have enjoyed the ending chapters, but the whole beginning of the books are just very so-so for me. This book did introduce some new interesting material, though. I loved the introduction of Toothina, the Tooth Fairy. We aren’t really introduced physically to her until the halfway point of the novel. Instead, we learn her backstory through a fairytale-like setup that involves India and flying elephants. We get the beginnings of Toothiana, who her parents are, how she became the Tooth Fairy, etc. And once again, like the books previous, a mindblowing ending that leaves you wanting more.
Characters were fantastic once more. I do think character development was done better in book 2, especially in regards to North, but in this book Katherine is more opened up and we get to see her despair over losing her parents long ago and her quest to discover what happened to them. Katherine has been a central character since book 1, yet we know nothing about her, so I like that this third book finally shed some light on her. Toothiana as a character was so cool. She’s super bad-ass. She wields swords and she’s very much like a warrior-queen who commands this army of other fairies. I love her character design as well. The illustrations of her in the book are stunning. Book 3 had some of the best illustrations so far. The book also does some new things with Pitch that kind of leaves you with your mouth open by the end of the book. He’s still a dastardly villain, but you begin to see him in a new light that allows you to start to understand his overall mission for the things he does. Plus, there’s more North and Bunnymund banter which is always fantastic. Bunnymund is easily my favorite character.
Overall, this series is pretty excellent. I can’t compare it to my love of something like Harry Potter, but I still think this series is very worthwhile, fun and entertaining. Children of all ages (even adults) can enjoy this. Plus, you just get a neat, unique, creative look to these mythological characters. I only have these first three books at the moment and I can’t wait to get into the rest of the series. Apparently the Sandman and Jack Frost are in the next books. Yah!