25. Ashtown Burials Book 1: Dragon's Tooth by N.D Wilson

Ashtown Burials Book 1: Dragon's Tooth by N.D Wilson
Published February 2012 Random House

From the publisher:
For two years, Cyrus and Antigone Smith have run a sagging roadside motel with their older brother, Daniel. Nothing ever seems to happen. Then a strange old man with bone tattoos arrives, demanding a specific room.Less than 24 hours later, the old man is dead. The motel has burned, and Daniel is missing. And Cyrus and Antigone are kneeling in a crowded hall, swearing an oath to an order of explorers who have long served as caretakers of the world's secrets, keepers of powerful relics from lost civilizations, and jailers to unkillable criminals who have terrorized the world for millennia.
This is a book that moves quickly. We meet Cyrus and Antigone at the Archer motel, where surprisingly someone actually wants a room.  William Skelton is the man who checks-in, and William Skelton is the man who changes their lives. Next thing we know, he has handed Cyrus a set of keys, bad  men show up, William is killed, Dan (their older brother) has gone missing and the motel burns down.  Now they are being taken to a place called Ashtown by a lawyer named Horace who tells them this is where their Father was from.

After a car chase, more shooting, and a journey through underground tunnels they make it to Ashtown, only to find that not everyone welcomes them.  What they need to do is find their brother, and the only way to do that is to stay in Ashtown, a place where they are not wanted and where the tasks they have to undertake seem impossible.

We meet a series of interesting characters, Nolan (who can shed his skin), Ben Sterling (the chef with two artificial legs), Llewellyn Douglas (wheelchair bound, but swims with sharks), and when we flash to where Dan is being held, we meet Maxi (one of the bad guys, who has a touch of the Dr Frankenstein about him),not to mention a giant turtle and whip spiders.

If you like you fantasy novels fast paced, action packed, with plenty of bad guys and a few laughs you should give this one a try.

Who will like this book: Boys age 10+
Read it if you like: Percy Jackson OR Skulduggery Pleasant