Looking more like an adult version of Narnia
Well, this is starting to sound more and more like an adult version of the Narnia Chronicles. This is the third book in the series, and the heroes are going on a sea voyage, which is similar to the third book of the Narnia series. However unlike the Narnia series, Jon-Tom does not return to his world after the adventure is completed, and where Voyage of the Dawntredder is based on the Odyssey, this is clearly not (well, Dawntredder is not necessarily based on the Odyssey, but there are a lot of common elements between the two).
Clothahump (the Turtle Wizard) is dying, and Jon-Tom is asked to travel across the ocean to find a magic potion to restore his health. He asks Mudge to come along, but it appears that Mudge is not that interested in wild adventure (he appears more interested in getting drunk and getting laid) but he finally does convinces the otter to accompany him. On their journey they meet a Tigress warrior, and travel through lots of adventures, finally getting to their destination to discover that a nasty wizard must be defeated in order to get the potion.
This seems to follow the plot for a standard story of this time. There is one broad story arc (finding the potion) but in doing so they have a lot of adventures along the way. This is similar to Dawntredder (they are looking for some nobles who attempted to sail to the edge of the Western Sea) as well as in the Odyssey (Odysseus coming home and reclaiming his throne), and while the overarching plot is always there, it comes down to the various obstacles that lay in their way. This is different to another style where the overarching plot is dominant and is always interplaying with the characters throughout the story. It is not that either type is good or bad, but it is just a different way of writing a story.
I was a bit disappointed that Talea disappeared in this book, I liked her because she was Jon-Tom's love interest from the previous books, but in the book she has virtually disappeared. I guess the reason that I liked her was because she was Jon-Tom's love interest. I remember at the time of me reading these books I was pretty much a dorky, pimply faced teenager (though some will argue nothing much has changed since then, with the exception of the pimples, but then I never really had a huge pimple problem that I can remember) so I didn't have a girlfriend. In fact, as a dorky teenager, life pretty much sucked. Apparently girls weren't interested in me (which was really another fantasy that I created because I never really played my cards right, and I didn't even go up to them to tell them, I just told everybody else) so, as with the rest of my life, I would delve into fantasy novels where I could imagine that I was the hero, and while things might suck for a while, I did not have to experience them in the way that they experienced them. In the long run, I would rather be a pimply faced teenager in Australia, than some kid connected to a prophecy that is always running away from nasty things that are trying to kill him.
