A new quest awaits for Lief, Jasmine and Barda.

The Belt of Deltora has been remade and the King of Deltora restored to the throne but all is not well in the land of Deltora. The people are frightened for their loved ones who are held prisoner in the Shadowlands. Lief wants to rescue them but fears he cannot unless he can find a weapon to defeat the Shadow Lord - or at least buy them enough time to get everyone out.

But he is heartened to find that the Head Librarian, Josef has returned to the palace and has brought with him a treasure thought destroyed - the Deltora Annals - books about the history of Deltora, the legends and myths and adventures that may contain a clue.

One such tale is that of the Pirran Pipe said to be broken apart and scattered over the hidden islands of the Pirran people. Lief, Jasmine and Barda set out to find the truth.

The Isle of Illusion picks up immediately follow Cavern of Fear. Lief, Jasmine and Barda have left the first island of Plume and are sailing towards their second task, the island of Auron.

Like the first book, the narrative is fast paced and packed with action adventure. Although the bulk of the story is focused on Lief, Jasmine and Barda and their task to find the Pirran Pipe, the narrative makes frequent returns to the palace and what Marilen, Sharn, Doom and Josef are up to. I liked this back and forth style and found myself invested in both parts of the story.

I may not like the idea of Marilen being Lief's bride to be but damn the girl has fire. I love how she's growing into her own and standing up for herself. As for Jinks well. He got exactly what he deserved. And how could Josef spill the beans?! Like seriously? He spent decades protecting the Deltora Annals from discovery only to have loose lips about other important secrets? It baffled me. Sharn annoyed me though. I mean come on - you send your sixteen year old on an epic dangerous quest but now is the time you balk at what he's up to?

‘Perhaps Lief knows something we do not,’ Marilen murmured. ‘Perhaps he does,’ said Doom. He looked at the girl thoughtfully for a moment, then turned back to Sharn. ‘It was not an easy decision to return to Del, Sharn,’ he said gently. ‘My whole instinct was to continue. Then it came to me that it was Lief, Barda and Jasmine who restored the Belt of Deltora, and that they did it alone, without our help or protection.’ Sharn’s eyes were blinded with tears. ‘You are saying that we should trust them.’ ‘I am saying that we must trust them,’ said Doom. ‘Our place, our task, is here—especially now. All we can do is keep faith. And wish Lief, Barda and Jasmine well, wherever they may be.’

Rodda, Emily. DQ2 #2: ILSE OF ILLUSION . Scholastic. Kindle Edition.

About time she sorted herself out.

I enjoyed Lief, Jasmine and Barda returning to their adventuring but I was upset by the discord between Lief and Jasmine. I was annoyed that they didn't talk - they could've done with having some more truth between them - but I did like that Lief's first instinct upon having to abandon ship was to grab Jasmine knowing that she can't swim. Still I would've liked for them to talk about their issues rather than just snipe at each other. Not that Lief was sniping exactly but yeah.

An exciting continuation of the story. 5 stars. ( )

This is the second book in the second Deltora series. In this second series, the nature of good and evil is a bit more ambiguous - with good people doing bad things for good reasons and vice versa. ( )