Category Archives: Senta Bly

The Dark and Forbidding Land: Senta

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I screwed up.  I started talking about the characters in The Drache Girl and went right by The Dark and Forbidding Land– probably because I wrote The Drache Girl first.  So, I’ll switch gears and talk about book two of the series and then go back and finish book 3.

Senta is the first person to appear in book 2.  In fact, in both book 2 and book 3, the four friends– Senta, Graham, Hero, and Hertzal– are the first characters.  These two books, unlike the others, have a kind of Harry Potter feeling to them as the four friends are together throughout most of the story and play a key role in the plot.  In book 1 of course, the four of them meet for the first time, and although all appear in books 4 and 5, they aren’t together in the same way.

In The Dark and Forbidding Land, Senta is ten years old– she has her 11th birthday just after the story ends.  She’s precotious, but not as confident as she will be.  On the other hand, she’s not too afraid to stand up to Zurfina, not that she was even in book 1.  She’s learning all about magic and reveals that she has potential even beyond her guardian.

Also in this book, Senta comes into contact with the Reine Zauberei for the first time.  They are the Freedonian wizards whose racism has poisoned their country for the Zaeri.  The play a much bigger part in books 4 and 5.

The Drache Girl: Senta Bly

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Senta Bly is the title character for the Senta and the Steel Dragon series of fantasy books.  In The Drache Girl, book 3 of the series, she is twelve years old and has finally come into her own a bit.  In this book more than any of the others, we see Senta as a kid, with friends who adventure with her around the town of Port Dechantagne.

Spoiler Alert:

Though Senta is really quite a powerful sorceress at this point, people aren’t too afraid of her yet.  This is a major theme of books 4 and 5.  People know her and know not to cross her.  At least the people of Port Dechantagne do, and some visitors learn this during the course of the story.

Senta at age twelve was inspired by a string of skinny blond girls who came and went in my class.  One in particular came to school one day with her face all skinned up, and that inspired one of the chapters in this book.

Voyage of the Minotaur: Senta

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Spoiler Alert

Senta is a much more interesting character than she was in Brechalon.  In that book she was a six year old child, and as endearing as six year olds are, they are not the stuff of an adventure book.  Even at 8/9 as she is here, she is mostly interesting for the trouble she gets into.  She has run-ins with wizards, a child molester, and velociraptors.  But she also begins to learn magic for the first time, something that gives her more power than the average nine year old.

I think Senta gets more interesting with each book, and I suppose that’s how it should be, since she’s the title character.  She has a destiny that she is growing into.  I think she might come off as a bit of an airhead in this book, but kids are like that sometimes regardless of their potential.

Senta Bly

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Spoiler Alert

In Brechalon, Senta is only seven years old.  Had she not been the title character of the series, I would have left her out, since the story takes place before she does anything of importance.  I’m glad that I put her in, because it gives me a chance to show a little of her world.  Senta lives with her Granny and five of her cousins in a tenenment apartment.  We see that even though she had no magical capabilities, she does have an affinity for magic and can sense it even at a distance.

Senta is described as an orphan in all the other books, but in Brechalon we get the hint that she may not be one in actuality.  It is possible that her parents simply abandoned her.  We find out the ultimate truth of this in Book 5: The Two Dragons.