Isle of the Dead is the third book in the third series of the Deltora books called Dragons of Deltora, also known as Deltora Quest 3 and originally in Australia Deltora III. Its written by the English-speaking Australian writer and author Emily Rodda (whose real name is Jennifer June Rowe). It is published by Scholastic Inc.

Plot

The Shadow Lord has been defeated by the power in the Belt of Deltora, and also by the magic from the Pirran Pipe, but now King Lief has realized a great danger. He finds out that he has put four evil creatures known as the Four Sisters, in Deltora, which by their poisonous songs, kills the people slowly by making harvest hard for many. Lief, Barda and Jasmine now must destroy them all, and to do that they need the help from Deltora's ancient protectors: the dragons of Deltora. Aided by a part of an ancient map of Deltora that the great explorer Doran the Dragonlover drew Lief, Barda and Jasmine find the first dragon, the topaz dragon in the Os-Mine Hills and also found the second dragon, the ruby dragon, in Dragon's Nest, and destroyed the first Sister. They then found the next map part, and traveled to Shadowgate and found the lapis lazuli dragon and the emerald dragon on the way there, and destroyed the second of the Four Sisters, but now they have arrived at Dread Mountain to get help from the fabled creatures, the Kin. By the help of the Kin they fly away in their pouches, but a great wind comes and separates them, and Lief and Barda arrive at the wrong destination in the western part of Deltora: in the Toran/amethyst territory. Here they find an old ghost ship and flowing casino known as Lady Luck. It was once owned by the criminal Laughing Jack who then he used his real name Captain James Gant. He is now evil and has been given magical powers by the Shadow Lord in exchange for him to work as one of his servants. Lief and Barda comes onboard the ship as it's too dangerous to remain in the water of the sea. On their time spending around here they all the time get strange visions created by magic, which tells and shows the past of the places they are in. They tell of Laughing Jack who makes a contract with the old lighthouse keeper, Red Han, and Red Han by that promises to pay back, but then he doesn't do that, so Jack takes his daughter and ties her to the front of the ship, but Verity, Red Han's daughter had developed magical powers since her birth and is a skilled painter, and creates a magical painting. Lief and Barda then get trapped in the gambling room with all the games, and the rule is that people must play and finish their games to get out. But Lief and Barda don't have any money, but luckily James Gant loans money to people from a case inside the room, but what Lief doesn't know is that you must pay three coins back for one coin and they gets trapped and the dead rowers, Laughing Jack's old crew which he promised gold, comes up from the floor to take Lief and Barda. They come because Lief and Barda finds the painting by Verity, and as verity means truth in latin, they soon see that things are wrong in the painting and touch the places that aren't right, which gets warm and glows, and changes. Lief and Barda manage to flee the ship before getting killed, and they rush to the water, pass out and wake up in the place called the Dreaming Dunes. Here they meet the amethyst dragon Veritas, which has been sleeping under the sands for years, but Lief had awakened it. He unites its power and strength with its matching gem, the amethyst, and gives it its power back and makes it fresh. Then Jasmine, the Kin and some of the Torans appears. After all this, Lief, Barda and Jasmine gets some goods from Tom's shop: A bottle of fire beads, and some candy for Ava the fortune-teller, Tom's sister. They travel to Ava's house which is used as a kind of shop too, and get their fortune told: that danger is ahead, but Barda thinks she is a evil witch which uses trickery. They loan a little boat, and take it to Blood Lily Island, a scarlet isle with red flowers known as blood lilies, and fleshbanes which sucks and eats the flesh of people's legs then walking among them. They find that the diamond dragon Forta is dead, but a diamond dragon's egg is hidden under the skeleton of the fallen dragon, and Lief puts it in his pocket to warm it. They then takes off to the Isle of the Dead, located next to Blood Lily Island which is located next to the Finger, a finger of rock which stretches out from the land of Deltora. Here on the isle they find that Doran the Dragonlover has been turned into the guardian of the Sister of the West on his quest to find and make the seven dragons sleep a magical sleep. With the help of Veritas they destroy the Sister, and also Doran as he wanted for years. They then buried Doran on a grave in a harsh windy rock where the Isle of the Dead can be seen from. And they find the fourth part of the four-part map, which tells that the next and last of the Four Sisters is located in the city of Del.