Fablehaven
(Fablehaven series, Book 1)
Brandon Mull
Aladdin
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: Kendra and her younger brother Seth couldn't be much more different. She's the advanced student, afraid to take chances and afraid to fail. Seth stints on classwork and sees warning signs as invitations; no wonder he has all sorts of friends and she has next to none. Normally, they wouldn't be hanging around together, but for the next seventeen days of their summer vacation they're stuck with each other. Mom and Dad are going on a cruise, so the kids have to stay at their reclusive grandparents' home in the hills of Connecticut, in the middle of miles of woods which Grandpa refuses to let them explore. It's not like they know much about their father's parents, either; they rarely attend family gatherings, and don't seem to leave their estate much at all. Soon, Kendra and Seth learn that there's more to their grandparents and the estate grounds than initially meet the eye. Keys, puzzles, and forbidden adventures in the woods soon reveal a centuries-old secret, a sanctuary for magical beings... and a great danger from another age, about to break free. Now, the question isn't how they'll keep themselves busy during their stay - it's whether or not they'll survive it.
REVIEW: When all is said and done, Fablehaven is fairly typical of this kind of story: kids dropped off with "eccentric" relatives, kids snoop about and discover a magical world which adults may or may not know about, kids get caught up in a life-or-death struggle to save said world (and usually our own), and kids survive for the ending and, more often than not these days, a sequel or ten. Given that, Mull actually manages to make his characters somewhat distinct and - for the most part - reasonably intelligent, and while he goes out of his way (almost impossibly so) to reduce the body count at the end, he manages to keep enough of a threat going to make things interesting. He also creates some nice mental images, and paints the denizens of Fablehaven in a memorable manner. I can't really get angry with it for being what it is, as I can't really blame it for the fact that I've read so many other, roughly similar tales of varying quality. So ultimately, while this isn't the most original story I've read, I was fairly satisfied, and didn't want my money back. I might even read the next book, if I find it out in paperback.
You might also enjoy:
The Everworld series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Four Chicago teens are pulled into a world where magic and elder gods still rule)
Faerie Wars (Herbie Brennan, YA Fiction - A boy finds a faerie prince in the garden)
The Sisters Grimm series (Michael Buckley, YA Fiction - Two children learn that the tales of the Brothers Grimm were case files, not fairy tales)
The Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - A boy criminal mastermind deduces the existence of the underground fairy nation, and sets his sights on fairy gold)
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, YA Fiction - Three siblings discover a field guide to an invisible, magical world around them)
Hatching Magic (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A medieval wizard's tame wyvern heads through a magic bolthole to modern Boston to lay her egg)
Knight's Castle (Edward Eager, YA Fiction - Four children find stories springing to life around them after one of them makes a careless wish)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - An angry act of vandalism plunges a boy into the invisible war between London's statues and gargoyles)
Dragon Rider (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - Threatened by modern Man's encroachment, a dragon seeks a legendary sanctuary in the Himalayas with a brownie and an orphan boy)
Eccentric Circles (Rebecca Lickiss, Fiction - A woman finds a fairy land through the back door of her inherited cottage)
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip, Fiction - A sorcerer's daughter lives in isolation among legendary Beasts gathered by her late father)
The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica (James A. Owen, YA Fiction - Three soon-to-be-famed authors travel to the Archipelago of Dreams, inspiration for story and myth since Time began)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A boy learns that the ancient gods and monsters of Greek mythos still exist today)
Avalon: Circles in the Stream (Shelly Roberts, YA Fiction - Three kids discover magical animals hiding in an abandoned wildlife sanctuary)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - An orphaned boy learns of the hidden Wizarding world and its wonders when he discovers his magical heritage)
The Dragon that Ate Summer (Brenda Seabrooke, YA Fiction - A boy discovers a little blue dragon eating his mother's flowers)
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, YA Fiction - Two kids find very unusual animals on their eccentric great-uncle's California farm)
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson, YA Fiction - A boy finds magical cupboard doors leading to other worlds)
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Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
(Fablehaven series, Book 2)
Brandon Mull
Aladdin
Fiction, YA Fantasy
****
DESCRIPTION: Last summer, Kendra and her kid brother Seth went to visit their grandparents out in the country, and stumbled into an adventure filled with
fairies, imps, monsters and more. To save the magical sanctuary of Fablehaven from a terrible threat, Kendra turned in desperation to the Fairy Queen for help, and
was marked forevermore. Normally, her fairy gifts don't bother her much in the ordinary world... until a new student joins her in the eighth grade, one week before
summer break. Everyone else thinks he's the cutest boy on campus, but Kendra's fairy-gifted sight sees through to the hobgoblin within. Worse, he seems to know that
she's aware of his true nature. Kendra knows this can't be a good sign.
The Society of the Evening Star, a dark group which seeks the exploitation of magical beasts and subjugation of mankind, is on the move, and has targeted Fablehaven.
Somewhere on the grounds, a powerful magical artifact lies hidden, one of five keys to a demonic prison. With the help of the enigmatic Sphinx, Grandma and Grandpa
have brought in three new allies to find and retrieve the artifact for relocation to a new, more secure sanctuary - but from the start, trouble and betrayals dog
their efforts. A traitor is in their midst, and time is running out.
REVIEW: I read Fablehaven some time ago, and while I enjoyed it, I never foresaw myself following the series further. After reading the abyssmal
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, reviewed here), however, I found a renewed appreciation
for what Mull did with the generic "modern-kids-find-magical-world" formula, and vowed to read the second Fablehaven book if I ever found it cheap enough. So, when
I saw this book for sale at a thrift store for under a buck, I grabbed it.
Unlike some series authors, Mull doesn't spend much time on recaps, plunging right into Kendra and Seth's new adventures; new readers will likely be disoriented at
times. The children were both changed to some degree by their first visit to Fablehaven, but still have more growing up to do. Bookish Kendra is more willing to take
risks and bend rules, and even Seth's seemingly self-destructive adventurous streak is tempered, if slightly, by past experiences. The action picks up quickly. Mull
always has at least one ball in the air, but manages to juggle them adroitly, making for a fast read with few, if any, lulls. While some elements of the plot proved
predictable, other parts are pleasantly original. Fablehaven remains, as it was in the first book, a domain of both wonders and dangers, where even the most beautiful
and innocent-seeming magical creatures almost invariably have a deadly side. Once in a while the dialog feels awkward, and the humor leans toward the low-brow. On
the whole, it's a worthy and entertaining sequel to the first volume. I expect I'll track down the next book eventually, to see how things go from here.
You might also enjoy:
The Everworld series (K. A. Applegate, YA Fiction - Four Chicago teens are pulled into a world where magic and elder gods still rule)
Faerie Wars (Herbie Brennan, YA Fiction - A boy finds a faerie prince in the garden)
The Sisters Grimm series (Michael Buckley, YA Fiction - Two children learn that the tales of the Brothers Grimm were case files, not fairy tales)
The Artemis Fowl series (Eoin Colfer, YA Fiction - A boy criminal mastermind deduces the existence of the underground fairy nation, and sets his sights on fairy gold)
The Spiderwick Chronicles (Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, YA Fiction - Three siblings discover a field guide to an invisible, magical world around them)
Hatching Magic (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A medieval wizard's tame wyvern heads through a magic bolthole to modern Boston to lay her egg)
Knight's Castle (Edward Eager, YA Fiction - Four children find stories springing to life around them after one of them makes a careless wish)
The Stoneheart trilogy (Charlie Fletcher, YA Fiction - An angry act of vandalism plunges a boy into the invisible war between London's statues and gargoyles)
Dragon Rider (Cornelia Funke, YA Fiction - Threatened by modern Man's encroachment, a dragon seeks a legendary sanctuary in the Himalayas with a brownie and an orphan boy)
Eccentric Circles (Rebecca Lickiss, Fiction - A woman finds a fairy land through the back door of her inherited cottage)
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip, Fiction - A sorcerer's daughter lives in isolation among legendary Beasts gathered by her late father)
The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica (James A. Owen, YA Fiction - Three soon-to-be-famed authors travel to the Archipelago of Dreams, inspiration for story and myth since Time began)
The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series (Rick Riordan, YA Fiction - A boy learns that the ancient gods and monsters of Greek mythos still exist today)
Avalon: Circles in the Stream (Shelly Roberts, YA Fiction - Three kids discover magical animals hiding in an abandoned wildlife sanctuary)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - An orphaned boy learns of the hidden Wizarding world and its wonders when he discovers his magical heritage)
The Dragon that Ate Summer (Brenda Seabrooke, YA Fiction - A boy discovers a little blue dragon eating his mother's flowers)
The Dragons of Ordinary Farm (Tad Williams and Deborah Beale, YA Fiction - Two kids find very unusual animals on their eccentric great-uncle's California farm)
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson, YA Fiction - A boy finds magical cupboard doors leading to other worlds)
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