Fablehaven

FAN-TAS-TIC

Genre: Fantasy

Target Age group: 9-15(ish), but great for adults too!

If you have not yet read the Fablehaven series, do it now. If you started the series and have not finished, start again. It's worth it.

The books center around two siblings, Kendra and Seth Sorenson. In the first book, they discover that their grandparents are caretakers of a preserve for magical creatures, called Fablehaven. The first book deals with demons and uprisings within Fablehaven. This is all kind of preliminary and sets up the real story that starts in book two.

Starting in book two, Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, they learn of two warring societies, The Society of the Evening Star and the Knights of the Dawn. The Society of the Evening Star is trying to open a demon prison called Zzyzx and The Knights of the Dawn are trying to stop them at all costs.

In order to open the prison, The Society of the Evening Star must collect 5 artifacts that act as keys to open the prison. These artifacts are hidden at preserves around the world. Since preserves are falling right and left, The Knights of the Dawn decide to find the artifacts themselves, in order to better protect them. Most of the series details the adventures of Seth and Kendra as they help find and guard the artifacts.

I just finished the final book, Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison. I can't tell you much about what happens here without giving away what happens in other books. Just know, that this is Brandon Mull's best work by far! He ends the series with a few nice twists and turns, some great new characters and just good writing in general. I thought he worked everything out quite nicely in the end. This book has a little bit of everything: lots of fantasy (obviously), action, romance (just a little), mystery, it's all there.

The first book in the series was also Brandon Mull's first book. It's a good start, not the best thing I've ever read, but a good start. You can definitely watch his writing style mature and solidify and the series progresses. So, I say again, if you stopped after book one, start again!

Recommendation: READ THEM!