Books I Love - Beyonders

Do you guys remember when I wrote a post last year entitled "Books I Want to Read this Summer?" (I know it might be hard to remember; it was like a year and a half ago.) Well I did, in fact, read those books. And I planned on writing blog posts on them. And…now it's been so long that another summer has passed and I've actually read their sequels. So! You are lucky enough to be able to read my reviews of the original books and the sequels. Woot!

Today I want to talk to you about Brandon Mull's series "Beyonders." In "Beyonders: A World Without Heroes," a regular boy named Jason is, through a crazy twist of fate, transported to a different world he's never had an inkling existed. People in this new world, though, know about us. Sometimes, like Jason, people from our world end up over there. They're called "Beyonders," because they're from the "Beyond" (our world). Jason learns that this world is almost entirely ruled by an evil lord named Maldor, and also stumbles upon the secret that Maldor can be destroyed by a magic word which brave adventurers have to collect syllable by syllable. He's joined by another beyonder named Rachel, and the two of them set out to find the entire word, destroy Maldor, and return home to our world.

I have to admit that when I read the first book in the series last year, I liked it, but I knew that I still liked Fablehaven more. Beyonders was good, but (I felt) lacking some of the originality of Fablehaven. It seemed to me to be a more typical/regular fantasy plot. With that being said, though, the writing was good, the characters were good, and the story was entertaining. It was a good book and I enjoyed it, and I was very interested to see where the series would go.

(Side note: Have any of you noticed that Brandon Mull seems to have some sort of fixation on betrayal? In Fablehaven, it was one of the major themes, and it's carried over into this story as well. Thoughts?)

Now that I've read the second book, "Beyonders: Seeds of Rebellion," I fully endorse the series as a "Books I Love" series. Brandon Mull is just so creative, and his creativity really shines through in this book. I won't tell you what happens, because I don't want to spoil anything, but the book is awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can't wait for the next one. (Which, by the way, comes out next March. Sigh. I wish books came out faster.  But I'm patient. Mostly.)

So, yeah! Beyonders is great. If you're looking for some fun books, definitely try them.