Skip to main content

The Rise of the Evening Star

By curlyq
The Rise of the Evening Star
By Brandon Mull
Shadow Mountain, 2007. 441 pp. Chapter book.

For anyone who has not yet read the second book in the Fablehaven series, go check it out or put it on hold! Although I found the first book, Fablehaven, to be a fun story, I thought the second far exceeded the first. The story begins with a bang and continues to be jam-packed with action, adventure, and mysterious magical situations. Lots of interesting twists and turns keep the story from being predictable. Although it is a book that will be enjoyed by those who have liked previous magical-fantasy stories, it has originality and a distinct flavor all its own.

After I'd read the first Fablehaven book, I was expecting the second story to have about the same interest for me. I enjoyed the first book, but I thought it was slow getting started and wasn't really enthralled until the end. However, I was delightfully surprised when its sequel captured me from the very first page. I loved that the story began outside the bounds of Fablehaven and actually would have liked to see more of the story take place in the ordinary world. The new characters introduced added a nice complexity to the plot without overdoing it. I found the "magicky" details very fun and even more interesting than those discussed in the previous book. The ending of The Rise of the Evening Star was probably the most disappointing for me as I felt Brandon Mull tried to hastily wrap everything up but still leave lots of loose ends for another book. The ending definitely felt rushed to me, but overall, this was a wonderful, fast paced, completely magical adventure that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Painting for Peace in Ferguson

By
Painting for Peace in Ferguson By Carol Swartout Klein Treehouse Publishing Group, 2015. Nonfiction. When the city of Ferguson was overrun with so much hate and despair that homes and businesses had to be boarded up to protect property, citizens of the community decided to bring a message of hope by painting the boarded windows. Klein’s rhyming text supports the photographs of the hundreds of artists and volunteers and their artwork as they bring the messages of peace, hope, love, and that by being united they can make a difference. A great book to show children how a community rallied to make a positive change and that even a small gesture can make a huge difference. A great discussion opener on how we should treat each other.
Post a Comment
Read more

Dragon Run

By
Dragon Run by Patrick Matthews Scholastic, 2013.  336 pgs.  Fantasy      Al Pilgrommor is excited for Testing Day, when he will receive his rank, a tattooed number on the back of his neck, and a path forward to his future occupation and life.  He feels confident because his parents were fours on a scale of seven, but he is worried for his friend Wisp who doesn't have much of a chance of scoring above a two at best. But when Al is scored a zero, he not only has no prospects, he may lose his life as the dreaded Cullers are unleashed to kill him and his family to purify the land's bloodlines.  Al's world is ruled by dragons--the lords and supposed creators of humankind--so he thinks that even if he survives, he will have to make his living as a beggar or thief. But when Al sticks up for his Earther friend in front of Magister Ludi, he is drawn into the struggle of a secret organization hoping to destroy the Cullers, and perhaps the dragons them...
1 comment
Read more

Review: The Bletchley Riddle

By
  The Bletchley Riddle By Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin New York: Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2024. Fiction. 392 pages. It's spring of 1940, Hitler has swept through most of Europe, and people believe England will be next. Half Polish-Jewish, half American Jakob has been recruited from Cambridge to Bletchley Park where they are working on deciphering the enigma machine. Jakob's sister Lizzie, meanwhile, is being forced to move from London to Cleveland to live with her grandmother after her mother disappeared in a 1939 attack in Poland. Lizzie manages to escape the keeper her grandmother sent for her to bring her to America and makes her way to Bletchley, where she's eventually given the task of delivering messages between departments. When secret messages begin appearing with Lizzie's belongings, she must decipher them to find the truth about her mother's past and location, while keeping the secrets away from the MI5 agent that seems a little t...
Post a Comment
Read more