Book Review: Fablehaven: Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull

Fablehaven:Keys to the Demon Prison by Brandon Mull
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Publication date: March 2010
ISBN: 9781606412381
Source: Library

Fablehaven, Book 5:Keys to the Demon Prison

This is the final installment of the exciting Fablehaven series.  Seth and Kendra and the Knights of the Dawn must beat the Sphinx to the last keys to the demon prison.  They travel to distant and hidden preserves, hoping to get there before the Sphinx and to prevent him from recovering what they already have.  As new twists and surprises arise, it is a time for alliances between all those who want the world as they know it to survive.  Will that be enough?

Things I Liked:
Non-stop action.  I love how many twists and turns the story took.  It was a hard path and not everything went right, which I think is a great thing for a kid's book.  I also love how the ending was not what was expected.  Bad guys are not all bad.  What a crazy imagination Mull has with so many different creatures and magical beings and unique settings.  I definitely think it rivals Harry Potter in imagination.  I used to not like Seth much.  He makes mistakes and acts like a moron.  But, he grew on me and I really enjoyed his humor in this one. Um, I had a lot of quotes I liked:

"Seth continued to mourn for the lost hand.  He could have hidden it beneath Kendra's covers.  He could have tied a string around it and left it dangling from a shower head.  He could have displayed it proudly on a shelf in his room.  He quietly vowed to keep all of these possibilities in mind if a severed zombie hand ever fell into his lap again." p 27
"All right.  Since the world is about to end, why not give an impossible jailbreak one last try?" p 152
"Hello, cell.  How are you?  Still dank and horrible?  Sorry to hear it. Me?  I've decided to take up a new hobby.  Talking to my room.  It's a lot like talking to myself, but slightly more pathetic." p 181
"Making mistakes is part of learning to choose well.  No way around it.  Choices are thrust upon us, and we don't always get things right.  Even postponing or avoiding a decision can become a choice that carries heavy consequences.  Mistakes can be painful - sometimes they cause irrevocable harm - but welcome to Earth.  Poor choices are part of growing up, and part of life.  You will make bad choices, and you will be affected by the poor choices of others.  We must rise above such things." p 279
"I have to believe our wills are stronger than the allure of some fruit," Bracken said.  "To be slain by a troll or a chimera would be sad.  But to destroy ourselves to scratch an itch would be so pathetic I refuse to accept the possibility." p 293-294
"I believe this name makes reference to this moment. No star can abide the light of the dawn, nor has evil ever loved light." p 527
"Some imagine the difference between heaven and hell to be a matter of geography. Not so.  The difference is much more evident in the individuals who dwell there." p 562
Things I Didn't Like:
It seemed a little bit long.  But enjoyable anyway, because I couldn't put it down.  Definitely a good one for both boys and girls and big fantasy fans.


Read-alikes:
Read the first four books in the Fablehaven series

It isn't exactly similar to Harry Potter, but I think some fans will like it as much

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->->
fighting is common, but not gory


Overall rating: ****

 Have you read this series?  What did you think?

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Book Review: Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull

Description of Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuaryfrom Amazon:

"Brace yourself for a shocking secret. Two hidden artifacts have been found. Three more remain unrecovered. More preserves face destruction as the Society of the Evening Star relentlessly pursues new talismans. Reading in Patton s Journal of Secrets, Kendra learns the location of the key to a vault housing one of the artifacts. In order to retrieve it, the Knights of the Dawn must enter a death trap a dragon sanctuary called Wyrmroost. The mission cannot proceed without stealing a sacred object zealously guarded by the centaurs. Anybody seen Seth? The race is on to acquire all five of the artifact keys to the great demon prison. Will the Knights of the Dawn conquer Wyrmroost? Who can stop the Sphinx? Can Vanessa be trusted to help? What artifact will be found next?"



Wow. This series is amazing. I was hooked nearly the whole way through and devoured the rather long book very quickly. This is the fourth in the series. (No previous books reviewed here - I read them before the blog - but they are all fantastic with the same ratings. The first book is Fablehaven.) I totally didn't see the shocking revelation coming - it was very well done. I sometimes am annoyed by the details Mull includes that seem unnecessary and then make me think they will be important later on, but they aren't. But, really, I just couldn't put it down. And now I have to wait for the last one! As others have said, this is a series for some Harry Potter fans.

RATINGS:
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->->

It is pretty frightening and there is fighting, but not really graphic.

Overall rating: ****
 
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