Brandon Mull

What’s it about?

Fablehaven is a 5-book series that follows two siblings, Kendra and Seth, as they learn about a hidden world of mythical creatures. Among fairies, centaurs, naiads, trolls, magic, demons, and barn-sized cows that produce magical milk, these children learn about a world beyond everything they were previously taught.

Facing treachery and deceit at every corner, these two pre-teens (who are honestly way too young to have these problems) can only trust those who are closest to them as they fight off evil, which, in this story, is literal demons who are trying to break out of their demon prison.

Why Do I Like It?

If you have read any of my posts thus far, you may have noticed a pattern. I basically only read fantasy/adventure books as a kid, and this is a perfect example of the purest form of that. It has everything you could ask for. When I was given the series (Christmas my 5th grade year), all my dad said was that he thought I would like it. Oh, how right he was. I ended up reading all five books in under a month. When my dad got back home the next month and I told him I was done with the books, he was absolutely shocked. But hey, I really really liked them.

One of my favorite aspects of these books is the idea that there is no real good and evil. All of the characters work in the gray area, even the good guys (except for our main characters, they are definitely meant to be good). One of the most powerful “good guys” is the Fairy Queen, who really only works for innocence and benefit. She is known to turn anyone who steps onto her island, even those with great needs, into dandelion seeds, just because they won’t really benefit her. This is again shown with some of the “bad guys”, some of whom do very good things. They are highlighting the gray area of morals in a way that intrigued me to no end as a kid.

I also connected with Kendra, one of the main characters, a lot, especially when I first read these books. She was a quiet, bookish, rule follower turned badass fairy-kind adventurer. And was an older sister. Though she was a few years older than me (her younger brother was a year older than me when I read them for the first time), I really felt like I understood her character. Her younger brother, on the other hand, annoyed me to no end (at first. His character growth is really amazing and he ends up being a really good kid). He reminded me of my sister when she tries to annoy me for no reason.

Before I wrap up, I just want to let the world know something buck-wild about the 5th book. (spoilers for the 5th book, but who here is actually going to read it) Kendra falls in love with a 500 year old unicorn…. Nobody talks about this because there isn’t really a platform for this series like there is for Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but this absolutely blew my mind as a kid. When they’re together, it’s not a big deal because they’re all cute and couple-y and you don’t really think about it, but thinking about how a girl, who is probably about 18 at that point in the story, falls in love with an immortal unicorn just…. astounds me. I don’t know if it is in a good way or not, but I just needed to get the word out because this is insane. In this series, unicorns have a human form, or look human all the time, so it isn’t that weird I guess… but it is.

Brandon Mull’s Other Work

If you looked at my first picture, you will notice that there are many other Brandon Mull books. I didn’t do a post on all of his work, because I read most of these way later. In case you were interested, here are his other series that I have read:

Dragonwatch

This is basically Fablehaven season 2.

• Book 1: Dragonwatch
• Book 2: Wrath of the Dragon King
• Book 3: Master of the Phantom Isle
• Books 4 and 5 have not been released yet

The Beyonders

This is a trilogy about literal wizardry (in another dimension/world of course) and has a lot of fun characters with a lot of fun abilities. The magic is set up in a very cool way and the main character can’t actually use magic.

• Book 1: A World Without Heroes
• Book 2: Seeds of Rebellion
• Book 3: Chasing the Prophecy

Five Kingdoms

Again, this series is about magic but has a different system. This one, again, is in another dimension/world and involves normal kids form earth (which all of his main characters are). This time, the different types of magic are split up depending in which kingdom you are in. There is also a cross-over with some characters from the Beyonders, which I love.

• Book 1: Sky Raiders
• Book 2: Rogue Night
• Book 3: Crystal Keepers
• Book 4: Death Weavers
• Book 5: Time Jumpers

Kate O’Hearn

What’s It About?

Pegasus is a six-book series about a girl named Emily, her friends, and, of course, Pegasus. This series directly uses Roman mythology’s pantheon, but has a story all its own. Emily is a girl from New York City who lives alone with her father. Her mother died, but that’s not really an important part of the story. She meets Pegasus when he crashes out of the sky onto the roof of her penthouse. Her friends include Paelen, a thief from Olympus with the winged shoes of Mercury (also known as Hermes in the Greek myths), and Joel, an angry Italian orphan who loves Roman mythology. Together, these three, along with Pegasus and the occasional Olympian or human, save both Olympus and Earth. They fight evil Gorgons (snake women from Roman mythology), an evil government organization called the CRU (canonically, they’re the ones behind Area 51 which is both amazing and completely bonkers), and stop the destruction of the entire universe.

Why Do I Like These Books?

Honestly, these books’s aren’t that great. I have absolutely no reason to like them as much as I do. In my opinion, the series started off really well (the first book is by far my favorite to this day), but with each book got a little worse until you get to books five and six which I’m not a big fan off at all. The writing is also a little goofy, which is shown by the infamous line “‘It’s a trap!’ her father cried. ‘And we’re in it!’ Joel shouted.” which can be found on page 256 of the first book. I think I like these books because the story of these books is really interesting and it is about mythology, which is one of my favorite subjects. They did mess around with the traditional mythology quite a bit, but the author does it in such a good way that it doesn’t make the story that weird. There are many new worlds and species, a tweaked Titanology, and an interesting way of portraying these ancient characters.

When I first read these books, it wasn’t in a library or classroom and I just decided to purchase them for myself later on, like I do with most books. Instead, I went on a limb and purchased them without any knowledge of whether they were good or not. I bought the first three books (only the first three were out at that time) based only on the fact that a) Olympus was in the name so of course it had to do with Mythology, b) the covers were beautiful, and c) the author endorsement on the cover was from Rick Riordan so they had to be good.

In the end, I just genuinely enjoy the world that has been created by Kate O’Hearn and her characters are so much fun to watch as they go on adventures and save the world. Even though I’m not a huge fan of the last few books, I still love this series as a whole and reread the first few books from time to time.

What’s It About?

This is a modern day/civil war, mystery/romance/supernatural novel about a girl who has to solve the murder of a civil war ghost but falls in love with him. On top of this, there is something weird going on at the bed and breakfast that the main character’s parents bought. It is an extremely odd combination of genres and the plot seems very convoluted, but it makes a lot of sense as it plays out in the story.

The main character, Lori Chase, moved from a big city to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. This town was, if you remember from American History class, the location of a major battle in the Civil War. This means that the town is obsessed with both the battle and ghosts. Ghosts, in this book, are souls who have unfinished business and come back around the anniversary of their death to resolve whatever they need to. The first ghost that she actually meets is Nathaniel Pierce, a civil war ghost who was murdered after being injured in battle. As she is uncovering clues about how he died, she ends up falling in love with him, but also developing feelings for the real life, flesh-and-blood boy who helps out at the bed and breakfast. In the end, she solves Nathaniel’s murder (SPOILER ALERT: his best friend accidentally shot him), and he fades into the beyond. Of course, before he leaves, he asks her to date Evan (her other love interest) so that they can both be happy and she won’t miss him as much.

Why Do I Like It?

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I enjoy this book. I am not really into romance, which is one of the main aspects of the book. I know the way that their ghosts worked was very interesting to me, so that kind of cancels out the romance. Nathaniel can only come back around the days of the battle of Gettysburg because that was when he died. The closer it gets to the day that he died, the more he can become corporeal and interact with the world. The author does a really good job with doing “flashbacks” because they aren’t really flashbacks. They are stories within a story. But the way that they are written is so lifelike and makes you feel like you are there, witnessing it. The writing in the entire book, actually, is really good. The story can be cheesy at times, but it is made up for. There are some moments that are incredibly tense, some that are funny, some that were so sweet that they made me cry the first few times I read it.

There is no movie or television adaptations or sequels as far as I know. This is one of the only books that stuck with me from childhood that is a stand alone book. I got it from a book sale when I was that awkward age where you are a little too old for all of the fun books so all that you are left with is some vaguely named “horror” or romance books. This book was the only one that looked even remotely interesting to me. And, as it turned out, it was very interesting. Either that or I was just starved for new books.

What Is It About?

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson extended universe is about demigods and their interactions with both the mortal world and the mythical world. In the original series, Percy Jackson and The Olympians, we are introduced to the Greek gods. All of our main characters attend a summer camp of sorts where demigods (half god, half mortal) live and train to become heroes. In the next series, The Heroes of Olympus, the universe expanded into Roman mythology as well as Greek mythology. It included the characters from the first series, but also gave us a whole separate camp full of characters. Through Riordan’s three other series, we also come across Egyptian mythology and Norse mythology.

Why Do I Like It?

Rick Riordan is a fantastic author. His stories somehow manage to be hilarious, even in the midst of high stakes scenes, without taking away the impact. I have absolutely no clue how he does it. One of the most noticeably hilarious aspects of his books is his chapter titles. Some examples of his chapter titles include “I Take The Worst Bath Ever” (The Last Olympian), “The Man With The Metal Bra” (The Sword of Summer), and “In Case of Demonic Possession, Please Follow Illuminated Signs to the Nearest Exit” (The Hammer of Thor). His characters are memorable, his world is full, and his plot is exciting. Since these are books about heroes, the stories are also action packed. These books are simply wonderful to read. There is also just a lot to read, which is fantastic for someone who tears through books at breakneck speed like me. Three of the five series have five books each, and two of the series have three books. This means that there are 21 books across all of the main series. He has also published many short stories and extra tidbits that flesh out his world.

The Full, Complete, Extended Universe

Percy Jackson and The Olympians (Greek)

• Book 1: The Lightning Thief
• Book 2: The Sea of Monsters
• Book 3: Titans Curse
• Book 4: Battle of the Labyrinth
• Book 5: The Last Olympian
• The Demigod Files: short stories
• Coloring book
• Graphic novels (books 1-5)
• “The Ultimate Guide”

The Heroes Of Olympus (Greek/Roman)

• Book 1: The Lost Hero
• Book 2: The Son of Neptune
• Book 3: The Mark of Athena
• Book 4: The House of Hades
• Book 5: The Blood Of Olympus
• The Demigod Diaries: short stories
• Graphic novel (book 1)

The Kane Chronicles (Egyptian)

• Book 1: The Red Pyramid
• Book 2: The Throne Of Fire
• Book 3: The Serpent’s Shadow
• Survival Guide
• Graphic Novels (book 1&2)
• Demigods & Magicians: short stories

Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard (Norse)

• Book 1: The Sword of Summer
• Book 2: The Hammer of Thor
• Book 3: The Ship of the Dead
• Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds

The Trials Of Apollo (Greek)

• Book 1: The Hidden Oracle
• Book 2: The Dark Prophecy
• Book 3: The Burning Maze
• Book 4: The Tyrant’s Tomb
• Book 5: The Tower of Nero (Set to be released Sep. 29, 2020)
• Camp Half-Blood Confidential

What’s It About?

The Hobbit is the prequel to the series “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien. The story follows a hobbit (a short, hairy-footed humanoid) named Bilbo Baggins as he helps a group of dwarves reclaim their kingdom. It is a high fantasy story with beautiful elves, powerful wizards, brutish dwarves, violent orcs, and a ton of adventure.

Why Do I Like It?

Bilbo is a prime example of a reluctant hero, which is the archetype I find extremely interesting. He starts off willing, trading his completely average, good life for one of adventure, but once the adventure starts, he realizes he doesn’t know what he is doing or how to actually help. Personally, I love how absolutely unprepared Bilbo is for anything outside of the Shire. He hasn’t really met anyone from other races aside from hobbit and wizard. He is also strangely removed from the plot, as he has no stake in the struggles of the other characters, but he remains an integral part of the story. It’s fascinating and makes him a really compelling hero, as the only reason he’s there is because he wants to be there. He wants to help. His agreeing to this one task also ends up involving him in much more than just getting a kingdom back. He becomes a man (or hobbit) of the world, not just the Shire. In the end, he returns to his home a hero to everyone but the folk of the Shire, who live very secluded lives and are slightly offended that he chose to leave for a time. He glady returns to live a regular life and enjoy the riches he procured during his travels.

As someone who is very interested in fantasy, especially high fantasy, and lore, I also very much enjoy the time and effort Tolkien puts into his world building and lore. His work is so renowned that there is a subsection of fantasy that uses his world as direct inspiration. Reading the story that inspired hundreds of other authors feels oddly inspirational and powerful.

The Movies

• 

• 

• 

Though I don’t remember them that well, I do remember thoroughly enjoying these movies. Since they broke one book up into three movies, they were able to include almost all of the plot from the book (which is where most movie adaptations epicly fail) and they had really good visual effects. I feel like the last movie was a bit of a let down, but overall they were accurate to the book and really fun to watch.

Before we begin:

I have a confession to make, and it is one that is really hard for me to admit so sit tight. I have not actually read the first book of this series. I know, how could I say that I like this series this much without even reading the full thing? To this I say it’s not my fault that I didn’t read it at first, my teacher picked out the book for my reading group but there wasn’t enough of the first book so we read the second one. Of course, now it’s my fault considering I own my own copy of the book, but the plot is thoroughly explained in the rest of the series and I haven’t been able to sit down and read it since I know the story already…

What’s it about?

This 13 book series follows the three Baudelaire orphans (Violet, Klaus, and Sunny) as they go through their exceptionally unfortunate life. They are passed from guardian to guardian as an evil man, Count Olaf, follows them and creates over-the-top schemes to steal the enormous fortune that their parents left them.

For a series of children’s novels, this story is quite dark. Not only do these children experience death in nearly every book, but they are constantly being underestimated by the adults in their lives. They also quickly learn that they can’t rely on any of those adults and have to band together to survive.

The Children

The three children are all described as highly intelligent and having “pleasant facial features”. Individually, though, they all have very defining traits.

Violet, the eldest Baudelaire, has a very inventive and mechanical mind. She is always coming up with new inventions to get the three out of sticky situations. She also has a hair ribbon that she uses to tie up her hair when she is thinking about an invention.

Klaus, the middle Baudelaire, is the definition of “book smart”. He uses libraries and books to his advantage, frequently tasking himself with gathering information for the trio. He also has glasses, making it obvious that he’s really smart.

Sunny, the youngest Baudelaire, is just a baby. She can’t even talk yet, though her siblings are able to translate her babbling. She also has extremely sharp teeth. So sharp, in fact, that she at one point shapes a round rock into a skipping rock with her teeth.

Why do I like the books?

The whole series holds a dear place in my heart because it is simply fantastic. The characters are hilarious, it is incredibly relatable to any child, and it has a genuinely interesting plot. Also, the narrator/author of the story, Lemony Snicket, is an actual character in the larger story which absolutely blew my mind as a child.

The writing in this series is also absolutely incredible. The story that we are reading is an tragic and dark one, but the overall tone of the books is lighthearted and charming. Of course, the deep undertones seep through when it is necessary, but the books never stay that way for long. The author also teaches his young audience a lot of vocabulary and phrases without being boring. He defined terms such as calamitous, in loco parentis, standoffish, misnomer, and penultimate, to a second grader in a way that I understood and enjoyed.

The Baudelaire children are truly inspirational because they go through tragedy after tragedy and they never really give up hope. When one of the siblings is down, the other two are there to pick them back up. They go through years of neglectful guardians (or good ones that end up dead) after living a life of privilege with their parents, but are able to remain positive for the most part. They are also constantly showing the adults, who never listen or see what’s truly wrong in a situation, that they are more than what everyone makes them out to be.

The movie…

Oh boy, where do I start… The movie was made in 2004, two years before the book series concluded, and they couldn’t have done a worse job. If you enjoyed the book in any capacity, the movie is simply horrifying. The plot of the movie spans the first three books only, with no hint of them planning on making a sequel. It actually starts out correctly, the first half or so of the first book is there, then they move on to books two and three, before adding in the second half of the first book and then coming up with their own ending.

The Netflix Original!!

This show is honestly one of the best translations from book to screen that I have ever seen. The narration style is preserved, the story line is perfect, and the personality of this series is really well translated.

There is a joke about making movies/tv shows about books where someone says “the script should just be a copy of the book”, and this show feels like they did exactly that. They really took the time to put in all of the little details. It is honestly really good if you have read the books or not.

What’s it about?

This series is about a magical land called Narnia that we follow from its creation in the first book (The Magicians’s Nephew) to its destruction in the last book (The Final Battle). Various children travel from Earth to Narnia in very random ways and embark on wild adventures before eventually returning back to Earth to continue their lives as “regular” children. Most of the children who go to Narnia end up as royalty or folk heroes to the Narnians. There is also an omniscient lion named Aslan who is basically the god/Jesus of Narnia and helps the children and Narnians defend themselves from whatever threat there is.

Why do I like it still?

Honestly, I think part of the reason I liked it so much at first was the movie adaptations. I watched them all the time with my younger sister and still do occasionally to this day. Of course, I still found the high fantasy feel, the political intrigue, the lovable characters, and the action fascinating, but the movies were so nostalgic for me it definitely made me appreciate the books more.

The books were a bit of a blur to me at first. Most of the plot and underlying tones went directly over my head, but once I had read them two or three times, I began to fall in love with the books as a separate entity from the movies. I realized that the movies are telling the story of the Pevensie children (the main characters from book 2,4, and 5) and the books tell the story of Narnia itself. The long and complicated history of this land filled with fauns and talking beavers and Jesus lions.

I like revisiting this series now because it is such a classic. It has magnificent world building, fantastic characters, terrifying villains, and a genuinely interesting overarching story. Also, even though it is technically a children’s series, the writing is not so simplistic that it makes it hard to read when you get older.

Quick side note:

Everyone reads these books in different orders because the publication order and the chronological order are different. My sister’s box set had them in chronological order, which is how I reference them, but some box sets are in publication order, and some sets don’t even have The Magician’s Nephew included.