Death Weavers: Five Kingdoms Book 4

Death Weavers is the 4th book in the five Kingdom's series. Here, our team spends much of their time with "echos". These are "Spirits" of people after they have died, but before they have moved on to a final place. They can spend as much time as they want in the echo world. However, they do hear a call to go down the river to the exit of the world. Music is a powerful force in the echo world. Different beings have music that signals what they are doing. Different people also hear different music at different times. On special occasions, people can go into the world as "bright echos" who are still alive in the regular world.

The characters also make a trip into a cave of memories. There, everybody that enters leaves beyond an "imprint" of themselves. This clone has all their memories up to the time they went in. However, it does not create any new memories. It freely discourses with others that visit. However, it forgets their presence as soon as they leave. It also has no concept of time, and could easily be there for 5 days ro 5 centuries.

There books has a guest appearance from a few characters from the Beyonders series (a displacer and a seed-man.) I wonder if the final book will eventually join the two series. There do seem to be a lot of similarities in the universes of the two.

In this book, they find more about the nature of the "outskirts" world, how it was created and the danger that the powerful shapers can inflict upon it. Most of the novel is spent in the "echo world", but at the end, the finally rejoin their bodies to continue on to the next book.

The echo world is an interesting take on an afterlife, while also providing a basis for the entire universe of the book. This book suffers somewhat from thinks happening "just when they need to". A horse rushes out of nowhere to rescue somebody. Cole seems to always know just what to do when going through a difficult situation. Even when something doesn't turn out right, there always seems to be a warning in advance. We know that something bad will happen, leaving some of the suspense out of the picture.

Crystal Keepers: Five Kingdoms Book 3

Things continue in the Five Kingdom's series. Here they voyage into a kingdom of advanced technology. At one time a computer even managed to assume power. However, this computer was eventually subjugated.

In this book, the protagonists visit a technologically advanced kingdom. Everything is technology driven, with ID cards and money in the form of credits associated with the card. (The Kingdom even had a past history of a computer taking over. Luckily, it was subdued.)

Our heroes have met up with a number of additional "refugees" from our world. Most are here with various powers and living as slaves. Everyone in the "outskirts" has been brought from other worlds. However, many have lived there multiple generations and they now consider this their home.

The technology of this kingdom even has the ability to access the internet of our world. Alas, this leads to the depressing realization that people back home really do forget all about you. People have tried to send emails back (and even go back and visit home), but their closest friends and family have no recollection of them. (The protagonist, Cole, even discovers his older brother in the outskirts - but has no recollection of him, despite seeing him in old family pictures.)

There is plenty of action, including daring escapes and covert break ins. Some of it, however, feels a bit rushed. (They seem to resolve the problem as we are just beginning to understand the gravity of the situation.) Eventually, they reach a conclusion, and we are ready for the next book.

Rogue Knight: Five Kingdoms Book 2

The Rogue Knight continues where the first book in the Five Kingdom series left off. The "gang" goes on the quest to find the master shaper and work to "save the world". In the process they run into more people that had come from Earth, including some that our protagonist knew, as well as others that had disappeared at separate times. However, other than mentioning these other "earthlings", there is no connection to the real world.

The actual quest blurs into other works by Mull. (Some of the names sounded like those that were in the Beyonders series.) We are introduced to confidence lounges where everyone is in a disguise, and thus can freely share information. One of the bits of information that is shared is the story of the "Rogue Knight". This knight goes around challenging guardians to a duels and winning, thereby claiming their land for his rulership. He promptly lets the land free. We also meet a powerful being that can communicate through mind reading, but is trapped in this world from another world. He ends up providing the heroes some aid after they complete a quest.

The story held my interest, but had a few too many loose strands. The daughter of the high king is trying to find her sisters so they can get their power back. The boy from Mesa is trying to find his friends to get home. Another "kid" is trying to free his homeland. They are all tied together in this. However, to a reader, it feels like too many reasons, and not something that is barely important enough to care about.

Sky Raiders

Sky Raiders follows the typical Brandon Mull story arc. Some kids are living a normal life. Then, through in innocent action, they get thrust into a fantasy world. There they complete heroic adventures. Only unlike Fablehaven and Candy Shop Wars, they don't get to go home at the end.
In Sky Raiders, some kids decide to go to a haunted house. It turns out the scary spot was really a plot to kidnap kids to be slaves in an alternate dimension. Cole is tripped up in a curtain, so he is not taken away. However, he decides to follow his friends into another dimension in an attempt to rescue them. Alas, he is eventually ratted on by a girl and becomes a slave. He we becomes a scout who goes on raiding missions. On one he only comes away with a shawl, which ends up showing its utility later on. In this universe, there are people and "semblences" - people like objects that were created. Some people have "shaping power". Earthlings tend to be especially gifted. Those such as Cole who come willingly are even more gifted, though the gift comes later. Cole shows "altruistic" behavior and eventually helps a "princess" escape and battle a "bad guy" who is a manifestation of her shaping power. They win (in part due to the shawl) and she gets her power back. Now they need to continue on to battle her dad who has taken the power from her and her 4 sisters and allowed slavery in the five kingdoms.

This book has the feel of an installment, rather than a complete story. Our characters have been on their first adventure, but still have much to do before they go home. I found it more difficult to get into Sky Raiders than Candy Shop War. The situations were much more fantastical and more removed from our world. (The world, however, was quite similar - aside from the odd skies and meteorology and magic which included things such as shaping and jumping swords.) This is primarily an action book with enough story to hold things together.