This is the third book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull and was first published 2008 by Shadow Mountain. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by E. B. Stevens, a narrator who really brought the story to life, especially the sad moments. This is a fantasy children’s book with creatures straight from folklore and mythology.
The story centers around the two siblings Kendra and Seth as Kendra is called to become a knight, with suspicions that it’s the Evening Star who wants to use her to get another artifacts. She is called to face a dragon in another haven for supernatural creatures to get an artifact, back in Fablehaven, Seth is pretty much locked up for his own protection while a plague haunts the light creatures who suddenly turn dark and they must find a way to save them before Fablehaven falls.
The author introduces a new character to answer the question which seems to be the main plot for Kendra, which is who she will romance. The new character, the dragon tamer, Gavin enters the story and is a superpowered and kindhearted boy who thinks that Kendra is amazing. No more to say about that, Kendra is presented as the main character, once again getting the help to present the solution so everyone can gush over her. I see a pattern here, Seth is neglected though at least he gets some powers of his own in this story though they are insignificant compared to Kendra’s and he is still rather useless. When Kendra cried and got an army of fairies on her side in the first book, everyone treated her like she was a hero. When Seth tried almost sacrificed himself by defeating the revenant, it is barely mentioned.
I kept thinking that the author planned developing this. Everyone giving Kendra attention even though she freezes up. But scolding Seth for when he does anything heroic. The only one who gives Seth any kind of encouragement is a demon. I thought it would be a good way to show a conflict, Seth would be increasingly disgruntled by her sister who is far from humble, liking to rattle on Seth who gets punished and bragging to make him feel jealous. But I think I might give the author a bit too much credit, considering that this was during the time when children’s books where brainless because people considered children being too undeveloped to handle complicated conflicts.
Now, as you can imagine from this bit of information, I was not that interested in Kendra’s part of the story, finding it boring while loving it when it went back to Seth’s part of the story back in Fablehaven. Seth’s part I understood. He is the daring one who rushes off into danger without thinking, often making it worse. His purpose is to face this fault and grow into a hero when he finally conquers it. Kendra’s part keeps changing.
In the first story it was about the coward becoming brave, but she never does. She constantly wants to run, lets other do all the fighting and putting them in danger. She just flows with the stream and gets all the glory because she is “pure”. She was pure enough to trick his brother to drink a milk she has been told that it could kill the one who drinks it in the first book. To abandon her family to find a man she had no idea how to find instead of facing the problem, and in this book refuse to tell that the artifacts was gone which ended up making people die.
Now her main part in the story is to find someone to fall in love with and then come in the last part to save the day by just being there. Its weird considering how much time and effort the author put into Kendra, I cannot understand why he hasn’t put in a development for her. He makes her out to be perfect and pure when that wasn’t her in the first book.
The plot itself felt long and didn’t come together and become far better until the end. Which makes this one among the roughest for me to listened to despite the narrator doing a great job. I still liked that Seth got some powers and hoped that he gets more in the future. It would be interesting if he encountered the demon again, since that is the only person who actually shows appreciation for what he has done, not just surprise before forgetting he even exist. The story also has some really great moments, such as death, but I think it handles grief a bit to brief but we will see if the author addresses it in the next book. The writing in itself is decent, not astounding but adequate for being a children’s book.
I felt that it had developed in this book, having fewer moments that felt forced or dialog which came out clunky. The writer has really tried to push the diversity in this book, very few being white, even among the mythical creatures. It feels a bit forced at some times, I didn’t mind as much but it is clear that the writer wants the reader to see fairies, dryads and the like as Asians, Native Americans and other races.
Overall, a decent book. The plot felt a bit long and it takes too long to reach the important parts with Kendra’s side of the story being wasted time. It was just a very long introduction of Gavin and for her to get a stick. I’m also a bit tired of the ending almost concluding in the same way with Kendra being given the solution and she saves the day, often by using other people. This is the third book the author has use that, and it is getting old. The lore is still interesting and the world is expanding, introducing a new order of knights and a new haven, which is always a good thing. All in all, if I went on my feelings at the end of the book. I would rate it a 6 out of 10, feeling that it isn’t that good compared to the other books. If I were to weight in the emotional parts of the story along with Seth finally getting some powers, then I would maybe rate it a 7 out of 10. But I feel like a 6 might be more neutral, since the repeating story along with the dragging feel of the plot makes this one a rough read for me.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
Read with Senefer 