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onemanbookclub's review
4.0
Check out my blog, One Man Book Club
The Value of a Star: Ratings Explained
One thing's for sure: Brandon Mull knows how to write for kids.
Fablehaven. Beyonders. The Candyshop Wars.
All winners.
Five Kingdoms? Yep. It's a winner--at least, it is if you can get past the annoying to embrace the fun.
The Five Kingdoms is a five-book series:
Book 1: Sky Raiders
Book 2: The Rogue Knight
Book 3: Crystal Keepers
Book 4: Death Weavers
Book 5: Time Jumpers
Cole is 11 and perfectly normal--until he and his friends get kidnapped and taken through a portal into another world. (Sound a little similar to Beyonders? Ya, I thought so too.)
In the Outskirts, slavery is legal and slaves from Earth are a hot commodity due to their likelihood of manifesting the magical power that exists there. Cole manages to escape, make new friends, discover his power, and become the Outskirts only hope to avoid certain destruction. Bonus points if he's able to discover a way to get himself and all his friends home too.
Without dieing, of course.
The series is packed with cool stuff that the under 14 crowd will love. Castles floating on clouds. Magic swords. Evil kings. Lost princesses. Giant robot dragons. Sentient robots. Knights. Shape shifters. Ghosts. Magic powers. Time travel. High tech battle armor. Teleportation. Artificial Intelligences. Jokes. Heroes. Mysteries. Twists. Red herrings. Battles. Crushes. More, more and more. Fun overload, seriously.
It's also packed with annoying stuff that might drive grown-up readers slowly insane...
Lose ends. Too many characters. Over-simplified solutions. Easy answers. Awful decisions.
Repeating plot lines. Dead doesn't mean dead. Non-stop narration of everything that happens in Cole's brain.
Everything.
Non-stop.
For 2,357 pages.
Sigh...
These things made the first couple books hard to read. I knew the fun was there, so I kept going because a fun story will nearly always trump all in the end. And it did.
In the end fun won me over.
The Five Kingdoms will be a fun read for kids who love adventure. That should be all of them, shouldn't it? The main character is a boy, but there are strong girl characters as well. The kids in the story are 11 years old (and act like it), and are accessible to a broad age group. Adults who can embrace the fun and ignore the lame will enjoy these books too.
I'll be recommending them to my kids.
Happy Reading!
The Value of a Star: Ratings Explained
One thing's for sure: Brandon Mull knows how to write for kids.
Fablehaven. Beyonders. The Candyshop Wars.
All winners.
Five Kingdoms? Yep. It's a winner--at least, it is if you can get past the annoying to embrace the fun.
The Five Kingdoms is a five-book series:
Book 1: Sky Raiders
Book 2: The Rogue Knight
Book 3: Crystal Keepers
Book 4: Death Weavers
Book 5: Time Jumpers
Cole is 11 and perfectly normal--until he and his friends get kidnapped and taken through a portal into another world. (Sound a little similar to Beyonders? Ya, I thought so too.)
In the Outskirts, slavery is legal and slaves from Earth are a hot commodity due to their likelihood of manifesting the magical power that exists there. Cole manages to escape, make new friends, discover his power, and become the Outskirts only hope to avoid certain destruction. Bonus points if he's able to discover a way to get himself and all his friends home too.
Without dieing, of course.
The series is packed with cool stuff that the under 14 crowd will love. Castles floating on clouds. Magic swords. Evil kings. Lost princesses. Giant robot dragons. Sentient robots. Knights. Shape shifters. Ghosts. Magic powers. Time travel. High tech battle armor. Teleportation. Artificial Intelligences. Jokes. Heroes. Mysteries. Twists. Red herrings. Battles. Crushes. More, more and more. Fun overload, seriously.
It's also packed with annoying stuff that might drive grown-up readers slowly insane...
Lose ends. Too many characters. Over-simplified solutions. Easy answers. Awful decisions.
Repeating plot lines. Dead doesn't mean dead. Non-stop narration of everything that happens in Cole's brain.
Everything.
Non-stop.
For 2,357 pages.
Sigh...
These things made the first couple books hard to read. I knew the fun was there, so I kept going because a fun story will nearly always trump all in the end. And it did.
In the end fun won me over.
The Five Kingdoms will be a fun read for kids who love adventure. That should be all of them, shouldn't it? The main character is a boy, but there are strong girl characters as well. The kids in the story are 11 years old (and act like it), and are accessible to a broad age group. Adults who can embrace the fun and ignore the lame will enjoy these books too.
I'll be recommending them to my kids.
Happy Reading!
lizandlibrary's review against another edition
4.0
My kids enjoyed this book just like they have the previous 3 books in the series. This one is slightly heavier regarding topics and plot. There is a lot of talk about the afterlife, life spark, and echoes (ghosts). The majority of the book takes place in a setting called the Echo Lands, which is essentially between the real world and the afterlife. My kids are probably a little younger than the average reader of this series but they think about things on a pretty deep level and I got lots of questions about the things happening in the book. While I consider this good because it opens discussion for me with my kids on serious topics, I just wanted to put that out there as a disclaimer to any parents who don't want to have to address those topics just yet.
tigerlinus's review against another edition
3.0
Death Weavers started as a fun read but, regrettably, the story also had slow passages, mostly towards the end of the book. I thought this was going to be the best of the series, given how the story was launched, the dynamics of Necronum and echoland - with its slipstreams, the image of life after death in this setting, the different types of echoes (similar to spirits), the powers that characters were able to access, and the limitations of those powers; it was an intriguing world. Unfortunately, Death Weavers doesn't provide growth of character, the tale went on much longer than was necessary, which resulted in the story becoming mundane, it was, at times, overly complicated, with the writing a bit juvenile in its delivery. Sadly, Death Weavers became stale for me, even though the world of Necronum and the echolands was one of the most interesting settings of the Five Kingdoms.
Spoiler
with the exception of Cole's reconnection with his power,ghumpherys's review against another edition
4.0
Another new land to explore in the Five Kingdoms series! It was fun to see a connection made to the Beyonders series (although apparently I missed an even earlier connection in one of the previous books). The Echolands was a bit confusing at times with trying to understand the rules and the distinction between the different types of echos, but I love how all these lands are connected and yet so different from each other. Learning a little about the history was interesting (although also a bit confusing). Looking forward to the final book!
plumpmermaid's review against another edition
5.0
So far the best book in the series. The surprise connection to another series made me literally bounce with excitement! I especially liked the lore involving the death magic and the beginnings of the Five Kingdoms.
wellington299's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fine book that reminded me a video game. With his friends on different quests or captured, Cold soloed a lot during this book. I didn't realize how much I missed his companions, especially Jace.
Did it finally take me to the fourth book of the sequel to notice? When people are explaining to Cole, it felt like talking to an NPC in a video game.... like when the NPC asked "What would you like to know more about?"
I do really like how they tied together other characters from previous books (other series?)
Did it finally take me to the fourth book of the sequel to notice? When people are explaining to Cole, it felt like talking to an NPC in a video game.... like when the NPC asked "What would you like to know more about?"
I do really like how they tied together other characters from previous books (other series?)
askard's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
calistareads's review against another edition
5.0
Another great story in this series. Brandon always has fresh and new ideas. I do feel he rushes through things. One scene rushes into another scene and it doesn't feel like time is really given to let it unfold. It's all a rush and it doesn't seem to add suspense really. I am bummed this last book is not next. That is mean. Still, can't wait.
leopardseal's review against another edition
2.0
Brandon Mull was better for me when I was younger. Now I can't really read with much enthusiasm because, well, I've read better books.
Death Weavers just didn't quite make the cut for me. None of the Five Kingdoms have. Fablehaven and Beyonders were better.
Oh, by the way, this book has MAJOR spoilers for Beyonders. Read Beyonders FIRST.
Death Weavers just didn't quite make the cut for me. None of the Five Kingdoms have. Fablehaven and Beyonders were better.
Oh, by the way, this book has MAJOR spoilers for Beyonders. Read Beyonders FIRST.
fairytale42's review against another edition
4.0
This was good, as all the books are, but personally, it lacked...something. Also, I wish the struggle for Cole was more difficult near the end. However, still good.