Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

FABLEHAVEN

RISE OF THE EVENING STAR

By: Brandon Mull

Reviewed by: Sofia G.

I chose the book Fablehaven, Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull for my fantasy book. The main characters are Seth and Kendra Sorenson. Kendra is two years older than Seth, and is going into ninth grade. She is one of the smartest people in her junior high school. She is supposedly fairystruck, which means the fairies have given her a few of their powers such as being able to speak the language of the fairies and to always be able to see and recognize mythical creatures. Seth is going into seventh grade and is very athletic. He isn’t fairystruck like Kendra, but later on in the series, he gets his own powers. The first part of the book takes place around Seth and Kendra’s neighborhood, but the majority takes place at their grandfather’s fairytale preserve which has fairies and golems and giants and all sorts of fantasy creatures. The story is told in the third person, but some chapters may specifically be about what Seth is feeling or doing, or it might be about what Kendra is feeling or doing.

It’s the end of the year at Kendra and Seth’s school. But something strange happens. In Kendra’s class, a new student turns out to be a goblin. Later that week, a mysterious man, who claims his name is Earl, walks up to Kendra and Seth, and says he is a friend. As if to prove he is a friend, he tells Kendra she is fairystruck, and it seems only a friend would know that. He says he is here to help them get rid of the goblin. He has Seth steal a frog statue that will make the goblin go away. Sure enough, the next day the goblin leaves. Later that day, they get an urgent message from their grandfather that they had to come to Fablehaven right away. He sends a friend, Vanessa, to pick them up and take them. When they arrive at Fablehaven, they hear the news. Fablehaven has a special artifact somewhere on the preserve. Their grandparents brought a potion master named Tanu, a magical creature manager, Vanessa, and one of their grandfather’s most trusted friends, Coulter, to help them find this artifact. The bad news is that a very powerful demon was stolen from Coulter; the exact same one Seth stole. Earl had tricked them, and now the demon will be after Seth.  The next day Kendra and Seth visit the Sphinx, a magical being who is helping them. He confirms that Kendra is fairy kind, not fairystruck. When you’re fairy kind, you inherit all of the fairies’ powers, except for flying. Afterwards, they keep this news a secret. They all work together to try and find the artifact, while trying to complete another mission: to cure Warren, another friend of their grandfather’s. Warren has been turned albino and mute by some sort of spell or spirit. He won’t do anything by himself, and nobody knows what caused this. They try to solve both mysteries at once. They’ve almost searched the whole preserve, except for one place, the Four Hills. All of this by itself is already more than a handful, but then they also discover there’s a traitor amongst them. The traitor has betrayed everyone and has taken over the preserve. Kendra and Seth are forced to deal with this by themselves, for they are the only ones who have escaped. Seth figures what caused Warren’s disease, and that it must be at the Four Hills. Against Kendra’s will, he embarks out and defeats the evil spirit that guarded the place where the artifact was and caused Warren to turn albino. Warren is cured, and he helps Kendra complete the tests and puzzles set up to guard the artifact. But the traitor is on their tail and as it turns out the traitor is working with Earl, and the artifact could end up on either side. But at the final test, Warren and Kendra prevail, and they capture the traitor. All is well.

The conflict in the story was finding the artifacts and keeping it out of the enemy hands. The artifacts are important because the yielder has mass power. This specific artifact heals every injury, magical or physical. If it’s placed in the enemy hands, they’d use it for evil. To solve the conflict, Kendra and Seth’s grandparents assign specific jobs to Vanessa, Coulter, and Tanu. Kendra and Seth were considered too young to help, but in the end they play the most important role in solving the conflict.

This story contains fairies, demons, goblins, giants, and spirits, making this book a fantasy/fiction book. This book does not have that much irony in it, but there are a couple of important examples of irony. I find it ironic that nobody lets Seth and Kendra do all the dangerous things, but in the end they are the only ones who can save Fablehaven. I also think it is very ironic that the person that helped Kendra and Seth the most in the beginning at Fablehaven turned out to be the traitor.

I really liked how in this story the two main characters are siblings, and in most books that is not the case. I loved how the whole fantasy-magic situation had a realistic background that tells you how everything came to be how it is. I find it cool that this fantasy business takes place everywhere, and I like how the situation is always a logical one, and the answer is never what you think it will be. I would change Seth and Kendra back stories, and I would make it more unusual. I would add some mystical events that happened when they were younger; like having Kendra see a Pegasus flying above her house when she was nine or something like that. Something that shows they have a magical before-story. That is the only thing I would change.

I would recommend Fablehaven to people who enjoy fantasy, magic, or action books. Fablehaven is like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson all at once. I would recommend it because it has a really nice story plot, and it has all the little details that you need to patch together such an advanced, complex story. Also, I love the characters, every single one has a distinct build, and none of them are similar in more than one way. I find it interesting how unlike a lot of fantasy books I’ve read; in Fablehaven fantasy creatures and magic are everywhere. In the Fablehaven series, they meet tons of people who know about the magic and the demons and the fairies and the imps and the dragons and all of it. I would recommend this book/series because of its catching story plot, the special characters and the unique adventures and conflicts in the Fablehaven books.