A World Without Heroes (Beyonders #1)
Five out of five stars.
A World Without Heroes (Beyonders #1)
is the first book in a new series by Brandom Mull. I have not read his Fablehaven
series yet, but after this taste I definitely plan to check them out! (Probably of the library.)
After a tantalizing preface, we emerge into the very modern world of of Jason, a thirteen-year-old boy well on his way to becoming the next dentist in a line of dentists. Unfortunately for Jason’s immediate plans, the Lyrian world needs a hero — and instead of finishing up his volunteer shift at the zoo and doing his homework, Jason takes a wild ride down the throat of a hippopotamus and finds himself suddenly in a very different place.
Lest this begins to sound like the typical fantasy novel (where the painfully young teenager jumps in, learns to swordfight, and saves the day regardless of his attitude and lack of experience), let me tell you right off that this book has so many twists and turns you might want to take your sea-sickness medication right up front. The world is fantastic and yet perfectly tuned to its internal rules. Jason is precocious, of course, but I didn’t ever feel like he was completely ridiculous, and managed to forget his age as soon as reasonably possible.
The quest our hero takes on quickly introduces us to our heroine, Rachel, another Beyonder from the ‘real’ world. They travel together in search of a magic word which, if said in the presence of the wizard, will unmake him and free everyone from his tyranny. Their search leads them to many imaginative destinations with riddles and solutions around every corner.
If you like fantasy, and especially well-crafted young adult fantasy, you will devour this book the way I did! I rate it for 12 and above on the Aardvark scale for some violent fight scenes. Otherwise, it was refreshingly clean.
Warning: I have not read the other books in the series, and it looks like in the second novel the heroine, Rachel, learns some magical skills. The first book is a definite cliff-hanger, so if that concerns you, you will want to look up the second book before handing this to your younger teenagers.
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