Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull: Book Review

Kendra and Seth are nearing the end of the school year when a new guy joins Kendra’s class. The other girls talk about how cute he is, but all Kendra sees is a disgusting goblin who plays cruel tricks on people. A mysterious stranger offers to help them get rid of the goblin (or kobold, as they find out the creature is truly called). All they have to do is steal an object that will get rid of the creature.

Things are never that easy for Kendra and Seth, so eventually they wind up back at Fablehaven, where they find out the Society of the Evening Star is intent on infiltrating the preserve and finding a powerful artifact.

Seth has calmed down a lot since the first book, thank goodness. He’s still crazy, foolhardy, courageous Seth, but he’s a little more aware that his actions have consequences. Since Seth has changed for the better, I actually enjoyed this a little more than the first book in the series.

I like what’s going on with Kendra. Her brush with the Fairy Queen in Fablehaven has left her with some unusual abilities, and I have a feeling that we haven’t even seen the beginning of what she can do. I like her a lot as a character, so this story arc has me intrigued.

The ending–! I had a sneaking suspicion something like that might be coming, but I have a feeling that younger readers might be a little blindsided by the sudden twist.

The characters suffer a lot of bad injuries, and that surprised me a little in a book that I personally would consider to be aimed at 9-12 year olds. I didn’t find it to be anything over the top, but parents might want to keep that in mind for younger readers. At my age, I kind of liked how all of that raised the stakes.

I still love this world that Mull has created. I think that boys and girls will both love this action-packed book.

My review of Fablehaven.

Find author Brandon Mull on his website, Facebook, and Twitter.

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