Spring 2019, Wild Readers 5 discussion

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull is a must read for anyone who loves fantasy novels. The story takes place surrounding two young children, Seth and Kendra, whose parents are about to spend two weeks on a cruise. Their mother and father decide to leave the children with their grandfather, who lives practically in the middle of nowhere. They knew very little of him at first, but are very aware of the strange rules that come with staying in his home, such as not being allowed in certain places of the property. But little do Kendra and Seth know, their mysterious grandfather is the caretaker of a hidden refuge called Fablehaven, a place for mystical creatures to live out their days in order to avoid extinction. When the children finally discover his secret, their eyes are opened up to a world full of fairies, witches, golems, and so much more. However, when one of the rules gets broken, Kendra and Seth find themselves in a compromising situation where they must face challenge after challenge in order to save their family.
I read this book very quickly, each chapter left me craving to know more. The way that Brandon Mull wove Fablehaven into the plotline was clever and astutely creative. As someone who loves stories surrounding mythical creatures of any kind, I applaud Mull for knowing how to capture his reader’s attention. The aspect of the novel reminded me a lot of the live action version of Maleficent, where all of these creatures lived together in peace and harmony with the laws that kept things running smoothly. In both this book and the movie, humans play a major factor in disrupting that balance and I anticipated this idea to be one of the major themes of the novel. When the reader is able to see the warnings and mistakes made as the story progresses, it really teaches the lesson on being able to decipher what is right and wrong, a very critical lesson for everyone to learn. It also teaches about a great deal of emotion and consequences as well. Overall, I loved reading this book and would most definitely continue on with the rest of the series!