The Fablehaven Series Part 1

I read all five books in the Nicholas Flamel series a second time after I finished with the fifth book, The Warlock. Since I was facing an 11 month wait for the final book in the series, I was feeling at a loss as to what to read. I craved something similar.

I managed to find a place where someone asked for series similar to Harry Potter and Nicholas Flamel. The Fablehaven series was recommended. The series consists of five volumes and was written by Brandon Mull.

I checked out the reviews on Amazon and decided that spending $7.59 for the Kindle book would be worthwhile just to see what the book is like.

While not perfect, I enjoyed the first book, entitled Fablehaven. The book is not spectacular and mainly sets up the premise for the series. It is good enough that I wanted to read the next book.

Kendra and Seth visit their grandparents, who are the current caretakers of a secret preserve in which magical creatures are kept.  Soon, the children find themselves in the middle of a battle between good and evil, which is pretty much what happens in all of the series books from this genre.

This series uses some different magical creatures, such as fairies, which seemed stupid at first.  Once I got into the second half of the first book, I no longer thought that the fairies were stupid.

The first book has two scenes that are really stupid and annoy me as an adult reader. This happens sometimes with children's books. Children probably loved those scenes, but I could have done without them.

Near the beginning of the first book, the children, Kendra and Seth, are warned not to go into the woods because of ticks and Lyme disease. The tick excuse is false, since the woods are part of a preserve in which magical creatures run loose.

I greatly dislike it when people give false reasons for following a rule, although Seth is so stupid that he would have entered the woods even if he had been told the truth. Seth is very immature and obnoxious during the first book.  We get to see Seth gradually mature as the books progress.

The second book, Rise of the Evening Star, is better than the first book, since the action begins right off.  We don't spend half the book setting up the premise.

This passage from the second book summarizes the general idea nicely.

He placed a single finger beside his temple. "One last thought. Though secret, and in many ways quiet, the struggle between the Society of the Evening Star and those who manage the preserves is of desperate importance to the whole world. Whatever the rhetoric on both sides, the problem boils down to a simple disagreement. While the Conservators' Alliance wants to preserve magical creatures without endangering humanity, the Society of the Evening Star wants to exploit many of those same magical creatures in order to gain power. The Society will pursue its ends at the expense of all humankind if necessary. The stakes could not be higher."