I read the third book in the Fablehaven series which is subtitled Grip of the Shadow Plague. I chose that one because 1) I wanted to see how well a book in the middle of a series stood on its own and 2) it was the only one available in our library.
So, did it pass my test of stand-alone-ness?
Yes, it did quite well. There were only a few unexplained or poorly explained references to earlier books. One word that was repeated without explanation (that might have been clarified in an earlier book) was "revenant". I only knew the word as the title of a 2015 movie. I didn't know it wasn't a made-up word. It actually means "a visible ghost or animated corpse that is believed to have revived from death to haunt the living." (WWDNL)
Okay then.
Seems a bit heavy for a children's book. Maybe children these days are more advanced than they used to be.
In general, Fablehaven was an okay book. No more than that though. There were far too many sections of tedious, overly-detailed conversation or description. I've read that a good writer eliminates everything that's not needed. Mull left it all in.
My other main problem with the book was the dismissive attitude of the main characters after the death (nearby) of some of their friends. At one time, one of them is tossed over the edge of a cliff by one of the magical bad guys. Shortly after that, another is dissolved into goo by magical floating orbs he was trying to crawl under.
In both cases, the rest of the troupe of friends barely mentions what has happened and show little to no emotion about the deaths. Much later, we're told how one or two other characters were fairly deeply saddened by it all.
That's it.
That's not enough.
Most of the time, the plot of Fablehaven revolved around not knowing whom you could trust. Evil demons were obviously on the side of evil, but pretty much everyone else could go either way. It was tiring.
As I said, this book stood well enough on its own, but the ending was not satisfying. It demanded that you read the next book to see what happens to the really bad guy. I don't mind a series being a series (or I wouldn't be reading these books), but I much prefer that, after reading one book, that's all I have to read for satisfaction. (I'm looking at you GoT.) I understand an author's wanting to sell more books, but in this case, Mull should then have shortened each book to about 200 pages, instead of the nearly 500 pages that Grip of the Shadow Plague was.
Final note: That centaur on the book cover above? Not a very big part of the story. Just so you know.
