i finished the very last book today. and it was spectacular! it contained all the good things a perfect fantasy series is supposed to end with. a little bittersweetness over what was lost, joy at the discovered peace, reflection on the learned lessons, and {of course} the best guy gets the best girl. really, i'm a little amazed at how quickly brandon mull rapped up the plot. with 75 pages to go lat night, i was certain he was going to have to break his promise to readers and write another book. but. to my joyful surprise, he proved worthy of his title as a fantasy author (unlike christopher paolini who {despite his original goal to write a trilogy} extended his last book another thousand pages only to continue the story line and loose more than half his follows by announcing a fourth book in the trilogy {can there be four books in a trilogy?} but. back to the point...).
one of my favorite elements of brandon mull's stories is the correct portrayal of consequences. maybe i obsess too much, but i'll never forget when seth was transformed into a walrus for his mistake. i love the encouragement to look to the older generation for advice and help. the character development is exquisite, building and solidifying with each book. with a turn or tug at the end of every chapter, i never once was bored. i even finished this book during a semester (something i haven't accomplished in years). AND! it's clean - not a foul word or scene in the entire series, which, especially with fantasy, is rare.
enough with the extended praise, though. if you haven't read fablehaven, read it. it's a page-turner. it's an adventure. it's something you can relate to. it's something you can escape with.
and it's something i've added to my list of favorite fantasies. mull now holds a place in the section of my heart's library also containing tolkien, cs lewis, and lloyd alexander. now, that is praise.
ps. don't get me wrong, paolini started out as a superb author (page-turning creativity), but really? a trilogy just can't contain four books - it's logically impossible. and. when i set out to read a trilogy, i don't want to be drug (against my will) into the perpetual world of a twenty-year old boy's fifteen book series. no thank you.
