Keys to the Demon Prison (5) (Fablehaven)

Where to start with this one?

Most of the time I would be in the middle of reading the book... wishing I was doing something else. That's never a good sign by the way. You don't want your readers to be wishing they were not reading your story.

This book had a major strike against it. I just didn't care anymore. All these bad things are happening to the characters, but I really couldn't care less.

I think the major problem with this book was that Mull was trying to make you feel how terrible the bad guys are, how terrifying, how threatening by killing off characters that we don't care about at all. Mull even goes as far as to introduce these Eternals who are immortals that must die before the demon prison can be opened. Kendra and the gang rushes to stop these Eternals from dying without knowing that the readers don't really care... at all. In fact we're hoping that she won't rescue them so that something exciting might happen. The game of cat and mouse gets real dull after awhile.

In fact, you need these Eternals to die to get a move on with the plot. So why bother even introducing us to them? Why bother taking up valuable chapter space to introduce the Eternal to us, attempt to make us sympathize with him, when you know and I know that the Eternal must die. A much more effective way to handle the Eternals is just to make Kendra and the gang always too late. Or maybe they come just in time to watch one of the Eternals die. The last one, so that we meet and feel bad for only one. That death would be more meaningful. She was the last one, the last hope. We meet her, get to know her- and the readers generally want to save her. You'll even trick them into thinking "Oh! She's still alive! They've got time! They might win this!" THEN YOU KILL HER! That will create natural tension and bring in some emotion. It would make the readers actually mourn her loss, even if we never got a chance to really know her.

I mean it's not that hard to think of this stuff. I just came up with a better way to handle the Eternals in about five minutes. And in all honesty, I wouldn't have included the plot device in the first place. I just don't think Mull knew how to write his own book.

So two new characters get introduced in this book. Nagi Luna, an evil demon witch mastermind which I guess is supposed to mirror the evil witch with the knots from the first story. And Gavin 2.0. No, his name isn't Gavin. But really that's all he appeared to be. His real name is Bracken... (I like Gavin 2.0 better) and he's a unicorn. Meaning he's Kendra's new love buddy. I kind of saw him as Mull's way of apologizing to all those Gavin fans who were upset when Gavin turned out to be evil (rather randomly I might add) in the last book.

Anyway, stuff happens. Kendra's mounts a rescue mission to save Seth. Which fails. Then Kendra mounts a rescue mission to save the Eternals which also fails. I mean so far, the book's looking great!

Seth rescues himself and goes on an epic quest involving Patton, creepy fate witches and a sword. I mean, his whole half of the story starts with him being skewered, imprisoned, and then coming back to Fablehaven to... accidently let loose a demon a hundred times worse than the bad guy they were already fighting.

Way to go Seth. Way to fall into the most obvious trap ever.

I'm sorry Seth. I don't hate you. It's not your fault that your author doesn't take you seriously.

Anyway so Seth ends up accidently killing one of his friends. Which is... semi touching. I actually thought Coulter's sacrifice in the second book was much more noble and touching. Really if Mull put the same emotion behind that scene into this one, it might have made me sad... maybe. Anyway, so his friend dies, and yet again I'm not really sad about it. Seth goes on a quest to make things right.

And already it's more interesting than whatever Kendra's doing. After all Seth's team consists of Vanessa (who I always thought was pretty awesome) and the satyrs (who I automatically liked because their grandpa didn't like them). I mean already you have the makings for a more interesting adventure. And for the most part it is. And a more fruitful one at that. Seth's actions very well saved all their lives. Not that the rest of the characters really care or acknowledge this.

But then, of course, Mull has to take it all away. Because of course, Seth can't possibly save the day can he? Only Kendra has that deus ex machina power. Even if it would make more sense that Seth be the hero. Kendra has to yank the spotlight away... again.

So we get to the island the prison is on. And all the characters are whining and moaning about how they're all about to die. Then Mr. Gavin 2.0- Unicorn guy pipes up and says "Hey! We might not have to die after all! I have a vague plan up my sleeve! Just trust me!" And in all honesty, the way they pull the whole thing off isn't important. In fact, it was the most stupidly obvious plan I'm kind of annoyed that I didn't see it coming. Not as bad as the first book but still...

What is important is that Seth gets a whole chapter to be a hero. And in that chapter he takes out not one but two really powerful demons. With the awesome sword that he collected on his quest, I might add. The task of defeating these demons very nearly kills him, but it still was a pretty sweet moment.

I was pretty sure at the end of that chapter, Mull was going to tick me off again.

So Seth comes back to the sidelines all beaten up. And Kendra, seeing her brother in this state, is really upset. She picks up his sword and... turns super sayian.

Now to understand why I hate this part of the book you have to understand something about this sword. Seth went on a half a book long quest to get this sword. His blood sweat and tears are in it now. And not only did he have to go kill people (eh, evil people don't count though) for the sword, it chose him as its new owner. The first new owner in over a century. Seth was supposed to be seen as this remarkable human being for having accomplished such a feat. It was his one true outshining of his sister. It may not have been as pretty an accomplishment as her "fairy born" stuff was. But it was something he worked hard for. He earned that darn sword.

Kendra picks it up after it "calls to her" and freaking turns into a super fairy chick. She goes all berserker on the biggest and baddest king of demons and manages to KILL him WITHOUT a single scratch. You can't say this wouldn't sicken you. I mean it sickens me just typing this.

Might I also add that both the Fairy Queen herself and her son (Gavin 2.0) were fighting the demon without so much as scratching him. And little Kendra comes out of nowhere and hacks him to pieces. This should tick every reader off. Obviously it didn't, because people put this book on the New York Times Best Sellers list.

Imagine how Seth must have felt when his sister picked up "his" sword. He kind of laughs it off but you can tell through Seth's body language and dialogue (even if Mull didn't mean it) that Seth is not thrilled with his sister's success. I may be reading into something that isn't there. But when Seth started downplaying his own role in their victory when explaining to his parents and praising Kendra's- I just wanted to give him a hug. Wouldn't you feel like crap if that happened to you? I mean, sure you'd be happy to be alive. And you'd be glad that the demon king was defeated. But wouldn't you feel like all your hard work was just to be a messenger boy for your elder sister? Talk about incoming inferiority complex.

Mull even writes in something along the lines of "Seth wasn't even upset that Kendra defeated the demon king singlehandedly..." in exposition. But really, that was more like Mull trying to cover up his mistake. He knew Seth would be ticked. But instead of writing his character like his character were a real person, he pretends that Seth is okay with the whole thing. So that in the final scenes, Seth seems real distant and out of character.

I think Mull just realized that he was almost done with this stupid series and just couldn't stand to write anymore. So he didn't put any serious thought into how Seth might have felt. And instead focused on the Gavin 2.0 and Kendra love story. Which is really not that cute. Most of the time I was just like... oh just kiss her and go away already. I'm tired of both of you.

Seth was supposed to have a minor quest at the end. Something he promised the fates (or whatever they were). But Mull didn't think it was important to follow up on it because it would mean Seth would get to do something awesome and Mull hates Seth.

So he ends the series with Kendra sharing a tender moment with unicorn boy. And Seth kinda off to the side, wondering when he will get his own book series. It's never going to happen, Seth. I'm sorry.

On a whole the book is (like the others in the series) unimaginative, predictable and suffering from worn out plot. I wouldn't recommend this series to anyone. There are far better children book series out there that pull off this same sort of theme in a much better way. It's nothing special and you'd be better off just looking for a different book to read.

WARNING: This review contains SPOILERS. Do not read this review, unless you've already finished the book.

I typically don't include spoilers in my reviews, but in this case, I have to, if only to address some glaring absurdities that occur here. I've read all the Fablehaven books, and for the most part, I've enjoyed the series, although more so in the early volumes. In this final installment, Mull sort of "jumps the shark" by including some things that are downright baffling.

The greatest offense here is that KENDRA FALLS IN LOVE WITH A UNICORN. That is not a typo. Again, it needs to be stated: Kendra, a 15 year old girl, FALLS IN LOVE WITH A UNICORN. And yes, that love is reciprocated by the unicorn. Even in the cheesiest of teen-level romance novels, it would be difficult to find something this absurdly corny. In a series that is based on fantastic, magical creatures, nothing really disrupted the suspension of disbelief... until this.

Second, Seth's complete disregard for the wishes (and safety) of everyone else is no longer endearing or cute, if it ever was. In this final book, his irresponsibility somehow manages to reach new heights, to the point where he starts getting people killed (by sending Graulus on a rampage), including the selfless Coulter, who in no way deserved to be handed his death as the result of a pouty teenager's tantrum.

As the title of this review indicates... may God help Brandon Mull, if he based these characters on his own children. He must really have his hands full!

That's not to say that Book Five is a disaster- it isn't. There are some great things in here, particularly the inventiveness with which he details the demon hordes that escape their ancient prison. All in all, it was a decent series, but the last couple of volumes did not live up to the high expectations set forth by the first ones. I don't think that Brandon Mull is one of the best writers out there, but I do have great respect for his imagination, and I'm interested in reading some of the other books he's written, like "Beyonders" and "The Candy Shop Wars". Although this book wasn't his best, he's undoubtedly talented.

Subverting expectations with the same style as The Last Jedi - ie total garbage that ruins previous books and makes for a terrible ending. I have 4 children that have read the entire series and they now advise my younger children to stop at 4 because this books ending is so cheesy and silly that it ruins the tension of the other books.

my kids love these

It is so awesome! I love fable haven so much!

How can you go wrong with Brandon Mull no matter what he writes? This book was for my grandson who is soooo into this series. He loved it!

Purchased for kids. . .

*Spoiler Alert

Do you like good funny interesting and surprising books, about good vs evil? Then this is the book for you!!
Fablehaven is a GREAT series. It starts out that Seth and Kendra parents are on a cruise and they go to stay with there grandparents. There grandparents live in the country way far away and they didn't have a TV or anything! Kendra and Seth thinks this will be very dull but they find out this is the Home of a magical preserve!! In there time they did a lot like defeat a demon, Kendra becomes fairykind, A demon comes and tries to eat Seth, and Seth becomes a shadow charmer. As Kendra says "Days are packed when you work at stopping demons!"

In Book 5 keys to the demon prison by Brandon Mull the society of the evening star has almost all the keys to get in zynx the demon prison that holds the demon king and his most Evil servants! Kendra and Seth and the others will stop at nothing to stop them from succeeding. At the beginning of the first book Kendra was to scared to step inside the woods of fablehaven and now she is going to the shoreless island to stop the Worst demons in the world from escaping a prison constantly being chased by people from the society of the evening star that wants her dead when she has a choice not to go! That is a lot of change on Kendra's part! And In the first book Seth accidentally let demons in the house on the summer solstice and now he is responsible enough to wield the magical sword valise. This is the best book I have ever read and i give it 5 stars!!!

A fun and well written fantasy. My Granddaughter told me to read the first book and I read the entire series. I enjoyed the fast moving stories and the imagination of the author. While it is aimed at the pre teen and young teen audience, several of my adult children have enjoyed the series as well.

***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***

With Seth and their parents prisoners of the Sphinx and no clues on the final artifact all hope feels lost. The Fablehaven team must discover how to save their family and friends and stop Zzyxx from being opened. Unfortunately when they are captured during their rescue mission this becomes harder than it sounds. In the stunning conclusion of the Fablehaven Series Kendra and Seth will face villains more dangerous than any they have faced before. No one is guaranteed their survival and never knowing who can be trusted remains a danger. Will they prevent Zzyxx from being opened and if they can't will the demons take over the earth and kill them all?

The conclusion to this novel was stunning to say the least. No I didn't give it a five stars because since it's filled with the heavy dread and massive description despite the adventure it remains at a slower pace and is at points a little hard to get into. The book was massive and I can't really picture a kid under the age of thirteen making it from beginning to end regardless of how good the book was. Also with so much going on in the plot you didn't get as close the characters as in the previous novel. Written in a third person with a mix of close and distant narrative the book employs two main simultaneous plot lines which converge by the completion of the novel. In one story line you follow Kendra as she attempts to save Seth only get herself caught in the process to then escape and try to protect the Eternals before joining the war at Zzyxx. Though some of her time is spent with Warren for the most part she journeys with Braxten, the unicorn prince of the Fairies and Raxtus the Fairy Dragon we encountered in the last novel. Seth on the other hand has an unknown helper who gives him the Translocator to escape from Living Mirage only to heal then be betrayed by Graulas the demon who has helped him so often in previous novels. Graulas destroys the charter before leaving Fablehaven and the reserve falls to the domination of the centaurs. With the help of Vanessa, Doren, Newel and Hugo Seth journey to discover Vasilis, the sword of light and dark, one of the few weapons that can destroy a demon. He faces many challenges in order to retrieve the sword before he joins the others for the battle on Zzyxx. Like in the last few novels Grandma, Grandpa and Coulter get very little play as do Seth and Kendra's parents though they've never had much play. Both plotlines are detailed and suspenseful, filled with adventure and danger. One thing I didn't like in this story is that Mull adds a small love story line with a few different characters, but doesn't really allow it to play out so we don't finish the novel knowing that the characters have received their happily ever afters. Considering he was clearly uncomfortable with the idea of character engaging in even a romantic kiss, I don't feel he should have brought this into the plot in any way. I don't think it's fair to the reader to bring it up but leave it with an open ending. The dangers and violence in this novel I feel are more mature than the open books in the series but overall not too brutal for preteen readers.

The main characters - Seth and Kendra did continue to grow tremendously within this book. By its conclusion you could see their maturity and love for each other - meaning sibling style love, not romantic love. There were a lot of new secondary character introduction in this book, but because the book was plot driven and there was so much plot to go through you didn't get as much character development in these characters as I would have hoped for. Many characters from previous novels did return for this one, but again very few characters received tons of play time, and you didn't really get to go into those characters. Though it disappoints me this might be a good thing simply because this book was massive with major sections of character development to have added to that this book alone would have been the size of two large novels. According to the end of the novel Mull has no plans to return to the series except possibly as maybe a new collection novels involving the characters which is not actually a part of the Fablehaven series. He doesn't state if he plans to do this in the near future or if this is something far off. Having heard this it's probably why I'm so disappointed that we didn't get inside the characters much in this novel. There was so much to the plot that I understand there wasn't time for it, but I'm not ready to let these characters go. If Mull ever moved out of Middle Grade and into YA I know I'd be extremely interested in hearing the conclusion of the alluded to love stories mentioned in the novel, but I don't really see that happening.

Overall there's not a lot I can say about this book that I haven't already said about the series in others reviews. It's a stunning conclusion to the series and I enjoyed seeing so many of the characters return. I would like to know more about the Fablehaven characters and world but again I don't see that happening due to the author's notes at the end of the novel. I recommend to the collection to your preteen and early teen readers and I feel especially the final three books in the series extend well to an adult audience. I'm not sure the initial two will appeal as much however. It might be something you'd want to take out of the library and then decide for yourself. I'd definitely recommend the series, I'm sad to have finished it so soon but I enjoyed the Fablehaven journey while I traveled it.