The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L.PathFinder (TodHunter Moon #1) by Angie Sage.Frostborn (Thrones & Bones #1) by Lou Anders.Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Treaties, Trenches.Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms #1) by Brandon Mull.The Nethergrim (The Nethergrim Trilogy #1) by Matt.The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (The League of.Saving Lucas Biggs by Marisa de los Santos.Mull knows how to build worlds and I like his monsters, but it seems there were too many holes in this plot. His alternate world has a surreal feel, but the abstractness doesn't resemble any message. The author never quite explores in-depth the illusion of dreams. The overarching message is Cole must save his friends. There is a romantic triangle between three of the characters that causes them to argue much of the time.Ĭole has some latent power that I hoped would flare into existence but that must be in a sequel. The High King doesn't interact with the characters and is an absentee villain. Each kingdom has a special power and the High King is trying to control all the powers, but I'm not sure what those powers are in every kingdom. I found myself enjoying the action but not always understanding the governing structure of the rulers. As is, this story had an unfinished feel to it. It sets up for the next book that I expect will do more world building and explain the complex dream world Cole finds himself in. This is the first in a series where more questions come up than are answered. When an opportunity arises for Cole to find them, he ends up on an adventure where he discovers people from other kingdoms with different powers and rogue magic. They didn't want to go trick-or-treating at the house and he talked them into it. The only problem is that most scouts die before reaching that goal.Ĭole's feels responsible for his friends kidnapping. If he can survive 50 missions he can move to a less dangerous job.

Cole's gig involves scouting sky castles for magical artifacts. Cole and his friends will be sold as slaves and when it is discovered Cole has no shaping ability, a special magical power of creating things out of nothing, he is quickly sold to the Sky Raiders.

The High King of the Outskirts is looking for Shapers and the best ones come from Earth. The land is named, The Outskirts, one of the five kingdoms that exhibits a unique type of magic. Cole is trick-or-treating with his sixth grade friends when they are kidnapped for their 'shaping' skills and taken through a portal to another world.

Brandon mull five kingdoms sky raiders