Search This Blog








2023 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas
- California (6)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (1)
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (1)
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (2)
- Maryland (2)
- Massachusetts (2)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (4)
- North Carolina (3)
- North Dakota
- Ohio (1)
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia
- Washington (2)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (3)
- Canada (6)
- England (12)
- France (1)
- Ireland (2)
- Scotland (1)
- South Korea (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
-Vietnam (1)





2023 Build Your Library Reading Challenge







Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Mull's Newest Series Off to an Exciting, Imaginative Start
4:24 PM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
As a sixth grader, Cole Randolph knows he's too old for dressing up and trick-or-treating. But checking out a creepy haunted house created by a special effects guy with Hollywood experience? He's all in. Especially when Jenna Hunt agrees to tag along with him and his best friend, Dalton. Even if the spook house is totally lame, it will be worth it to hang out with the prettiest girl in school.
What Cole is expecting to be a mildly exciting Halloween night soon turns into the greatest, most terrifying adventure of his life. Alien slave traders lurk in the recesses of the house's basement, kidnapping kids and forcing them through a sinister-looking manhole. Although Cole manages to elude capture, Jenna and Dalton do not. Cole knows he has to go after his friends. He may, in fact, be their only hope.
Through the manhole, Cole discovers a strange, mysterious land called the Outskirts. It's a weird, in-between place full of odd, impossible things. In this hostile place, it's only a matter of time before Cole is caught. Sold away to a band of sky raiders, Cole is separated from the other kidnapped children. While he performs his dangerous new duties as a scout for the aerial pirates, who pillage floating castles for anything worth salvaging, Cole searches for a way to escape. The death toll among scouts being extremely high, he knows he doesn't have much time to rescue himself and his friends. But how will he get to them? And how will they all get back to their own world? Is it even possible? Or will they be forever trapped, forever slaves, forever imprisoned in a place which no one else knows exists?
When it comes to creating exciting, imaginative middle grade fiction, Brandon Mull knows what he's doing. Sky Raiders, the first book in his Five Kingdoms series, is an excellent case in point. The book starts with a bang and sprints onward from there. With death-defying challenges around every corner (cloud?), its hero is constantly put to the test. Surviving them requires courage, cunning, and lots of quick maneuvering. Cole's exploits make for just the kind of page-turning action/adventure middle graders crave. The fact that they take place in a unique and vivid setting make them all the more compelling. Young (and not so young) readers who dare to follow Cole down the manhole will be swept away by the epic and fantastical adventure that awaits them in the Outskirts. I certainly was.
(Readalikes: Hm, I can't think of anything. Can you?)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for violence and intense scenes/scenes of peril
To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Sky Raiders from the generous folks at Simon & Schuster. Thank you!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)




Reading
Zero Days by Ruth Ware

Listening
Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen



Followin' with Bloglovin'



-
Putting An X Through Anxiety2 hours ago
-
-
113. Strangers in the Night6 hours ago
-
New Instagram Account7 hours ago
-
To Love Is Human8 hours ago
-
Time Travel Thursday9 hours ago
-
#Throwback Thursday. Where the Heart is13 hours ago
-
-
No Ordinary River: A Review of Badwater16 hours ago
-
Review: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez18 hours ago
-
-
-
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie1 day ago
-
WIP Wrap-up for May 20231 day ago
-
-
-
Murder At The Elms by Alyssa Maxwell1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Audiobook: Big Gay Wedding5 days ago
-
Books read in May1 week ago
-
-
-
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin1 week ago
-
-
cleaning wins!1 week ago
-
-
5/20/20232 weeks ago
-
-
This feed has moved and will be deleted soon. Please update your subscription now.3 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
Dotty Beanie with Ears5 weeks ago
-
-
-
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?7 months ago
-
-
HEARTS OF BRIARWALL by Krista Jensen10 months ago
-
A Final Farewell (+ book recs!)10 months ago
-
-
-

Grab my Button!



Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ▼ 2015 (188)
0 bookworm(s) said...:
Post a Comment
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!