A review by adambroud
Death Weavers by Brandon Mull
3.0
This book does so many things right and so many things wrong.
Let's go ahead and start with the wrong so that I don't end with the impression that I hated this book. First off, the journey has mostly consisted of the same core group of characters.
Now let's talk about the other thing that bothered me. Basically, this whole book is just the main character
Alright, enough bad, let's talk about the good. This book does a great job of showing that there's more to this kid book than just a kid doing good things. The book dives deeper into interesting lore, and explains many questions that I didn't think would need to be answered, but it turned out I was really glad Mull did answer them. I love it when books show that the author thought deeply about the world that they've created.
The other thing I loved about this book was
So there it is. I still really like this series, but ultimately, the seemingly pointless running around equaled the cool things that happened in this book for me. I almost gave it a four, but I just can't do it. I'm still looking forward to the 5th book though!
Let's go ahead and start with the wrong so that I don't end with the impression that I hated this book. First off, the journey has mostly consisted of the same core group of characters.
Spoiler
For whatever reason, Brandon Mull decides to completely incapacitate the majority of these known characters for the entirety of the book. This means that all of the relationships that you've grown to know and love are practically pointless in this book. This would be like a Harry Potter book where Ron and Hermione are just on vacation for a whole book. Or maybe Fablehaven but for a whole book Kendra is by herself and doesn't talk to anyone else you know about. It cut off so much of the emotion in the book.Spoiler
I feel like Mull did this so that he could get to some of the deeper stuff that he was wanting to get to. I feel like he wanted to explain the creation of the Outskirts, the origin of the nemesis, and all the other neat things, and just didn't quite know how to do it with all of the existing characters, so he essentially made them non-existent in this book. Kinda lame.Now let's talk about the other thing that bothered me. Basically, this whole book is just the main character
Spoiler
running around being told that he just missed what he was looking for. Each person sends him somewhere else, and it ends up feeling like a lot of pointless travel. The book even acknowledges this to some extent when Cole mentions to one character that everyone he sees just sends him to talk to someone else instead. I can understand the desire to want to show off the world that you have created as an author, but it needs to come with purpose. Too often, that purpose wasn't there.Alright, enough bad, let's talk about the good. This book does a great job of showing that there's more to this kid book than just a kid doing good things. The book dives deeper into interesting lore, and explains many questions that I didn't think would need to be answered, but it turned out I was really glad Mull did answer them. I love it when books show that the author thought deeply about the world that they've created.
The other thing I loved about this book was
Spoiler
the inclusion of the much loved characters from The Beyonders series! I couldn't believe it when they showed up, I was so excited! I had originally complained when I read the first book that this series felt a little too Beyondersish, but now that I know that that was intentional, I love it. I can't think of a single other children's series that crosses worlds and series like this one has. The inclusion of The Beyonders characters was seriously fantastic.So there it is. I still really like this series, but ultimately, the seemingly pointless running around equaled the cool things that happened in this book for me. I almost gave it a four, but I just can't do it. I'm still looking forward to the 5th book though!