A review by talon1010
Death Weavers by Brandon Mull

5.0

Absolutely excellent! I had mixed feelings, for various reasons, in anticipation of this volume but it so, so superseded them. Mull obviously took a lot of time building the echolands as an intriguing, considerate afterlife zone. I'm not even typically one for necromancy in stories; I think it's easy to do it lazily, banking on the appeal of the magic to be complex for itself, but there were no mediocre zombies and maniacally-cackling wraiths to be found.
My one, big note is a bit spoilery: I saw

Spoiler

the revelation of Nazeem as a torivor

coming from a book away. It seemed so clearly set up that it was absurd to see Cole surprised by it (and pretty funny that no one that he tells seems to be surprised). While that did bog me down a bit, I was picked right back up by the next several chapters. The revelations made about the nature of the Outskirts and shaping, and the absolutely bonkers events including Destiny and

Spoiler

Dandalus

were incredible, and had me up insanely late to find out what comes next.
This book works so well, and is so well thought out. Like Fablehaven, Mull seems to reach a point in the fourth of five books where, now that the world, magic, and characters have a bit of wear on them, he can take it in a new and insane direction. I cannot emphasize how well this book is put together and considered; it's meant for kids, but again, I was on the edge of my seat late at night reckoning all of the newly-known stakes and powers of the world. So good.