Fablehaven

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Where simply ... is the Love in this book ? - Sorry, this may sound empty and hollow, but nevertheless for us (two so-called 'adults' reading aloud to our 8 1/2 yr.old daughter) this phrase really hits the spot here. Love not as romance or sexuality, but as a compelling force, a cohesiveness, a light shining. For example, that the brother Seth and the sister Kendra are often at odds or teasing each other is not what disturbed us about this book, but that the two seemed to be missing any depth of feeling at all, for each other in general, for a trapped and pleading fairy, for a brother grotesquely transformed. And not only these two characters seemed to be lacking the depth of Love. Grandpa and Lena also seemed to be more out of cardboard, clay or metal than human, even though they each had moments showing some feelings.
Where this special ingredient is missing, everything feels flat and not quite resonating. Characters (as those of L.Alexander, C.S.Lewis etc.) draw us in ... and soon we are in love with them ... in a certain way even with the 'bad' guys. But here it just didn't happen ... we never felt that the author was really identifying himself with them ... or - better - that he LOVED to write about them.
We also missed this Love for the whole place Fablehaven ... this most magical, wondrous place of precious creation. We did not read the book to the end. Even as a certain measure of curiosity compelled us to about halfway through, we stopped, realizing that we would much rather re-read ANY of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, for example, than continue with this one. It was a great relief to put this book down.
Why two stars and not just one ? - because the book itself, as a Hardcover is really nicely done and very pleasant to have in hand. Here ... we could feel the Love ... some one had put into play.

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Fablehaven

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In a post-Harry Potter world, there are many 'wannabe' books/series popping up that are trying to satiate the gap left by the Harry Potter series. This book doesn't try to fill the gap, it tries to carve out it's own niche.

Overall the book is very easy to read with little interruption in the action and flow of the story. Maybe not as deep in plot as Harry Potter, but fits the audience this is targeted towards.

Glad that there is another author willing to break the mold and take us where we haven't been before.

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