The Beyonders by Brandon Mull

Who hasn't heard of Brandon Mull, author of the great series Fablehaven?  He has another book called The Candy Shop War which is a fun little book, but nothing compared to Fablehaven.  He even has a children's book .  All of which we have.  The Beyonders series is a fun series.  I have really enjoyed reading the first two books and now can't wait to get the third to see how the story is completed.

Jason Walker is like any normal eigth grader and focused on becoming a great baseball player until one day he hears music coming from a hippo at the zoo he works at and finds himself falling into the hippo's pool and being swallowed by this hippo and transported to another world.  In hopes to find his way home, he finds himself in a tower searching their books to find a portal back home.  Unfortunately for him, he reads a book that leads him on an unexpected journey to find "the word" to destroy the evil wizard ruling Lyrian.  The first book takes him on his journey to find all the syllables to this magical word and along the way he meets up with another girl from his world and together they search.

In the second book, Jason must find his way back to Lyrian after being sent back to his time at the end of the first book.  He has to find a way to let his friends know the word does not work.  He and his entourage find themselves making a journey to the oracle in order to find out what the future holds for them and whether they have a chance to destroy Maldor.  They encounter living dead creatures, torivors, and many other crazy things along their journey just to find out they must split into two groups and go on another adventure to a greater oracle.

I have enjoyed these two books and left out a lot of fun little details so as not to give away too many things.  For a young adult book I think they are worth reading and introducing to your library.  The characters and monsters are all believable and not too out there.  Some stories just have too many crazy creatures that are hard to imagine since they author spent too much time trying to make them original.  Brandon Mull used creatures we are all familiar with if you read a lot of young adult fantasy, yet they still have believable little twists that others have not used before which I like.  Book 3 comes out March 13, 1013 so we will have to be patient for a little while to finish the series.