Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
By Brandon Mull

The second in the Fablehaven series is still as great as the first book. We continue to see the adventures of Kendra Sorenson and her brother, Seth. Their grandparents are keepers of a refuge for mythical and magical creatures. Kendra left that refuge at the end of the summer fairykissed - she can now see mythical creatures and things that others cannot see. What she sees is that the new guy that everyone in school is so crazy about is actually a grotesque monster. Then, she and her brother are approached by someone claiming to be friends with their grandfather. He says he can get rid of the strange new student by giving him something he will be forced to take to a foreign place. Seth is thereby convinced to steal a frog statue from a funeral home, unknowingly plunging the two siblings into danger and mayhem. Someone is not to be trusted among their grandparents' group of friends. Will they find out who it is before the frog statue comes to eat the one who brought him back to life?

As always, it isn't easy to make the second book as good as the first, but Mull does it beautifully. This is the kind of book and book series that you would want to buy for your godchild, grandson or niece. It is fun and full of adventure without being too violent or scary.

What did this book have to do with my faith? One of the biggest issues in Rise of the Evening Star is the issue of trust. Whether it means trusting someone who can see things you can't, or trusting a so-called friend or even trusting those you know and love, trust is not an easy thing to develop and it can be easily broken. As Christians, we are told to trust in the Lord. Yet, how often are we trusting in something we cannot fully see? Perhaps we have had other times in our lives when we trusted in God and were blessed by that trust. We can then depend on what we have experienced. But at some point there will come a time that our trust is tested or stretched. We must then take a step of faith and put ourselves fully in God's hands. May our trust be deep enough to hold.

I highly recommend this book.

Happy reading!

Amelia