Sky Raiders

By Brandon Mull

Cole Randolph was just trying to have a fun time with his friends on Halloween (and maybe get to know Jenna Hunt a little better). But when a spooky haunted house turns out to be a portal to something much creepier, Cole finds himself on an adventure on a whole different level.

After Cole sees his friends whisked away to some mysterious place underneath the haunted house, he dives in after them and ends up in The Outskirts. The Outskirts are made up of five kingdoms that lie between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death. It’s an in-between place. Some people are born there. Some find their way there from our world, or from other worlds.

And once you come to the Outskirts, it’s very hard to leave.

With the magic of the Outskirts starting to unravel, it’s up to Cole and an unusual girl named Mira to rescue his friends, set things right in the Outskirts, and hopefully find his way back home; before his existence is forgotten.

Brandon Mull is the man. I very fortunately got to meet and talk with Brandon at a book signing for Sky Raiders back in March and was impressed with his confidence in his craft and his obvious love for creating worlds and seeing fan reactions to his books. I distracted him so much that he signed my book upside down! Sky Raiders is much along the lines of his Beyonders series, in that a young boy crosses the realms into another world to save his friends who have been kidnapped. He finds a world of dreams and impossibility. He finds a lake of milk and cookies! He finds a place where the raiders live, the people who raid the castles in the sky of all their treasures, and he becomes one of them. Cole is a fun protagonist and Mira is our mysterious companion. Will Cole save his friends and find a way back home? Or will he be stuck as a slave in this strange world forever? As per usual with Brandon the characters are fun and courageous, the plot is creative and filled with wonder, and you know that somehow the courage of our heroes will win. I don’t want to spoil the fun of discovering a new world, so I’ll end my review saying in my best mesmeric voice and wiggling my fingers mysteriously, “Read it. Read it!”

P.S. If you enjoy Brandon's books you should definitely follow him on facebook, not only does he have highly entertaining posts but he also will keep you updated on school visits and signings. 

4.25 out of 5