Sky Raiders by Brandon Mull - ESSENTIAL

Mull, Brandon   Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms #1), 432 p.  Simon, MARCH 2014. 

Violence: PG.  Language: G; Mature Content: G.  

Cole thought Halloween was going to be fun – heading to the haunted house with his best friend and the girl he is interested in.  Instead, the rest of the kids are kidnapped and taken to an alternate dimension.  Cole decides to follow on his own.  Now he’s a slave in a strange world  where his best chances are that he’ll die.  Turns out he’s in the Outskirts – five kingdoms poised between waking and dreaming.  His job is to scout out the castles floating by for terminal dangers before the rest of his fellow slaves help pluck out any treasures before the castle disappears into a bank of fog – the Eastern Cloudbank, a point of no return.  Cole is determined to not only save his friends, but also a fellow slave, Mira, who is much more than Cole ever imagined.  As Dorothy would say, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more.”

Mull loves to bring his heroes into their new world in unique ways.  I think he’s trying to out do the classic Wardrobe.  Whatever the obsession, Mull is masterful.  This will fly off of your shelves.  

EL, MS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher