Brandon Mull is a newer author, but one of my new favorites (he wrote the Fablehaven series as well). "A World Without Heroes" is the first book in a three book series. When I heard about it I had to buy it and set aside the other book I was reading (A Woman in Berlin) to read it immediately. Mull did not disappoint me with this story, although I have to admit I didn't like it as much as Fablehaven. Although it is a very different type of story then Fablehaven. It is still a fantasy and one of the best things about this book was the originality of the whimsical characters and storyline. I have to admit, I'm not a guru of fantasy books, but it was new and interesting to me. The basis is that the two main characters, Jason and Rachel, accidentally go through separate portals and end up in an alternate universe, making them Beyonders to the new world. In the new world, an evil wizard rules and the people live in fear. Jason and Rachel embark on a journey together to discover a magic word that will destroy the wizard, Maldor. Jason and Rachel meet many people and creatures along the way, including displacers and seed people. The best part of the book, besides its originality, are the themes and the overall moral, which is that a real hero is someone who does the right thing even when it's really hard. There is much great imagery throughout the book to help solidify this theme. My least favorite thing about this book is the character development. I just thought that the two main characters, Jason and Rachel, could have been more well developed. Perhaps this will happen in subsequent books, but for me character development is really important, so that is the only reason I can't give it 5 stars. BUT I would highly recommend reading this book to anyone. It is a must read in my eyes, and I will wait, impatiently as always, for the next book in the series.
Out of all the books that I've read from Wellman's repertoire, "The Beyonders" is the most tame in terms of plot and story. The alien invasion that he describes is straightforward and surprisingly ineffective. I wonder if, in the course of writing this particular tale, Wellman fell in love with the inhabitants of his sleepy, imagined Appalachian town and let the rest of the plot play out without spectacle or any climactic reversals. Never once was I concerned for the fate of a main character.Tame though the story may be, Wellman, once again, nails his dialog with a pitch-perfect rendition of what (I assume) people spoke like back in the day in such a setting. I suspect that most other writers would fumble the phrase "I hark to you" and end up with ham and cheese fit for a school cafeteria; Wellman, however, knew what he was about, and when he tosses in these turns of phrase, they fit--and sound--just right.I was most interested in this tale when the people of Sky Notch stand around and talk about their lives and their thoughts. I got that feeling of nostalgia that has no basis in my own experience--as if the kind of people and homes that Wellman describes connect to a sense of a memory, or to an idea of an idea. I'll never meet the people in this book, but I sure would like to know them.
