Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

I picked this book for a light fantasy read (middle-grade fantasy is my palate cleanser) because the author runs in the same circles as my favorite authors, Charlie Holmberg and Brandon Sanderson.

I had extremely high hopes for this novel, which is never a good place to start with a book because they can never really live up to the high bar I set. So fortunately, with my age, I have developed an a method so my hopes don't become disappointments.

However, this book did not grab my attention immediately. Was this my dastardly high hopes getting in the way of a good story? Maybe. I do know that I really didn't start to find the story enticing until 60 or so percent.

Kendra and Seth just really grated on me from the get go. Together they would make a fairly interesting character with the right amount of unrealistic fiction and flawed human. But as separate characters, their flaws just amplified and aggravated me.

It was really the idea of a preserve for mythical creatures that pulled me to this novel (as much as a home for peculiar children had done), but I just felt that getting to the creativity got buried in the facts. The whimsy just didn't seem to show up until the very end for me for some reason.

On the positive side, the ending was quite entertaining, and at least made me close the book with a smile. I may not read the rest of the series soon (as my TBR pile loudly topples in the background yet again) as this series is no Harry Potter or Septimus Heap, but I do feel that I will finish this series before the decade's out.