ARC Review: Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms) by Brandon Mull

Sky Raiders
Author: Brandon Mull
Series: Five Kingdoms (Book 1)
Publication: Aladdin (March 11, 2014)

Description: Adventure awaits in the Five Kingdoms—come and claim it in this start to a new series from the #1 New York Times  bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series.

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.

My Thoughts: It started out as an ordinary night of trick or treating by Cole Randolph and his friends but things quickly changed when the kids visited a scary haunted house. They didn't know that the monsters were real and that they would be kidnapped and taken to another world as slaves. Though Cole manages to hide from the slavers, he decides to follow them to see if he can rescue his friends. However, he is quickly captured and made a slave.

Cole is sold to the Sky Raiders who live on the edge and scavenge from castles floating on clouds. Cole begins as a scout which is the most dangerous job. He makes friends with Mira and Twitch and has a friendly rival named Jace. The kids decide to escape from slavery when the High King sends his legionnaires to capture Mira.

The kids escape into the cloudwall despite the fact that no one who enters ever returns. There they meet an old shaper and his apprentices who are also hiding from the High King. Secrets are revealed and the kids go on a quest.

The story is full of action and adventure in a world where talented shapers can make anything they can imagine. I really liked Cole because he was loyal to his friends, brave and resourceful. This is the first book in a series and leaves lots of questions remaining to be answered in further volumes.

Favorite Quote:

Jace chuckled bitterly. "If you're going to die, you might was well be doing something really, really stupid."

I got this ARC through Amazon Vine. You can buy your copy here.