A World Without Heroes

L o v e i t w a s great

I love this book! it is one of my favorite books

When I first started this book I was expecting something along the lines of a Piers Anthony fantasy/humor style. But it goes beyond that. What starts with light-hearted humor such as a human-swallowing hippo and a botched rescue attempt end up with something more dark and compelling. The story is about a boy who falls into another world by accident and is only trying to find a way home. Along the way he accidentally stumbles on to a rather large problem, everyone assumes he is a chosen one who will say a secret, magic word that will defeat Maldor, the evil king. Even Maldor believes it and starts hunting him immediately. As the story progresses we meet several interesting characters, locations, puzzles, and traps to test our hero. Although it does have an Anthony feel to it (without the puns), the book does manage to stand out and be different. A good read for book lovers into fantasy.

Jason falls into a hippo's mouth and finds himself in a fantasy world ruled by an evil wizard named Maldor. Rachel is visiting Arches State Park with her parents and falls through an arch ending up in the same fantasy world. The two of them make a journey to gather the six syllables of the magic word that will defeat Maldor facing a wide variety of trials and meeting a wide variety of people along the way. It was just OK because I couldn't connect with either of the main characters.

This was definitely a difficult story to get through, though the plot had enough twists to keep you wrappped up inside it all the way through. I enjoyed it though I won't be recommening it to my elementary audience because it would go over their heads.

ason Walker is a normal teenage boy who spends his time working hard to get good grades in school, practicing baseball and working up the courage to talk to the cute girl in school that he has a crush on. Then, one day at the zoo, he takes a strange and unusual trip from the hippo tank and ends up in the magical world of Lyrian. In Lyrian, all the people live in fear of their evil wizard emperor, Maldor. Jason ends up with the quest of finding the magical word of power that will defeat Maldor. In this quest, he meet Rachel, another girl from America who was also magically transported into Lyrian. Together, they work on finding the word of power which they hope will lead to a way home.

I came to this series extremely excited because I'm a fan of Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series. I was not disappointed. This was a fun creative book. Mull did a very good job of developing the world of Lyrian. He came up with some amazing characters that I don't want to spoil any of the surprises for any readers out there. It's a completely different premise than the Fablehaven books. I'd say it's more related to Lord of the Rings.

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes Book Review

I give this book 4 out of 5 Bubblefruits.

By Brandon Mull

I'm listening to the end of this book on audio as I begin to write this review. The first book of the Beyonders series is a good story. Brandon Mull certainly has a very creative mind, and that shows through brilliantly in this novel.

From a pacing perspective, this book starts slow. I remember trying to listen to the audiobook version before, months ago in fact, and after falling in love with the prologue and getting excited for the rest of the story, I ran into chapter 1. I got so bored that I stopped listening to it. It was all kids, baseball, and look, those girls are cute. I'm not sure what finally brought me back to the book again, but I am glad that I gave it another chance. Once the main character, Jason, gets into the other world, and on with his quest, the book takes off nicely. (Yes, you'll come to find out that baseball actually matters later.)

From a world-building perspective, Brandon Mull leverages his wild imagination to create a fascinating environment with crazy creatures, strange food customs, and shifty characters. This world is devoid of heroes, which is by the villain, Maldor's design. As the main characters from our world visit that one, Jason and Rachel fumble their way through distraught cities, questionable taverns, and the open road.

The plot is fantastic. The world has no heroes, and there is an evil emperor that rules the land through fear, control, and manipulation. The Emporer also happens to be a wizard, but a wizard with one serious flaw—there is a magic word, that, if spoken will be his instant demise. Jason comes across this information, and the first clue to learning the word. This starts his quest.

The one thing I struggle with in Brandon Mull books is his characters' dialogue. Sometimes it just doesn't sound right. In some cases it's related to diction, and in other cases its just the way it flows and how it sounds. I suppose this is a minor thing, but I thought I'd call it out.

If you are looking for a fun summertime read that can help you escape reality a little bit. This book can definitely fit the bill. Check it out. It's a fun read.

Great book. Action packed. Clever.

I liked this book, but not as much as I like the Fablehaven series. I will still read the others though when they come out.

Began a little slow....but caught up just fine In a little while

This is one of the best books ever! For all ages. Brandon Mull has crafted such an amazing world. My favorite creations are displacers and the seed people. Where did he come up with this stuff? Ferrin has got to be one of my most favorite characters. Write on Mr. Mull. You are a genius.

The basic plotline is sort of a variation on the game Myst, being a group of "heroes" in search of a hidden "key" that will destroy the villain. Nothing more on that because, spoilers.
While reasonably entertaining for junior readers, and certainly promoting an admirable value system, it is somewhat muddled in execution. 
I won't be looking for the sequels, but would probably read them from the library if nothing else is on offer.

Another great book by Brandon Mull. I enjoyed it and I though he did a great job with the characters even though the main idea has been used many times before (modern-day teens go to an alternate reality/universe/mythical place). The story always stayed fast-paced but could have used a bit more development at times. Of course, if you like fantasy and the author's Fablehaven series, you'll probably like this one, too.

The book that I am to tell you about starts in Vista, Colorado where a boy named Jason age 13 is batting in the batting cages with his freinds. After he gets klonked on the side of the head with a stray ball he goes to his job at the local zoo. There he gets eaten by a hippopotomus and is transported to an alternate world where he aquires the knowlage to destroy the opressive emporer Maldor. While in the alternate wold which is called Lyrian he meets with another Beyonder as they call all of the travelers who travel between the worlds. As they search for a way home they get tangled up between good and evil. Jason gets captured, but is rescued by an ex agent of Maldor named Ferrin who is what they call a displacer and can sepperate limbs at will and keep natural control over them. Then he is sent by Ferrin back to the beyond agenst his will, but not before he snatches the displacer's left hand.
This book is the first of a trillogy. The author had a good storyline, but his writing was alittle blocky. He reaused words too much and used too much active description. His basic ideas were good, but he tended to wander. In his books there were too many ties and his ideas made too much sense. Although there were several drawbacks his writing wasn't that bad as implied by the four stars. All in all it was very origonal.

I enjoyed this book and the adventure that the protagonists go on however there are a couple things that I found a bit annoying about it.

For one thing, like the Fablehaven books, even though this is intended for a Juvenile audience the word usage is unusual. I do a lot of reading and have always had a high vocabulary but when reading this book I had to regularly pull a dictionary to explain some words to my daughter. This isn't all bad, because yes she got to learn many new words, however she is my reader, my child who has an exceptionally high reading level and high vocabulary. I think many children would find these words to be a stumbling block or a turn off.

I read many reviews that said that the protagonist acts much older than his age and in many instances is accepted as acting as an adult when he is supposed to be 13. Now that I've read it, I know what the reviewers mean and I totally agree. I'm not going to go into detail and 'spoil' the book but yes, there are several instances that are a bit unbelievable. I also agree that he leaves the girl behind far too much and she is not given an opportunity to be equal to him. This is definitely important to me in books I read with my daughter as I like her to have role models and heroes who are proactive, brave and capable.

I am withholding judgement on the end of the book until I see how the next book handles this adventure. My first reaction is to feel very cheated by the 'resolution'. But we shall see.

A good book overall with an engaging adventure but it does have some problems.

This was an unexpected stinker. Lots of praise for the book in press and reviews. But I found it written so poorly that I thought it was penned by an adolescent amateur.

Exciting, clever, and perfectly suited for the twelve-year old boy in your home, A World Without Heroes is the first of three in Brandon Mull's Beyonder series.

The Goodreads blurb for A World Without Heroes is pretty blase and underwhelming, summarizing a plot that sounds not unlike a dozen other adolescent books. A child or teen, at a crossroads in life, stumbles upon a portal or passageway to another world. Adventures ensue. A way home is found, the child older and wiser.

For example, try C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, or even, if you will, Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J.M. Barry and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

And that's not counting anything else written in the last half a century, like Neil Gaimen's Coraline or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

Fortunately, Mull's story avoids falling victim to the cliches created by a century of the genre, obliterates the blurb and unfolds into a tale that both entertains and satisfies. Perfectly designed for both the young and the young at heart, Mull's first installment in the Beyonders series starts slow as it builds its characters, then picks up speed as both the plot and stakes climb to exciting levels.

Jason Walker is star pitcher for his baseball team, a good student, is nursing a crush on a cute girl, and has the fortune to volunteer for the local zoo. Fortune, that is, until one day a strange moment at the hippo cage ends with him sliding through a magical portal to another world: Lyrian.

It doesn't take long for Jason to figure out that the people of Lyrian are under the thumb of a malevolent master, the evil wizard-emperor Maldor. Almost by accident, he sets himself on a path to defeat the wizard, and, with the help of another girl from our world, will find himself fighting strange and fantastical creatures and people to end the Maldor's cruel reign.

Starting off slow, A World Without Heroes grew on me with each chapter and plot twist. By the time Jason reaches the apex of his quest, I knew that Mull had me.

While A World Without Heroes is aimed at teen or pre-teen boys, the story has a little something for everyone in the family. More, Mull keeps it clean, making it a great pick to read aloud.

Fabulously entertaining! As I did with my daughter when she was a teenager, I am trying to read books with my son. This goal is challenging and growing me as a reader. In other words, I'm trying a new genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy. To pursue this goal, I bought the well-reviewed boxed set of the Beyonders trilogy by NY Times best-selling author Brandon Mull. My son read through it so quickly that he finished the entire trilogy before I even began the first book. That's how much he loved it. He's a sixteen-year- old obsessive gamer who took time away from his games to read this series.

The main character, Jason Walker, is an average teenage kid who falls into a hippo tank at his volunteer job and is magically transported to the world of Lyrian. The jaws of a hippo serve as the magic portal. Quite funny, right off the bat. Then there are riddles to be solved, dangerous characters to avoid, the appearance of another Beyonder (people from Earth)in the form of a teenage home-schooled girl named Rachel and a heroic quest.

One of the first people that he meets is the Loremaster (a librarian). Then there is the displacer, one of a breed of characters that can attach and unattach his head, hands, and other parts at will. Disgusting but also handy. Edomic is the language of creation spoken only by the wizards (of which there is apparently only one left and he is evil).

Vocabulary words:

Traversing
Auditory
Aperture
Frieze

Funny quote: Jason was "relieved to have found an actual, non-furious person" (p. 35).

Interesting image: "It looked ready to topple at a cough from a butterfly" (p. 77).

Philosophy: "People find meaning where they can" (p. 82).

For discussion: What makes a hero? Why does the world need heroes?

"Heroism means doing the right thing regardless of the consequences" (p. 110).

"For each of us destiny is a blend of potential, circumstances, and choices. You could flee and hide. You could bargain with Maldor. You have chosen a heroic path. Walk it without apology" (p. 326).

"Yet here you are, toiling in the wilderness,"..."the two of you picked the right road, even though it is the most difficult. This is the essence of heroism" (p. 326).

This is one of those books that may have been written for children and teens but will appeal to adults as well. Perfect for reading together as a family.

I just could not get into this book, at least on audio so not sure if it was the narrator or the pedestrian plot and language.

 A world withought heros by Brandon Mull was a terrific book. I really liked it. it was really good but i dont think it deserved 5 stars. it had a lot of good stuff that i really liked but was not extrordinary.

The book had an interesting topic and cool charachters. it kept me intersted through out most of the book. it was a great action book and i heard that there was another book in the beyonders series. the main charachter and his partner rachel found their way to a new world witch they must save.

This was a great book and i would reccomend it to people who like action adventure.

I just finished the book Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull, author of Fablehaven. This first installment of a trilogy is an action-packed adventure, full of gripping suspense, intrigue and enough funny scenes to keep the story moving. The plot revolves around two teens, Jason and Rachel, who find themselves transported to the world of Lyrian where they meet and become caught up in a rebellion against the evil wizard Maldor.

Among the many reasons I enjoyed the story is that the author offered the most accurate depiction of a homeschooler I've ever read. I hope other homeschoolers consider reading this book. It was pressed upon me by my two homeschooled teenagers. My daughter had discovered it at the library and picked it up because she "liked the cover." Which shows that sometimes it is a good idea to judge books by their covers. I highly recommend this book. The only problem with it is that we will have to wait until Spring 2012 for the second installment. Gah!

This book has so much going for it, yet fails to satisfy. The quest, the characters, and the world that the author have created all should come together for an excellent fantasy adventure, but falls flat. The main characters, Jason and Rachel just move through the fantastic world on their quest, getting into interesting situations and then getting out far to quickly. Everything comes and goes to quickly and easily. The challenges are so easily mastered and cast aside. There is no lingering in the present. It is all rush, rush, rush, to an annoying pause for the next book.

I mostly read YA Fiction. to tell you the truth I havnt read all of the fablehavens they were good but not amazing. I would not to be able to compare the Fablehaven series at all to this book. it is a whole different book all together. I do rate this book as probally one of my favorite books of all time. I loved it and can not wait for the others to come out :)

Loved this book. I was excited to hear that Brandon Mull was writing a new series, because I loved the Fablehaven series so much. I immediately got hooked into the story and love it death-can't wait for the next two! The characters in this book are older than his first series, 15/16 yrs old, but its still ok for kids 10 and up to read it.

I really enjoyed Mull's Fablehaven series and was very excited to see what he would come up with next. This series is definitely different than his Fablehaven series and is more of a classic fantasy adventure type of book. I really enjoyed it and am excited to see where this story goes.

Jason is just trying to live out his normal life when he falls into a hippopotamus and ends up in a different world. There he meets up with another Beyonder like himself named Rachel and they are both drawn into a quest to find a mysterious word that is capable of defeating the evil overlord of the realm.

Jason and Rachel are pretty good characters; although I didn't think characterization was the strong point of this novel. The strong points were the interesting world, the intriguing quest for syllables in a word, and the absolutely bizarre characters that Mull has thought up. I think Jason and Rachel were the weakest characters in the book, but some of the characters surrounding them are very engaging. For example the Seed person, Jasher, is really awesome and really added alot of action to the story.

There is humor throughout the book which keeps things light and funny. I love adventure-quest type of books and that is very much what this book is. The characters are given clues, have to find parts of the Word, and then get more clues to the next part. I thought the plot was well woven and there were a number of twists and turns to keep the book surprising. The characters grow throughout the story and you can see that they are developing into forces to be reckoned with.

Another thing about this book I absolutely loved were some of the bizarre character races and crazy obstacles. For example a lake you can run across but if you stop moving you sink (can we say non-newtonian fluid??) I also loved the displacers which could remove parts of their body and send them places. Another wonderful race were the Seed people who can live many lives as long as the seed in the back of their head is replanted. These things were creative, super interesting, and a lot of fun to read about. The way these interesting characteristics integrated into the story were wonderful.

The book touches on interesting issues versus what is right and wrong. Questions such as should you endure hardship for the greater good are asked and issues around personal responsibility for the whole of a race are dealt with.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this book. There is humor and adventure here, an interesting world, very creative races, and a lot of questing going on. I am super curious to see where this story goes and eager to read the next book in the series. This book is not another Fablehaven, it is more of a classic fantasy adventure quest. For some reason all the bizarre creatures and the crazy questing put me a bit in the mind of the Labyrinth movie. Those of you who like fantasy adventures with quirky characters will really love this book. I also recommend the Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riorden, The Bartimaes Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan.

this book was fabulous. Great introduction; draws you in.

I was a little nervous. I LOVED Fablehaven. Let me REPEAT LOVED IT! So I was afraid I would be comparing it to Fablehaven the whole time I read it. Well, I have to say how impressed I was with the Beyonders. This book was very creative and lots of fun to read. There were a few teachable moments tossed in plus a SLEW of cool characters. Two of which reminded me of bits from my favorite tv show SCRUBS. The displacers reminded me of floating head doctor and Jasher, one of the seed people, reminded me of plant Turk. While I was in the classroom I had two things that made a book or movie instantly awesome. The first would be evil monkeys. The second frogs. Beyonders didn't have EVIL monkeys, but they did have Giant Killer Frogs! Anyway, I have to recommend this book to anyone who loves action and fantasy. Was it just as good as Fablehaven? Yes but it's different. They are two very different stories each can stand on their own. I can't wait for the next one!

I had an advanced readers copy that I won from a book giveaway on a friend's blog.

I did like this book. While I have issues with the story that are laid out below, in the end I did enjoy reading the book once I got past the first couple of chapters in particular. It is a well written book that has an incredible sense of world building and imagination. The details and the variety of characters created in order to tell the story are on a level of amazing that is hard for many fantasy authors to achieve but Brandon Mull obviously knows how to spin a tale of this quality.

I did wonder a little about the age range, since I'm not sure I like the idea of an 8 year old reading the prologue about someone being tortured. And the main character felt a little older than he was claimed to be, which in fact made me wonder if this should have been a YA novel instead of MG. While most of the story was from one character's point of view, but there were maybe 2 chapters in different characters pov, which threw me off a little.

But it was a very enjoyable book. By the end of the novel I was so into the story that I couldn't believe the ending. I can't believe I have to wait who knows how long for the next book just to find out what happens next. I want the book now!

Sometimes books live up to the hype surrounding them. Other times, I start to wonder how much I'd have to be paid to agree with the hype. A World Without Heroes was a real struggle for me to get through, and I wish I knew what everyone else is seeing in this book that I'm just missing.

While the writing style was okay, even nicely detailed in some places, I couldn't help but think that the biggest flaw with it was the vocabulary. Given the reading level that I can assume the writing style was intended for, quite a few advanced words were thrown in rather willy-nilly, and not even in a way that would be good for vocabulary-building in youngsters. I'm talking about times where sentences would make no sense unless you already know the meaning of words that most adults don't even frequently use. Either you're a very smart kid reading this book, in which case the too-linear storyline will probably bore you, or else you're sitting there with a dictionary beside you and checking it every few pages.

Or else the author, for all his acclaim, just can't settle his style down.

Speaking of the plot, I've seen rulers that had more flexibility and that were less linear. Along the way, I likened this book to a video game that was one unending fetch-quest. Start at point A. Acquire item or information that tells you to go to point B. At point B, you do the thing you were told to do when you were at point A, acquire a new item or information, and move to point C. Rinse and repeat. The acquisition of the new item or information was often preceded by a puzzle of some kind. Sometimes opposition was met, but of course, the 12-13 year old heroes valiantly outsmart grown adults and save the day.

The bulk of the plot involved Jason, after being swallowed by a hippo and coming out in the fantasy world of Lyrian, trying to find the magical word that would defeat the evil emperor Maldor. An interesting concept, I'll grant you, made more interesting by the difficulty of knowing the word in the first place: if you know it and say it aloud or write it down, you lose all knowedge of it. Thus the word was broken into syllables, clues to which are scattered all over.

You can see why I liken it to fetch-quests, huh? Jason going somewhere to find a syllable, then gets a clue as to where he might find the next clue, goes there, solved a puzzle, gets the syllable, and it begins again.

Mull's writing also suffered by the fact that he frequently chose to tell and not show. I can't tell you how many characters put on their Exposition Hats and told Jason or Rachel the story of their life, or a valuable piece of history. At one point, you've even got Jason reading from a book on Lyrian's history. Sometimes, reading a book about someone reading a book works. This was not one of those times.

Admittedly, things did pick up somewhat after the first third of the book had passed, but in retrospect, I think that had more to do with the fact that I was getting more used to the style and story than because the story got more interesting.

I wanted to like this book. It had potential. Normally I'm all for a story about people from the modern world getting thrown into a fantasy adventure. But it just didn't work. it had too many flaws for me to enjoy it, and even what was good was downplayed because it was only a small bright spot in the middle of so much dullness. I can't recommend this one, no matter what the hype says.

Jason Walker has often wished his life could be a bit less predictable - until a day at the zoo ends with Jason suddenly transporting from the hippo take to a place unlike anywhere he has seen before. In the past the people of Lyrian always welcomed visitors from the Beyond, but attitudes have changed since the wizard emperor Maldor rose to power. The few brave resistors who opposed the emperor have been fought off or broken, leaving Lyrian a place where fear and suspicion prevail.

In his search for a way home Jason, meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn from our world. With the help of a few scattered rebels, Jason and Rachel become entangled in a quest to piece together the word of power that can supposedly destroy the emperor, and learn that their best hope of finding a way home will be to save this world without heroes.

A World Without Heroes was fantastic! Although the beginning was slow and made the book seem like it would be boring it turned out to be quite the opposite. It was fast-paced and had loads of action on almost every page. I also liked the fact that the main character is a boy. I can really relate to him! The book is great for elementary students through high school students and both boys and girls will love it.

The writing and plot was great and I could practically envision everything as I read. A World Without Heroes was filled with action and once I put it down I couldn’t wait to pick it back up again. I gave A World Without Heroes 5 stars and would possibly give it more if I could. The second book of the trilogy comes out in the spring of 2012 and I cannot wait. I hope everyone will enjoy A World Without Heroes as much as I did!