Did you ever want something so much you think it will pop right out of thin air? Cole Randolf and his friend, Dalton, know what it is like to create something real. Cole never meant to come to this magical place, The Outskirts, but when he and some of his best friends, including Dalton, were kidnapped, he was dragged to this world. While there, Dalton has developed the ability to create images, called seemings; they are not permanent, but they look real.
The second book in the Five Kingdoms series, “Rogue Knight,” by Brandon Mull, includes a new kind of magic that I wish I had. Some of this magic involves a sword that can cause a person to soar through the air, a rope that can coil and uncoil and stretch really long, a ring that gives wings to whoever puts it on, a mask that turns the wearer into a fantastic animal and the ability to create images.
There are battles, monsters, contests, confidence lounges where all secrets are accessible and lots more fun in the “Five Kingdoms 2: Rogue Knight.”
It all starts out when Cole and the new friends he meets in The Outskirts find a signal, a star showing Mira where her missing sister is located. Mira’s real name is Miricle, and she is one of the High King’s daughters.
The High King faked all of his daughters’ deaths to steal their magnificent shaping power and in the process, stopped them from aging. Mira is being chased down by an evil rag monster who works for The King.
During all this, the greatest of all the knights, the Rogue Knight, is robbing caravans and meets up with Cole’s group while they are traveling to rescue Cole’s friends from slavery. They eventually team up to pursue a monster named Morgassa who is taking over towns and pulling all the people there into her horde to help her.
They even have to outsmart a brilliant torivor to win not only one of Mira’s sister’s freedom, but also their own.
There are so many plot twists, interesting characters (like the Grand Shaper Callista who lives at the bottom of Fog Lake) and battles, both physical and mental, that you never know what will happen next.
You will have to read the “Rogue Knight” to find out how it all turns out.
In the kingdom of Elloweer, there are unique powers and it truly is magic. They can create an object like a building and live in it, which is called shaping. Someone could also create a person who could walk and talk.
Mull explained to me: “Shapers can change, reshape physical reality using their powers and abilities. With ‘seemings,’ you can create the same thing, but you can put your arm through them.”
Complete disguises can also be made with seemings.
“You are creating an illusion that looks tangible and physical,” Mull added, “but you could walk right through it.”
If Mull was a shaper, he would want to create a floating castle in the sky. If he could use seemings, he would like to make a haunted house with lots of special effects, like ghosts that pass through people. I wouldn’t want to visit a haunted house like that!
Brandon Mull is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author. He wrote the Fablehaven, Beyonders and the Candy Shop War series of books. He lives in Utah in a valley near the mouth of a canyon with his wife, four kids and a dog named Buffy.
The next book in the Five Kingdoms series will come out in the middle of March and, he says, that it is even better than the first two. In book 3, Cole and his friends will be in the kingdom of Zeropolis, which is the most modern of the kingdoms as they use magical energy to drive technological inventions.
Mull shared why he started writing fiction: “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved to daydream and read adventure stories like ‘The Chronicles Of Narnia.’ As I got older, the daydreams just got cooler. It reached a point where I wanted to write down the stories and share them with people.”
He also gave some advice about the importance of that kind of imagination: “So many of the conveniences we enjoy in this world come from imagination, imagining what might be possible. You can use your imagination in so many ways — stories, technology, math. It’s one of our most important resources.”
“Five Kingdoms 2: Rogue Knight” is one of my favorite books. You will really get into it and it will keep you on your toes as it is constantly changing and surprising.
In the middle of the book, there is a contest in a castle that four of the characters are required to try in order to win their freedom. That is one of the best scenes because it is exciting and funny to see them unknowingly go up against each other and have to figure out who the others really are.
Make sure to read the first Five Kingdoms book called “Sky Raiders” and follow it up with “Rogue Knight” to see how that contest turns out. It’s a lot of fun.
Ellie De Groote is 11 years old and loves soccer, jump rope, her sister Kate and her cats Yum Yum, Fur Face and Eclipse.