Rogue Knight (Five Kingdoms)

Okay, this cover makes a 33 year old lady super embarrassed to read it~ seriously, I should be ashamed of myself. But, yes, I pre-ordered this one so I could start reading it right when it was released and I have to say, it's definitely a keeper on my really good book shelf.

I wish I had read the first one right before this one because, while the author does catch you up on what is happening action-wise, he doesn't remind you of what the characters look like. I know that's a small thing, but I like to picture books while I read them, and because I could't remember them (Jace most of all!) it slowed me down a bit. (yes, I should have gone and read some to figure it out, but by then the action had gotten going and I didn't want to stop.

Thankfully, while this book follows a similar pattern if the first (looking for a lost sister who is separated from her gifts) it doesn't end the same way, or work in the same way as the first, so we definitely don't have a boring formula on our hands. I can't wait for the next one, but then, I guess I have to.

The Rogue Knight is the second book in the Five Kingdoms Series, the first book being Sky Raiders. I loved both books immensely. Brandon Mull did it again. He is an amazing author who I've enjoyed reading basically everything from. My favorite series from him is the Beyonders series, closely followed by Fablehaven and Candy Shop War. His books tend to have this strange characteristic of sounding absolutely terrible and goofy, at least until you start reading and engaging with the story.

The Cover:
It shows the Rogue Knight swinging at Cole and Mira with his sword. Meanwhile, Cole attempts to defend Mira and himself with his Jumping Sword which is glowing.

My Review:
I really enjoyed reading The Rogue Knight. I was constantly surprised by where the story was going and was completely caught off guard by one key plot twist. This novel was beautifully written, creative, and even very funny at times. It was a perfect sequel to Sky Raiders and picked up right where the last book left off. It was a fast-paced and easy read for all ages.

I loved the characters in this series for the most part. For example, I loved the returning characters (Mira, Cole, Jace, Twitch, etc.) even more during Rogue Knight but I found some of the new characters a little bit irritating. (However, my annoyance with them might not have been entirely with them but with the altering of the previous characters' dynamics.) Either way, there was plenty of character development that occurred during this book, as well as really amusing banter. Who doesn't love a good comeback? or some excessive sarcasm?

I loved all of the plot lines of The Rogue Knight! Seemingly unconnected circumstances would slowly connect themselves as I was reading, conquering up a puzzle board that slowly pieced itself together. Yet still a few pieces are missing. Even more reason to continue the series as it comes out. (The following book is Crystal Keepers out this March.)

The Rogue Knight was a great installment in the Five Kingdoms series, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who has read Sky Raiders, which I would, in turn, recommend to everyone. Both were exciting reads with complex characters and lots of fun.

The Rogue Knight comes out November 18, 2014

*Note: This book was given to me by Aladdin through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review*

I am not sure if I am outgrowing Middle Grade books or Brandon Mull is losing his touch. I can still remember how the Fablehaven series (my first Brandon Mull series) hooked me to the point that I sacrificed many a good night’s sleep just to finish the five books as soon as possible. And after that, find myself rereading the whole series after two months. That didn’t happen to me with the Five Kingdoms series. Sky Raiders, the first book of Five Kingdoms, was just OKAY. Not good, not bad either. There were interesting stuff—like the shaping abilities and the different kingdoms— that held my interest but for the most part of the story, I was just bored despite the twists (that were not really twists because I saw them coming a mile away). It took me a long time to pick up Rogue Knight because I was hoping that by the time I read it, I am already in the mood. Alas, reading Rogue Knight became more of an obligation instead of being inan another adventure with Cole, Mira, Jace and the rest of the gang.

The second book of the series, Rogue Knight started where we left off from Sky Raiders. Cole and the rest of the gang are desperate to go to Elloweer, one of the Five Kingdoms, after discovering clues that something went wrong with one of Mira’s sister, Honor. As usual, there were a lot of travelling incognito and fighting monsters to save the not-so-a-damsel-in-distress Honor. Along the way, I got to know more about the shaping ability and about the existence of the different kingdoms, their culture, and how they differ from one another. While the said things are interesting, I cannot say the same thing for our ragtag team of selfless heroes(?). No matter how hard I’ve tried, I didn’t manage to develop a semblance of affection for any of them. Their chemistry is off. The bromance between the boys (Cole, Jace, and Twitch) made me cringe. The friendship didn’t make my heart flutter at all. It just felt forced. I also didn’t buy whatever romance (if it’s going to end up in a romantic relationship at all) is developing between Jace and Mira. I, however, admired that instead of pairing the male protag with the main heroine, Brandon chose to pair the latter with the sidekick.

I think my biggest issue with Rogue Knight is the fact that I wasn’t able to connect with the characters despite my assumption after reading book one. The characters were my biggest issue with the first book and I thought that they’ll grow on me while reading the Rogue Knight. Unfortunately, that was not the case and I’m left feeling very disappointed. However, I’d still recommend this book for the completionists and those readers who are not so particular about character relationships.

I've been listening to this series on audiobook and I must first mention how talented the narrator is. He does a great job of expressing personalities for the characters (especially Jace) and has a great young voice for his characters. On to the story itself...Mull tricked me with thinking this was going to be a repeat of the defeat of Carnag. Instead there are many, many surprises. There are old characters popping up and tons of new ones to meet. For the first time we have deaths in the story and Cole has to process how he feels about that. We get Twitch's story here too. So much happens that it makes sense to be such a monster book. However, it seems to fly by because of the pacing. One thing that I have to say about this series, however, is that the characters seem MUCH older than the ages they are portrayed as being. I just don't get the sense that these guys are 11 or in 6th grade. This is the reason that I have this listed as being of interest for YA as well as tweens and strong 5th graders. My favorite of Mull's series has been the Beyonders but this definitely a great, inventive read as well.

3.5 stars, originally posted at Fantasy Literature. Life's too short to read bad books!

Rogue Knight , book two of Brandon Mull’s FIVE KINGDOMS series, continues the story about Cole, the boy who took his friends to a haunted house on Halloween and unwittingly caused them all to be sold into slavery in another universe. (Ouch.) Cole managed to escape slavery, but he’s racked with guilt, and now, with the help of some friends he’s made in The Outskirts, which consists of the five kingdoms of this series’ title, he hopes to eventually save his friends.

Cole is currently in Elloweer, the second of the Five Kingdoms (you can probably guess that there will be five books in this series). He’s tagging along with Mira, a princess who’s hiding from her father, the King, because her father wants to steal her magic for himself. Mira is trying to find her sisters who are also in hiding so they can work together to overthrow their evil father. Cole figures that if he sticks with Mira and her unlikely band of heroes, he’ll someday have the contacts and resources he needs to free his friends and find a way back to the “real” world. Mira’s sister Honor is rumored to be in Elloweer, as is the dangerous Rogue Knight of the book’s title. Cole and Mira hope to find Honor.

I said in my review of the first book, Sky Raiders, that I admired Brandon Mull’s imaginative world-building and I thought the juvenile humor, fast-paced action, constant suspense, and hint of romance in the FIVE KINGDOMS series would appeal to its target audience of Middle Grade Readers. All this is still here in Rogue Knight. Cole and his new friends travel more of the Five Kingdoms and meet more odd people and encounter different types of magic. I miss the fun floating castles from Cole’s sky raiding days, but I understand Mull’s desire to show us something new. In Rogue Knight we meet an eccentric shaper who lives under the sea with her talking dog, a soul-sucking monster inspired by an American boy’s thoughts about his first-grade teacher, a funny sprite-like sidekick who kids will adore, and of course the seemingly indestructible but utterly polite titular Rogue Knight who may be friend or foe.

As usual, Brandon Mull keeps the story moving quickly — it’s one adventure after another and it’s always new and exciting. However, I’m having a hard time getting a full sense of Mull’s world. Mira tells Cole about the differences in the magic systems between the Five Kingdoms, but I’m left wondering how these five worlds are related to each other and why there is such delineation between them. How did that come to be? This may not be important to Middle Graders, but I present it as an example of why I can’t rate this series a little higher. At times I feel like I’m merely skating along the surface of Mull’s world and I can’t really get both my feet planted solidly on its ground.

Also, by this point in a series I’d like to see more character development, especially for Cole, our main protagonist. We get some needed backstory on Twitch, one of Cole’s new friends, which adds another level of tension to the plot, but Cole remains a little bland. We know that he’s just an average American boy with a crush on Jenna, one of his friends who’s trapped as a slave in The Outskirts. In the rare quiet moments when Mull gives Cole a chance to think, he tends to rehash the same thoughts — some version of “I miss home and I need to find my friends so I’m sticking with Mira because I think she’ll eventually be in a position to help me.” We don’t get to know him much more beyond this. Likewise some of the other characters are flat and are even given dull titles such as “The Rogue Knight,” “The Dread Knight,” and “The High King.” Mull is usually so imaginative that I’m telling myself that these insipid names are due to a lack of inspiration by the citizens of The Outskirts and not by Mull himself.

Nevertheless, I think most Middle Grade readers will love the FIVE KINGDOMS series. (Evidence: it currently has a 5-star rating at the store, with 50 reviews.) It’s a fun adventure story about courage, friendship, and honor. I’ve been listening to Simon & Schuster Audio’s version which is 13.5 hours long and read by Keith Nobbs. I love Nobbs’ voice and think it’s perfect for an MG novel with a male protagonist, but I get a little distracted by his cadence sometimes. To differentiate the characters he gives them each a different speech pattern. I don’t think this is necessary since the author provides tags such as “Cole said” to let us know who’s talking, but some narrators, especially those that may not have the skill to produce a lot of different voices, will alter the tempo for each speaker. Nobbs does this by drawing out random words in a way that sounds unnatural. (This only happens with the dialogue.) I sped up the audio to help with this. I will still choose the audio version for the third FIVE KINGDOMS book, Crystal Keepers, which comes out in March.

I first encountered Brandon Mull with Fablehaven. I was hoping to introduce my children to the fantasy genre and picked up Fablehaven while browsing. It looked interesting so i purchased it and took it home to read to/with them. I was enthralled with it immediately and finished it myself that night after they were in bed, being unable to put it down. The Five Kingdoms is every bit as unique and engaging as the Fablehaven series. In a way it is a shame that his writing is targeted at the young adult audience as his work isn't nothing like any of the fantasy genre i have read in the past forty years. With a little editing and dialog updates his work would reach a much deserved, wider audiencer

Agh! #2! I loved this book! I thought it was significantly slower and more boring then Sky Raiders but it's good moments were REALLY good. The few chapters spent at the Lost Palace with Trillion the Torivor were amazing and if you've read Brandon's series Beyonders then the Torivor has a special meaning*wink*. I thought the Rogue Knight was a very interesting character. And the plot twist!
SPOILER ALERT!!!
Morgassa being the embodiment of Brady's power was a serious shocker.
I also loved the finale with Cole discovering his his own raw shaping power only to have it blocked AGAIN by Morgassa! All in all great book and I would we ommend to anyone.

Five
Kingdoms
Book review
Title: Rouge Knight
Author: Brandon mull
In this book a kid named Cole Randolph is searching for his friends that were kidnapped on Halloween. Cole is trapped in the kingdom of Elloweer. With new friends Mira, Twitch, and Jace. Cole Joins the resistance and helps Mira find her sister Honor.
I liked this book because it embraced the powers of magic. I also liked this book because it stretches the limits of magic. I also liked it because it had a lot of adventure in it. I also liked it because it had situation of life and death. I recommend this book because it is amazing.

Rogue Knight is the 2nd of 5 installments in the Five Kingdoms series. Picking up where the first book left off, Cole and his friends are searching for Mira’s sister and Cole’s friends sold into slavery. Cole learns more about himself and a power he holds. And plenty of new and colorful characters enter the scene.

This sequel is just as good as the first novel, if not quite as suspenseful. This land isn’t quite as perilous and different as before. Though the strength is in the numerous engaging and captivating characters. There are several obstacles along their journey, and the adventure builds to a big show down with a unique creature. Young fantasy fans from middle readers to adults will enjoy this exciting series.

*Review previously posted at SciFiChick.com

This is the second book in the Five Kingdoms series by Mull. There will be five books in this series. The third book will be titled, Crystal Keepers, and is scheduled to release in March 2015. This book was just as fantastic as the first book in this series. Previously I have read Mull’s Fablehaven series (which I loved) and his Beyonders series (which was okay).

Cole is still trapped in the Outskirts. In this book he journey with Mira, Twitch, and Jace to the kingdom of Elloweer in hopes of discovering what sort of trouble Mira’s sister, Honor, is in. Elloweer is a fascinating kingdom where the magic our group of adventurers used in the last book doesn’t work, but there is a whole new type of magic. There are rumors of an evil magic taking over towns in Elloween and also of the powerful Rogue Knight. The Rogue Knight has been challenging for control of different keeps throughout Elloweer, the big question is is he a friend or foe?

This was another fantastic middle grade fantasy adventure filled with interesting characters, spectacular world-building, and some very cool magic. I love how each book takes us to a new kingdom with different types of magic and different problems.

I also have really enjoyed the whole concept that characters with major shaping magic can have that magic take life outside of them (sounds confusing but you would have to read the book to understand).

Cole also makes some pretty big discoveries about his own magical ability, although he is just starting to scratch the surface of what he is capable of. He finally tracks down some of his friends in this book and finds out what they have been up to during their time in the Outskirts.

We meet a dazzling array of new characters. They are all very intriguing and interesting. I really like how we get both female and male characters that are heroic and brave, it makes this book a great read for boys and girls alike. Mull has always been very good about making his books friendly to both genders.

Overall this was an absolutely fantastic read. This book got me even more excited to explore the rest of the Five Kingdoms in future novels. This has been a wonderful series full of magic and adventure. This book is filled withboth wonderful characters and spectacular world-building. This whole series is highly recommended to fans of middle grade fantasy!

not as gripping as sky raiders and a little out there as far as cole seeing (SPOILER) ansel goes but still good. i was really disappointed when (SPOILER2) twich stays in ellower just to (SPOILER3) come back in five and disappear but it certainly continues the series in a strong way.

Just barely finished reading "The Rogue Knight" and as usual, Brandon Mull has lived up to my expectations--which are very high, since I've seen the awesomeness he can come up with--and, I would say, even surpassed them.

In "Sky Raiders" we got to see the workings of Sambria, one of the Five Kingdoms in the Outskirts. Shortly after "The Rogue Knight" begins, Cole, Mira, Twitch, and Jace cross into Elloweer, one of the other kingdoms where magic functions differently than in Sambria. In Elloweer, shapers can create seemings--visual and auditory illusions that have no physical substance--and apply "changings" to living creatures, which actually alter the subject's physical form. Cole and company are looking for Mira's sister Honor, another of the High Shaper's daughters whose power has been stolen by her father.

Along the way they run into the slaver who originally kidnapped Cole from Earth. In order to stay off the radar, the friends recruit the help of a skilled enchanter (that's what the Ellowine shapers are called) named Skye to disguise Mira and Cole--Mira so people won't recognize her as the High Shaper's daughter and Cole so the slaver's henchmen won't recognize him as an escaped slave.

However, then the Rogue Knight comes into the picture. He robs the caravan Mira, Jace, Twitch, Cole, and Skye are traveling with and in the process, sees through Mira's disguise, recognizes her, and forces her to go with him. So the party is forced to split up: Jace and Twitch go after Mira while Cole and Skye head to an establishment where they hope to find Cole's friend Dalton, another of the kidnapped kids from Earth. They successfully rescue him and rejoin Jace and Twitch in time to confront the Rogue Knight and get Mira back. The rest of the book deals with how they find Honor, restore her power, and defeat a magical being that has been rampaging around Elloweer similar to what Carnag was doing in "Sky Raiders."

One thing I really liked about "The Rogue Knight" was the magic of Elloweer and seeing Skye weave her illusions. That was very very cool. Also awesome was a part toward the end where Cole underwent a changing and got to be an animal for a while. It felt very realistic to me because the animal's natural instincts and urges were there underneath Cole's thoughts, and he had to make a conscious effort to control them. I like when magic has both its advantages and disadvantages, because real life is like that--oftentimes you have to take something bad along with the good.

I also liked the witty dialogue. For example:

Skye bit her lip. "Of all my contacts, I can think of only one person who has a chance of succeeding. She isn't a member of the Unseen, she won't be willing, and she's very unpleasant to work with." "Who?" Cole asked. Skye gave a defeated sigh. "My mother."

One thing that I think Brandon Mull did better with this book than with "Sky Raiders" was the final confrontation with the out-of-control magic. The fight with Carnag in book 1 felt a little weird to me, but this "boss fight" flowed more naturally, I thought. Cole really stepped up and saved the day just in the nick of time, which was awesome. It also pleased me that things turned out all right with the Rogue Knight, and with Twitch and Minimus. Which reminds me. Another great thing about this book is the loyalty among friends we get to see between Cole, Mira, Twitch, and Jace. Even though what Cole wants most is to free his kidnapped and enslaved friends, he sticks by Mira because she's his friend too. And he's willing to do his darnedest to help his friends even though he's not accustomed to being in mortal danger and it scares him. I like books where the protagonists are people you can admire, because if the "hero" isn't a good person--or at least trying to be one--then how are you supposed to want him to prevail?

All in all, a riveting second installment in the Five Kingdoms series. Brandon Mull, thank you for another brilliant novel, and I can't wait for book 3 to be released in the spring!

At least as much fun as book 1! Brandon Mull tells a great story and I really enjoyed seeing his imaginary world come to life. The 2nd book focuses on the kingdom of Elloweer, 2nd of 5 books planned for the series. Highly recommend!

This book is amazing! So far (Out of the four other books in the series) this one is my absolute favorite. This sequel ties in perfectly right where it left off in Sky Raiders. The characters are in a quest through the kingdom too find Mira's mother (the queen). The protagonists face new challenges, as a mysterious new antagonist appears, robbing their caravan and stealing Mira from the gang. Now they are on the hunt to find Mira and save their friends who are trapped in the five kingdoms as well. Should Cole try to save Mira, The Rogue Knight threatens to kill her...

This book is pretty fascinating.I would recommend this for 8-14 year olds.Brandon Mull has done a brilliant job making the book.I,personally,can't wait for the third book;Crystal Keepers.If you want something you can feel safe about your child reading,I would definitely recommend this book.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

Brandon Mull seems to be the king of alternate worlds. This book describes heroic adventure, teenage feelings and interesting conversations into one. Anyone ten or older should read this book, for it is a true piece of art. I say the same for the Sky Raiders book, it even has airships! I tip my hat to Mr. Mull and encourage him to forever keep writing.

Out of all the Brandon Mull books, this is the worst. Bring a huge fun, I've come to have a certain expectation of his books. This one dragged. And not just the first few chapters, but about 3/4's of the book. It didn't start getting exciting or like any of his other books until the end. The first book was as good as his others, but this fell short. I hope the next book is better!

First off, I'd like to say that I normally LOVE all of Brandon Mull's stuff.

The Fablehaven series was absolutely brilliant. Mull was able to throw together a unique plot, realistic and likeable characters, top rate dialogue, action, suspense, humor, fantasy and romance...and turn it into something amazing.

To this day Fablehaven remains one of my very favorite series of all time.

Candy Shop War was equally excellent, and in some ways even better than Fablehaven.

Beyonders was...okay. I really loved the epic scale and the unique creatures and culture and magical objects -- but the characters felt bland and flat and there were too many cliches for it to be truly excellent. And don't even get me started on the finale of the series. Brandon Mull cheated and took the easy way out, revealing something that saved the day -- WHICH HE HAD NOT FORESHADOWED OR HINTED AT, AT ALL! In order for twists to work they need to be surprising yet inevitable. You need to look back and say "oh yeah! That makes complete sense and yet I didn't see that coming at all!" Not so with Beyonders.

The first book in the Five Kingdoms series was...disappointing.

Despite the horrible ending to the Beyonders trilogy, Mull was still one of my favorite authors and I was very much looking forward to becoming engulfed in another fictional world of his.

However, there were all sorts of problems.

For one thing, the characters were really bland, even more so than Jason and Rachel from Beyonders. Seriously, at the end of the book all of the main characters could have died and I wouldn't have even cared. The character development pretty much consisted of knowing that Cole was in the 6th grade and he's your average 11 year old boy...

However, I really liked the climax of that book -- it was one of those endings where there's all sorts of reveals and it's super suspenseful and you can't just put it down. Think "Harry Potter Ending". Yeah, one of those.

I was also excited at the way the series seemed to be heading. There was a lot of potential for cool magic systems, and I figured that maybe Mr. Mull would have learned from his mistakes in the first book and made the second one that much better. Maybe he could redeem himself and give the second plot characters with more depth and fix the pacing and patch up everything that went wrong in the first book.

Not so.

I only read the first chapter of this book, and I had to literally FORCE myself to slog through it.

Mull gives you an opening line and then launches right into a 5 page info dump. Seriously, he just sums up what's happening now and what happened in the last book, in case you need to refresh your memory.

I get it -- people forget stuff and it's the author's job to remind them of the essentials. The keyword there is "essential". Mull dumps all sorts of random facts from the last book that don't even apply to the current situation. It's like reading a wikipedia summary except that it's the first chapter of a book...

And the worst part is that we don't even see the main character's (Cole's) opinions or thoughts on the information that is being dumped in our laps. It literally is just an info dump.

After the info dump is over there's a fight scene that could have been cool, but I still didn't care about the characters, and I was still reeling and trying not to puke after the 5 pages of super boring info.

After that first chapter was over, I just stopped reading.

This book was even worse than the first, and I didn't want to waste my time reading a book of that quality.

Now, I get that a lot of people will hate me for this review.

But here's the thing: I'm a die hard Mull fan as well.

And while some people may love the Five Kingdoms books, they're really not my thing, and I'd be better off just leaving them on the shelf at the library.

Maybe these books were INTENDED for little kids, and the lack of character depth was purposeful?

I don't know.

But I don't think so -- these 400 page books might be a little hard to swallow for 2nd graders. Anybody old enough to read 400 pages is too old for the plot and the characters.

I think that maybe Brandon got a little...distracted with these books.

For one thing, he's writing much faster now, so that might be one issue.

And for another, I think he's really tried to maximize his creative side (which is absolutely brilliant -- Mull is one of the most creative authors I know) and accidentally grown lazy as far as the characters and plot go.

But I still think that Mull is an excellent author, and if he gets his head back in the game he'll write some books in the future that will be just as good as Fablehaven.

But this book is not that book.