Horn Book

When Cole's friends are kidnapped by mysterious strangers, the sixth grader follows them through a magical portal and lands in a world dominated by Shapers, people who bend reality to their will. Action and adventure rule the day as Cole teams up with new friends on a hero's quest. The setup is hardly new, but Mull's intriguing invented world keeps things interesting.

ALA Booklist (Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 CST 2014)

Sixth-grader Cole Randolph and his friends (including his crush, Jenna) are whisked away from their ho-hum lives in Arizona to the magical world of the Outskirts, a place that "lies between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death." Upon their arrival in the Outskirts, Cole's friends are quickly captured by slavers, but he escapes and sets out on an epic quest to rescue them. As a stranger in a strange land, however, Cole can't manage on his own, and soon he has met a bevy of unlikely friends ny of whom have magical abilities well as enemies who are bent on exploiting Cole and his new friends for their own gain. Everyman Cole doesn't know much about the fantastical, flying-castle-filled Outskirts, but he's ready for adventure and eager to learn. Mull's ample world building only adds even more dimension to Cole's noble quest. Mull has a built-in audience for this new fantasy adventure series, and fans of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series will not be disappointed. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: One million dollars for marketing? New York Times best-selling Mull's publisher thinks he's worth it, and fans of his wildly popular series will likely agree.

School Library Journal (Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2014)

Gr 5-8 Cole talks his friends into visiting a house on Halloween rumored to provide a hauntingly good scare in this fantasy adventure. Instead of a fun evening in the suburbs of Arizona, the teenagers are kidnapped and taken through a portal to be sold as slaves in another world. Cole is sent to work as a Sky Raider, where his mission is to steal valuables from floating castles. This dangerous work helps him forge new friendships with young people who possess special powers. One of these friends is a princess in hiding, and Cole must help her overthrow her father, the evil King, as a way to establish order and help his friends escape slavery. The world-building lacks the necessary description and details which readers expect of this genre. Cole seems to move through the incredulous events without demonstrating any connection to his life on Earth or a real desire to return. The plot contains many twists and turns, but each new encounter is fashioned to outdo the previous one, which strains credulity. April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Mull (the Beyonders books) opens the Five Kingdoms series with this fanciful, action-packed adventure in which a sixth-grader is stranded in a strange world where magic is real and dreams have power. After Cole and his friends are lured into a haunted house on Halloween, they are viciously kidnapped by slavers and transported to the mysterious "in-between place" known as the Outskirts. Cole is soon separated from the other kidnapped children and sentenced to work with a band of misfits who salvage treasures from bizarre flying castles. As Cole tries to find a way to escape and rescue his friends, he makes new allies and is drawn into a desperate gamble to defeat a rampaging construct made of rogue magic. Armed with amazing treasures and thrown into battle against terrifying odds, Cole must learn to become a hero. Although Mull packs quite a bit into this initial installment, he skillfully mixes the capricious logic of dreams with high stakes and constant danger. The intriguing premise, strong world-building, and numerous twists make this a real page-turner. Ages 8-12. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (Mar.)