Into the Mist

By: Patrick Carman

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Before the walls went up...there were adventures. Follow young Thomas Warvold and his brother, Roland, as they journey through Elyon, discovering new mysteries, new challenges, and magical creatures that will change the course of their fate...and the fate of their land.

From a humble and unexplained childhood in a very strange orphanage to a series of fearless escapes to a quest full of riddles and exploration, Thomas and Roland find that their identity - and the mysterious tattoos on their knees - are linked to a much greater history than they ever would have guessed. One brother, Thomas, is destined for adventure on land, while the ohter brother, Roland is destined for adventure on sea. But before this happens, they must journey into the mist...and find the truth about both their past and their future.

©2007 Patrick Carman (P)2007 Scholastic Inc.

Wonderfully unique

This is such a great book about brotherly love and overcoming abuse for children. I would highly recommend it for all age groups.

Boys Story - Alexa is irrelevant

Positive point - Patrick Carmen (in the whole series) avoids the dreaded inner quagmire that so often bogs down first person narratives.
Sadly, The series starts off as a story for girls - though Alexa is the exception to what is really a male story. In this volume, she is sidelined.
I first read and listened to this series soon after it came out almost 20 years ago, and used it in my YA lit classes. Sadly, unless you bought the first three audios many years ago, they are not available for new purchase. Used paper copies can be found.
This volume emphasizes brotherly love and care for the abused children, abuse at the hands of orphanage staff. Boys are shown wanting to explore, create and build - machines, boats, maybe even civilizations, worlds & universes. Maybe like Elyon. I do wish authors of the 21st century would not blindly copy 19th century J.Austen & C.Dickens and perhaps paint some lovely pictures of people who devote their lives to helping children in orphanages, foster homes, etc.

In re-listening to this series now, after reading tons of YA novels and interacting with students, I have second thoughts. So let me here reprint what I have recently written about the first three books. These reviews are accessible to people already possessing the first three audio novels:
Book 3 is as good as book 1, better than book 2. Two and 3 appear to be an LDS version of the Narnia series. However, they are somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. I was searching for commendable young woman protagonists, and this series at first piqued my interest. Upon reflection, I became uncomfortable with the branding of and forced labor of "wicked" convicts in book 1, the catechism-like nature of book 2 (not at all creative like Narnia), and the fact overall that aside from Alexa, all significant characters are male.