A World Without Heroes

By: Brandon Mull

Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb

Length: 14 hrs

Publisher's Summary

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

In his search for a way home, Jason meets Rachel, who was also mysteriously drawn to Lyrian 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 destroy the emperor, and learn that their best hope to find a way home will be to save this world without heroes.

©2011 Brandon Mull (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Brandon Mull has won me over again!

I loved this authors series "Fablehaven," and I am so happy that he has started another series "Beyonders!" This book was very fun, full of excitement and characters that are humorous and courageous! I can't wait for the next one!

10 of 10 people found this review helpful

Great for kids and adults

A World Without Heroes is one of those rather rare books that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. I finished the whole series before writing this review and each of the books is fun and all are mostly G-rated.

This is a fast paced quest type fantasy and unlike many in this vein it is never tedious and includes little graphic violence, no sexual content, and no foul language. The two Beyonders are a little bland as characters, but the inhabitants of Lyrian are universally imaginative and interesting. This would be a great adventure story to share with a child because it is humorous and entertaining enough to engage both kids and adults. The plot is not terribly sophisticated (politics, culture, etc. in Lyrian is fairly minimal) so a child of 8 or 9 is probably old enough to follow the storyline and there are enough twists to keep an older listener engaged as well. Two minor caveats: 1. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and I never found a complete list online like you can for most fantasy novels; 2. A lot of the "good guys" die in the course of completing the quest so this may not be a good choice if you have a very sensitive child.

Jeremy Bobb has a very nicely modulated voice so he is easy to listen to over a series like this. He is a little rough in the first book, but gets better in the 2nd and 3rd. His character voices get better through the series, but much more character differentiation would have been useful with this series that has a huge cast.

This is my first Brandon Mull book, but now that I have listened to The Beyonders series, I hope Audible will make his other books available soon. Even if you don't have a kid to share this with, The Beyonders series is a lot of fun.

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Great Read!

I wish the next book was available. Brandon Mull is a gifted writer. I really liked his Fablehaven series too.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

A cliff-hanger and entertaining

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would - the writing is a little on the flat side and the narrator is pretty affect-less, however, some of the scenes of danger were well done and there is a lot of imagination and originality. The ending of the book has a good twist and of course, ends with a good cliff-hanger! It does make you want more.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Brilliant!

Where does A World Without Heroes rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

a World without Heroes is fantastic! Brandon Mull goes to the same trouble as JK Rowling in creating this special world. It is well thought out and delivered. The idea of

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narrator is fairly average. It isn't difficult to listen to him but it isn't a joy either. He didn't take very much trouble to give different characters their own voice which is something I value.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

oh yes! And I can't wait until the others are published. I've heard he's got the series written already--- waiting is a torture!

Any additional comments?

I would recommend this book to young adult and adult readers.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Took a few chapters to get into it - then enjoyed

This one book broken into three parts... so if you purchase the first you will need to purchase the next two to complete the story. I listened to the beginning a few times without getting hooked (a little too YA)... but when I finally got into it... found it an enjoyable world he had created, with interesting rules and peoples. It is written for YA and because of the extensive violence during wars and battles it would not be a good read for younger children. The last book is darker than the end of Harry Potter series. Many of the main characters die in some pretty icky ways in the overcoming of evil. Although the plot had a predictable ending, getting there had some interesting turns and twists along the way. I agree the narrator improves with each book, but wasn't bad with the first.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

More Please!

I've been a fan of Brandon Mull's Fablehaven series and after reading his first book of the Beyonders series I'm hooked again. If you are looking for a family friendly fantacy tale to get lost in, then you've found the perfect author. Audible- please add Fablehaven to your repertoire-your listeners won't regret it and neither will you.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Great Series!

This is a very entertaining series. You will want to continue on to the next book as soon as this one is over.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

A really fine way to spend your weekend

What did you love best about A World Without Heroes?

I love that the twist and turn in the plots

What did you like best about this story?

The tempo of this book was awesome everytime i thought ok its safe to take a short break it sucked me in even further.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The authors loyalty to his characters was FANTASTIC

Any additional comments?

I got this book thinking it might be a great book to listen to with my children (10-13) and i am sure it will be when we take our next trip. I was more then pleasntly shocked when i realized it was 4am and i was still sucked into the story. Though the story cover some more advanced social topics, the story never suffers in the least. i hope you enjoy the twists and turns as much as I did.
BEWARE the HIPPO

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Sluggish Reading

I bought both the hard copy and the audiobook, and the audiobook kept putting me to sleep. The reading is just sluggish. The reader zaps the energy and momentum out of the book. I abandoned the audiobook, and simply read the last half on my own - I enjoyed it much more. I plan to read the next installment of the series, but I hope it will be an improvement on the first.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful