Forbidden Mountain

By: Brandon Mull

Narrated by: George Newbern

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • CHOOSE YOUR GUARDIAN. CHOOSE YOUR DESTINY.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series comes an epic new fantasy set in a world where every child bonds with a spiritual guide—some promising greatness and glory, while others, destruction and death.

Every Anoran child dreams of the day they will enter the sacred bonding hut and match with a guardian—a spiritual guide who grants magically enhanced abilities. A lucky few will bond with Advocates, who promise greatness and glory. Others will be tempted by forbidden offers from the Accursed—dangerous spirits who bring nothing but destruction and a penalty of death to any Anoran who chooses them. But when Mako discovers that the worst of these agents of chaos has returned to spread an ancient evil through the empire, he faces an unthinkable choice: Will he bond with one of the Accursed to gain the power to stop another?

Halfway across the empire, Arden has no guardian and no prospects of adventure…until she infiltrates an underground criminal network to find her missing friend. Relying on her knack for sensing the truth through even the smoothest lies, Arden finds herself at the center of a sinister conspiracy that runs much deeper than she ever imagined.

Soon Mako’s and Arden’s fates collide, and together they must face bandit armies, dark secrets, and untold dangers to fight an enemy who could destroy all they’ve ever known.

Critic reviews

★ "[A] thrilling combination of adventure, fantasy, and intrigue....A great choice for kids who love chunky books that allow them to immerse themselves in an imagined world." —Booklist, starred review

"An enticing adventure....Layered conflicts and worldbuilding provide a solid foundation, and a cliff-hanger ending will leave readers clamoring for the sequel." —Publishers Weekly

"Where Mull triumphs is in writing characters who speak and act their age within a rich story that remains faithful to an upper middle grade audience....Mull threads guilt and redemption through what will certainly be an epic high fantasy series." —School Library Journal

A new adventure

A new world that I look forward to reading more about. Now to wait for the next book.

What an engaging journey!

Has me so excited to see what will happen next. Next book already preordered and counting down.

It would be wise to wait for the next installment before starting!

I discovered the Fablehaven series after the first five books had already been written, and it was wonderful to just blast through them. Then I had to be tortured by waiting, sometimes months, sometimes more than a year, as Dragonwatch dribbled out.

Mulls books are "read again" adventures- but still, if you are wise, you might want to wait until at least the next one is released before starting. This book started out more slowly than Brandon's usual style and is a bit more confusing since two characters are developing separately for about half the book before their adventures converge, but the payoff seems to be coming. As always, lots of action paired with moral conundrums.

This story feels a bit more Beyonders in style- except there is no mix of worlds.

Now the narrator. George Newbern just stinks at dialogue. Newbern's narration of action is fine. But when he tries to do the voices they all have the same rhythm, and sometimes the wrong "voice" is spoken by the wrong character so your mind will need to go back and correct the conversations and how they must have intended to sound. I have the hard copy of this book and intend to read it more slowly so I can understand all the nuances better than I could by listening to this reader.

Brandon Mull's best book yet

This book was engaging and leaves you really wondering how it is going to turn out. I can't wait for book 2!

It flowed great, exciting, action, another Mull success.

Mull is the best!! I loved this book. Can’t wait for the next book. Great story line. Lots of action.