Rachel isn't afraid to put her foot down and call Jason out for trying to be the Boy Who Saves the Day and insists upon doing her fair share. Rachel plays a fantastic role in the journey and gets a few of her own shining moments. I'd say Jason is the main character, but only by a little. Of course, I can't talk about characters without mentioning our two main stars. I especially loved the Loremaster and Ferrin so I hope we'll get to see a bit more of them in future book. A few of these passing characters don't last long (if you know what I mean), but it shows Mull's talent all the more since I felt emotion for the death of characters I'd only known for a few short pages. Mull does a good job of giving life to each character Jason and Rachel come across, whether they were in a good bit of the story or disappeared soon after the introduction. Since there were so many, I did find it difficult to put personalities to names at times, but I never felt frustrated by it. I really enjoyed all the characters that were met along the journey. It felt completely realistic for the characters to have been there that long considering they were traversing a whole land and doing by foot and horseback for the most part. Mull managed to give an idea of how that skipped time had passed, provide a glimpse of how it felt for the characters, and make you feel as if you hadn't missed all too much within a couple sentences and I really appreciated that. Occasionally it would mention a couple days or weeks had passed, but it didn't feel completely offhand and jarring. Considering the story spans at least a month or two, it's no small feat to keep the reader engaged as well as give a real sense of the time passing. This book is another to add to my 'everything I want in a middle grade' list.

A world without heroes brandon mull