Immortal Guardians: Spirit Animals: Fall of the Beasts, Book 1
By Carrie R. Wheadon,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Exciting -- and creepy -- start to spin-off fantasy series.
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What's the Story?
In IMMORTAL GUARDIANS, the three young heroes of Erdas -- Connor, Abeke, and Rollan -- summon the fourth, Meilin, back from her home in Zhong, for a very good reason: The greatest of the spirit animal guardians are being stolen by Zerif, an old and dangerous foe, as soon as they're reborn. No one's sure how he's turning the animals against the humans they bond with, but they suspect it has to do with a symbol that seems carved into their foreheads. It's a symbol that Kovo the ape, a newly reborn and dangerous spirit animal saved from Zerif, draws over and over, along with a door. When the four heroes find a picture of the same door in a history book, they know they need to follow where it leads. But there's also word of another spirit animal guardian needing protection from Zerif. The four kids decide to split up. Rollan and Abeke set off to find the guardian and stop Zerif. And Meilin and Connor follow Kovo the ape to a mysterious door leading to an underground world that history forgot, where scary zombie-like creatures have the same ominous symbol on their foreheads.
Is It Any Good?
There's not a dull moment in this exciting series start featuring the ready-made heroes from the first Spirit Animals series, who split up to tackle very different but equally difficult tasks. Rolland and Abeke set out to confront the enemy they know, though they don't know the source of his newfound power, and Meilin and Connor discover the unknown, and quite creepy, enemy underground. The two story lines are a great contrast and set up many possibilities for future adventures, which is what the start of every long-running series strives for.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the underground city of Phos Astos. How did the humans there adapt to a life with no sunlight? Would you be able to live there?
What about the first Spirit Animals series and about Fall of the Beasts appeals to you most? Do you like the interactive part or the books the best? Or simply spending more time with favorite characters?
If you had a spirit animal, what would it be?
Book Details
- Author: Eliot Schrefer
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Adventures, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires, Wild Animals
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
- Publication date: August 11, 2015
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 192
- Available on: Nook, Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: July 12, 2017
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