Ever since I read Beyonders: A World Without Heroes last year, I've been looking forward to the sequel! And truly, Seeds of Rebellion did not disappoint me.

The first thing I noticed was that Brandon Mull was able to effectively review the characters of the first book without doing the annoying "this is what happened in the first book" recap. I appreciated this more than I expected because I wanted to dive right into the story....but I also knew that it has been about a year since I read the first book, so my memory on the characters was pretty rusty.

Like the first book, Seeds of Rebellion is largely a traveling adventure story. The Rebel group grows as it travels from place to place, gaining momentum and purpose. First they seek to rescue the guardians of the syllables, because their job is worthless (the word being proven a fake) and Maldor is moving against them. Jason and his group meet up with Rachel and Drake who find him with a special spell the Charm Woman gave them. Once they rescue Corinne, who turns out to be Galloran's daughter, they turn their attention toward a drowned city, where Galloran knows they can obtain and kingdom's worth of orantium (the grenade-like explosives we see in the first book.) Rachel shows exceptional promise speaking Edomic (the language the world was made in, the language of power and magic that the wizard of old used) and becomes more and more powerful as she practices controlling matter and animals. It seems like there is nothing she cannot do, she is such an "adept" (as they call her.)

They reach the land of the Amar Kabal, where the large party rests and Galloran makes a case for the seed people to join them in their cause. Many of the Amar Kabal are extremely reluctant to go to open warfare with the emperor, but eventually agree to send a delegation to the last known oracle in order to determine whether or not the Rebel cause stands a chance against Maldor. This quest comprises the rest of the book...



Check out my blog for a more complete review and a list of main characters and places from the first book: http://skippingbarefoot.blogspot.com/...