Grade level 3-7

This was really fun. It's clearly a big marketing thing, but all the same, I had a really good time reading it, and it's a great series to dive into for the summer. ( )

Solid kid's adventure story to start out the newest monster series from scholastic. Good concept and good line-up of authors. ( )

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Title: Spirit Animals: Wild Born
Author: Brandon Mull

Synopsis:
Four children separated by vast distances all undergo the same ritual, watched by cloaked strangers. Four flashes of light erupt, and from them emerge the unmistakable shapes of incredible beasts -- a wolf, a leopard, a panda, a falcon. Suddenly the paths of these children -- and the world -- have been changed forever.

Enter the world of Erdas, where every child who comes of age must discover if they have a spirit animal, a rare bond between human and beast that bestows great powers to both. A dark force has risen from distant and long-forgotten lands, and has begun an onslaught that will ravage the world. Now the fate of Erdas has fallen on the shoulders of four young strangers . . . and on you.

Part engrossing book series, part action role-playing game -- discover your spirit animal and join the adventure.

Initial thoughts:
One of the main reasons that I started this books series was because a student of mine recommended it to me. The more that I looked into it, I became very excited to see that each book was written by different authors and that some of my favorites had worked on creating the overall story. In a past review, I spoke about how it can get complicated for me when there are so many different points of views, but with the series completed I decided that I should start it and see where it goes.

Plot:
What I liked:
The plot of the story was rather interesting to me. It takes place during a time where great beasts live among humans in the form of different animals. Out of these great beasts, four of them are considered ‘fallen’ because they died in battle. Briggan the wolf, Uraza the Leopard, Essix the Falcon, and Jhi the Panda come back as Spirit Animals -- Animals that are bound to a person -- because the legendary Devourer has come back. Now, with this only being the first book, there was a lot that wasn’t touched on and was surely left for other books to clarify, but I personally found the progression of the story to be intriguing.
From what I have gathered, these animals have only bound themselves to the characters for a specific reason even if they don’t understand it themselves. I am excited to see where the writers continue with the development of the relationships the characters have with their spirit animals. Each of the characters have their own unique voice and personality and I really see myself liking them.

What I didn't like:
Occasionally, the writing style felt a little flat at times when it hit certain characters of the story. Meilin’s character for example was rather flat at certain points in the book. I am hoping that I will see her grow more throughout the series as this is just the first book. The pace of the book was also a little slow as well, but with how many books there are in the series I expect it to pick up now the the backbone has been laid.

Characters:
Conor (Wolf): Conor was a really cool character, but I felt as though there was little growth for him through his book. He has a very righteous way of thinking about things.
Meilin (Panda): She was pretty stubborn and pretty neat, but I wished that she hadn’t been written as flat as she had been.
Abeke (Leopard): I felt as though she had so much to offer, but I didn’t get to see a lot of her growth throughout the book and I wish I had.
Rollan (Falcon): He was my favorite. He was snarky and had an attitude, but he also was a pretty interesting character to follow and learn why he did what he did.
Shane (Wolverine): To be honest, I really liked this character and felt I could sympathise with him though he was working with who was supposedly the enemy within the book.
Tarik (Otter): He was much like a father figure to the characters and a mentor teaching them how to strengthen their bond between their spirit animals. I liked how unlike he was from his own spirit animal. I’m glad he didn’t push anyone to join a side when they weren’t ready.
Zerif (Coyote): He was painted as a well thought out villain in this book, but he was rather hasty in his actions. I am excited to learn more about him.

Overall:
The first book was a nice introduction into the series and I recommend it, but I wonder how I would have accepted this book had it been in a compilation or a combined book where the story simply flows from one author’s voice to the other. I am excited to continue reading the series and see what develops. ( )

My ten-year-old came downstairs all on fire about this book and insisted that I read it. Not seeing any good reason to refuse, I agreed.

It was fine? I mean, it used some lazy stereotyping to set up the characters, but there was a lot of world-building and characterization to set-up in a short space, so I guess I can see why it would be easy to use some shortcuts. (Set on a non-Earth planet with unique continents, but of the four main characters, one is clearly Chinese, one African, one British, one American). There was one incident with Native-Americans-who-werent-Native-Americans-but-clearly-were that was a little eye-rally, but mostly it was fine. But really the entire thing felt like a setup for the series more than a complete book on its own.

The central concept of being able to connect psychically to a magical animal is certainly most of what got my son interested in this book. There are interesting bits to the characters. I did like the emphasis that each of the kids has different strengths, but they all feel less-than and tend to focus on the things that they DON'T do as well. Plot seemed had-waved and rushed in places.

I know, this book isn't FOR ME. But even as a middle grade novel, I was underwhelmed. ( )