Unfortunately, flat characters and a predictable plot are evidence that this first installment lacks Mull’s usual creativity and humor. Constructed in the tradition of The 39 Clues, this fast-paced new series will be penned by various well-known authors.

Their mission is to retrieve the talismans from the other Great Beasts before the Devourer can regain power and destroy the world.

With the assistance of the Greencloaks, a powerful but secretive order, the four must learn to bond with their spirit animals, drawing strength and wisdom from their gifts. Rollan, a poor street urchin, calls Essix the falcon. Jhi the panda comes to Meilin, the daughter of a Zhongese general. Uraza the leopard answers the call of the young warrior, Abeke. Conor, an indentured servant, calls Briggan the wolf. In the tradition of Erdas, four 11-year-olds are given Nectar, a substance designed to help them call their spirit animals. But even as a middle grade novel, I was underwhelmed.The appearance of the Four Fallen Great Beasts in Erdas signals the re-emergence of an evil power long forgotten. Plot seemed had-waved and rushed in places.I know, this book isn't FOR ME.

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.

There are interesting bits to the characters. 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 was one incident with Native-Americans-who-werent-Native-Americans-but-clearly-were that was a little eye-rally, but mostly it was fine. (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). 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. My ten-year-old came downstairs all on fire about this book and insisted that I read it.

Wild Born by Brandon Mull