This is the first book in a new series by Brandon Mull. It's a fantasy that takes place in a world like ours, but not ours. The four main characters are young teens from the four corners of Erdas. In this world when a child comes of age they go through a coming of age ceremony. A few select teens discover they are able to call a "spirit animal". This animal is a partner and they are able to draw strength, power, courage from this animal. An evil force is making it's way back into this world and it's up to the four children to find each other and save their world.
The students at my school love this book. The spirit animals reminded me of the daemons in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials series. It also has Harry Potterish elements: the children are searching for talismen (horcrux), an evil leader, the Devourer, is back (Voldemort). There is a lot of action including blood and violence; both animal and human. I did find some of the vocabulary to be a bit advanced for the students who are reading it. The characters' names are non-traditional, but appear to follow our phonetic rules and are easy to sound out. This first book sets up the series and it takes a while to get to know all of the characters, their spirit animals, and to figure out who is good and who is evil. Scholastic provides a companion website where readers can chose their own spirit animal, play games, and explore the world of Erdas.
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