Land Keep: Volume 2

The series is fun overall. Can be a little dark at times. Book 1 or 2 or both had some scenes of tortureous type action that I felt was much darker than Fablehaven, Leven Thumps, Charlie Bone, 13th Reality... Some younger readers might not want to read this series. Creative and fun...some minor character/plot twists. Nice characters, love the fact that one of the main heroes just happens to have some disabilities, as I work with amazing kids everyday in my pediatric work. Nice work Mr. Savage! Good new series.

A good book. The first book, Water Keep, was an okay story. Land Keep, however, was much better than the first book. Hoping book three is even better.

In this sequel to Scott Savage's first Farworld book (Water Keep), Marcus and Kyja continue their quest in Farworld: Land Keep to recruit a member of each of the four elementals in order to save Farworld by opening a gateway to Earth. There is no lack of action or suspense in this new installment of the series. Moreover, Savage effectively raises the stakes and delivers a suspenseful fantasy thriller sequel where the villains are more evil, the monsters are scarier and the magic is more spectacular. Despite the intensity, it is certainly appropriate for any children ages eight and above. I particularly like the "jumps" by Marcus and Kyja back and forth from high fantasy Farworld to current-day Earth. It reminds me of all the times when the crew of the starship Enterprise travel back in time and visit our era on earth. It's jarring, yet fun to see our favorite fantasy characters in familiar real world surroundings. As Marianne Moore so insightfully expressed it, poetry (or fantasy for that matter) is either real frogs in imaginary gardens, or imaginary frogs in real gardens. What Savage has deftly done in this series is combined those two paradigms into the same story. The chapters that take place on Earth give us the imaginary frogs in real gardens, whilst the chapters on Farworld treat us to real frogs in satisfyingly imaginary gardens. What more could a reader ask? I loved the book.

This book and the one preceding it are fantastic. I loved the development of the characters, and the conflicts they had to work through. I look forward to what is in store in the coming books. Savage is a creative genius, in my opinion.

I just finished reading J. Scott Savage's Farworld Land Keep, book two of the Farworld series. In book one, Water Keep, a portal has been opened between the two worlds, allowing Marcus, from Earth, and Kyja, from Farworld, to combine their unique gifts and begin their epic quest to find the Elementals. In book two, Land Keep, Marcus and Kyja travel with Cascade, a Water Elemental, in their goal of gathering the other three Elementals-- Land, Air, and Fire. However, their journey may come to an end before it even gets started. This sets the stage for an exciting story that was so impossible to put down I ended up ignoring all my responsibilities until I turned the last page. What a page turner. As I read along, J. Scott Savage did an excellent job of pulling me thoroughly into the story. There were times when I wanted to smack Marcus, other times when Kyja need a little smacking. But all in all, the two grew closer and more questions were answered as the journey continued. There was no shortage of bad guys and confrontations. I don't know how Scott came up with the creatures he did. Some were really quite disgusting, which will thrill boys to no end! And my favorite creature, the Ishkabiddle, made a brief appearance once again. All in all, this is a marvelous continuation of the Farworld series and I anxiously await the next release. I encourage everyone to purchase Farworld Land Keep and add it to your home libraries. Savage's stories never get old and are wonderful places to revisit often. It is appropriate for all ages. At 46 I loved it every bit as much as the 9 to 12-year-olds it targeted toward.