Crystal Keepers by Brandon Mull
Series Name: Five Kingdoms
Volume Number: 3
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Isekai
Intended Age Group: 8-12
Publisher: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9707-8
Rating: 3/5
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Synopsis from the Book
Cole Randolph still can’t believe the way his life has turned inside out. Stuck in a strange land far from home, he has found his friend Dalton and has survived the first two kingdoms of the Outskirts, but none of that has prepared him for the magnetic highways and robotic bounty hunters of Zeropolis.
Ruled by Abram Trench, who stayed loyal to the evil High King, the government of Zeropolis uses advanced technologies to keep tight control. Luckily, the resistance in Zeropolis is anchored by the Crystal Keepers – a group of young rebels with unique weapons.
On the run from the High King’s secret police, Cole and Dalton hope to find more of their lost friends and help Mira locate her sister Constance. But time is running out for Cole to uncover the secrets behind the Zeropolitan government and unravel the mystery of who helped the High King steal his daughters’ powers.
Personal & Info
I found myself in great need of something fantasy that does not involve vampires or romance, so I circled back around to this series to scratch that itch. This book was just what I needed.
Content Warnings
Slavery is a big industry in the Outskirts. If you don’t like elements of slavery in your stories, this series is not for you.
Mira and her sisters have more years than they look, but not in a creepy way. They are children, and think of themselves as children, despite their number of years. Any crushes regarding these characters are not intended to be creepy. The idea is they are as old as they claim to be, because they have never been any other age. I can see how this might still upset some people, so just use your own discretion.
Characters
Cole Randolph is the main character. He’s in sixth grade, and shorter than most in his class. His weapon of choice is a jumping sword. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to use that at all in this book.
Jace was a scout for the Sky Raiders. He’s moody, arrogant, and rash, but has a good heart. His current hobby is pranking and bullying Dalton, likely as a form of hazing. His weapon of choice is a rope that he doesn’t get to use in this book.
Mira, also known as Miracle Pemberton, is an eleven year old girl who has been hiding from her father for decades. She is one of the High Shaper’s daughters, and did not age during the time her powers were missing.
Dalton is Cole’s best friend. He stresses easily and tends to be anxious. He can create seemings, but that ability does not work in Zeropolis.
Joe is a member of the resistance, also referred to as the Unseen. He’s originally from Monterey, California. We get a little more of his backstory in this volume.
Constance, or Costa, is the princess the group is trying to locate in Zeropolis.
Roulette is a Crystal Keeper. She’s the one we see most often.
Googol is one of the leaders of the Unseen in Zeropolis, and their chief tinker.
Nova is the leader of the Unseen in Zeropolis.
Blake Daniels is one of the kids abducted in Sky Raiders. He’s not exactly a friend to Cole, but Cole still cared enough to inquire about him. Blake has a one of a kind technomancer ability that makes him very useful.
The Hunter is a character who has been silently pursuing the group since they entered Elloweer in Rogue Knight. He’s been a background concern, until now.
Sidekick is an intelligent robot in the guise of an old cleaning bot.
As usual, there are plenty more characters that are not listed here, but these are the ones I feel are most important.
Story & Thoughts
The story picks up where the last leaves off, like usual. However, getting started, it feels slow in comparison. Things are happening and the group is going places, but it really just feels like a lot of nothing and running around. There’s a significant amount of trying to get from A to B, just to find out that B is a problem, which means going to C instead.
I think this is probably the weakest book in the series, so far. That doesn’t mean it’s not good, though. It’s just a little different. I’d describe it as a transitional volume. There’s a lot of information gathering, and heavy focus on Cole doing things alone.
Cole himself is the main focus of the whole book. The group is constantly splitting up, most often with Mira going a separate direction from all of her friends. Cole even goes on his own adventure, without anybody else. Some sections feel like we’re missing out on the interesting bits because we’re following Cole around, but other times it’s very important that he’s doing these things alone. Most of it is important plot building, despite the drag of some sections.
Zeropolis is pretty cool. It’s the high tech area of the Outskirts, and their shaping is basically technomancy. We get to see some cool exoskeleton action suits and various other high tech gizmos. There are some artificial intelligence supercomputers and robot characters. My favorite character in the whole book is actually one of the bots, Sidekick. Sidekick has a charming personality, and they play a huge part in the story, even though they are just a small bot.
I can’t help thinking that Abram Trench must not have been thinking when he helped create Roxie. What he did to make her seems like a very dumb idea. With the public history of Zeropolis being what it is, he should have known better.