Ahh. Another 'reluctant hero' story. I think I have a thing for these stories, or it could be that the title of the story is enough to intrigue me. The Beyonders: A World Without Heroes talks about another world, Lyrian, that lies just beside the realm of Earth and the numerous entrances that lead to it. Stone arches, hollow logs, even small holes in the ground provide a one way trip to Lyrian, but for Jason, the protagonist, he entered Lyrian by being eaten by a hippopotamus. It was ridiculous, but it landed him straight to a river, where a band of instrumentalists were about to commit suicide to make a statement to the warlock that ruled the Lyrian Empire, Maldor.The story itself wasn't that bad. Though it grates on me how all-powerful Maldor seems to be and how manipulative and cunning he is even if it seems that he's just a stereotypical evil emperor bent on taking over the world.
'Reluctant Hero' stories will always be my favorite, but there are times when I just wish that the hero would get a power up through their own merits and kick the antagonist's behind.
All in all, even though there isn't much to 'all in all' to begin with, The Beyonders is a decent story, but it's advisable to wait until 2012 or 2013 to read it, because that's when the book's sequel would be published. The ending of the story is a cliff-hanger and very open-ended, but it's worth the read, if you don't mind waiting two years to know what would happen next...
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