The Unwanteds
 Cover of The Unwanteds, first book in the series | |
| |
| Author | Lisa McMann |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Aladdin[1] |
| Published | 2011–2016 |
| Media type | Print, digital, audio |
| No. of books | 7 |
The Unwanteds is a fantasy book series written by Lisa McMann.
Plots
Book 1: The Unwanteds
Book 2: Island Of Silence
Aaron Stowe has been kicked out of the University of Quill. But, he is power-hungry. Gathering a group of sympathizers named The Restorers, he plots his rise to power, and the demise of Artimé.
Meanwhile, two silent, orange-eyed kids, named Sky and Crow, have arrived on a raft. While Artimé seems to continue along normally, Eva Fathom, a supposed Restorer, is spying on Quill, and passing along information to Sean Ranger. Plus, Mr. Today starts to teach Alex how to be a head mage, and devises a plan to trick Aaron. But, the plan backfires. Aaron confronts Mr. Today, and kills him using five heart-attack spells that Alex invented, thus depriving Artimé of its magic and leaving all magical components useless. Meanwhile, Alex and Simber, one of Mr. Today's statues, go out on a search for three of Alex's missing friends, Meghan Ranger, Samheed Burkesh, and Lani Haluki. They rescue Meghan and discover that Samheed and Lani have been captured by a neighboring, silent island, called Warbler. On the way back, Simber freezes, and crashes into the sea. Alex and Meghan barely avoid death. At the same time, the Restorers attack Artimé, and cause chaos.
Book 3: Island Of Fire
Appointed Head Mage by the late Mr. Today, Alex Stowe is left with the task of trying to bring back Artime, the magical land that disappeared upon Mr. Today's death. If he can't, he and his friends are doomed. With the help of Sky, he succeeds in restoring Artime and its magical creatures, but his troubles are only beginning. Now, he must find a way to rescue his friends Lani and Samheed from Warbler Island.
Book 4: Island Of Legends
During Artime's first annual masquerade ball, hundreds of lights appear across the sea. Artime is under attack,a new Alex must prove he can handle his newfound leadership. Meanwhile, Aaron disappears and happens upon a dangerous science hidden in the jungle.
Even during the battle Alex hasn't forgotten his promise to rescue Sky's mother from Pirate Island. Once the rescue team is on the way, friendships are tested and the stakes are high. Later, the team discovers more creatures surrounding their island chain, though some aren't friendly.
Book 5: Island Of Shipwrecks
In this book Alex and his friends end up getting stuck on an island that has a constant storm after they fell off the waterfall in the Island of Legends. There they meet three scientists, who help them survive. While there they fix their boat and are able to escape. When they get back they find that Artime went through a battle, and Meghan fought in it because she volunteered to stay behind. Samheed comes to help Meghan fight. Meghan then saved Samheed from General Blair when he miraculously survived from the first one, and you find out that he joined forces with High Priest Aaron Stowe. Meghan dies in the process. In the book there are a few chapters that are about the pirates from the island of fire. They have the one slave who was good friends with Copper, Sky and Crow's mom, draw a picture of the person that helped Copper escape. He does, and they recognize him as Alex, so they raid the palace, and accidentally capture Aaron, and they then send him off to the island of shipwrecks.
Book 6: Island Of Graves
In this book, Aaron is kidnapped by the pirates from the Island of Fire. The pirates think that Aaron is Alex. After weeks in a small fishing boat tied to back of the pirates ship, they untie the rope and send him in the direction of the island of shipwrecks. Fortunately, he arrives in the hour of calm, but has fainted from the near-death experience. He is then rescued by Isibashi san, Ito san and Sato san. Ishibashi as they think he is Alex because Alex and Aaron are identical twins. He saves Aaron's life by giving making him eat a piece of seaweed that gives him his life, but also gives him eternal life. Aaron slowly matures and becomes less evil and greedy over the course of his predicament. While Aaron is kidnapped, Gondoleery takes charge and sends general Liam and Alex's twin sisters to their deaths in the Ancient Sector. But Liam escapes and brings the twins to Artime. Lani then as the idea to rally up the necessaries against the new high priest, as she has started to kill necessaries and unwanteds that went to Quill in the last book. But the only way that they can carry out the plan, is to bring back Aaron and make him do rally them as he is the former high priest. The only clue to were the pirates have gone is that Matilda had seen their boat go towards the east (right). As Alex and Sky use the Claire to go to each of the islands that Aaron could be in, they meet the queen of the ocean, a water dragon named Pan who asks them for wings but does not tell why. She says that there is no human on her island. They then reach the island that Alex had seen the help sign and the saber toothed gorilla eat the pig, only now the sign has changed to "COME BACK" so they wait for the night and they hear a girls singing, telling them her story. But Alex does not have time to save here on the way, but promise to save her on their way back. They find Aaron, rescue the girl and go back home. After rescuing her, they find Gondoleery Rattrap to be more tyrannical and cruel than they thought. The Artimeans prepare for war with the Quillens who fight for Gondoleery.
Book 7: Island Of Dragons
In this book, Warbler (The Island of Silence) and The Island of Fire forge an alliance in order to destroy Artime. Meanwhile, on Artime/Quill, Quill has been obliterated by the fireballs that Gondoleery Rattrap created. Artime expands its magical boundaries to encompass the rest of the island in order to restore Quill. A traveller from the Island of Legends informs Artime that the island crab Karkinos, who is the Island of Legends, is on the verge of death and is drifting towards the waterfall. Henry Haluki takes the seaweed from the Island of Shipwrecks, which if consumed grants immortality, to the giant crab. Karkinos regains his strength and is able to muster the strength to back up to his original position. Meanwhile, Alex visits the Island of Dragons with the dragon Pan. Pan flies him over the colossal crystal wall surrounding the island and Alex discovers that behind the crystal wall is Pan's five children. Pan hid her children to protect them from the pirates, who capture sea creatures and cage them. Alex returns to Artime to craft wings for the five dragons and he returns to the island to attach them to their intended hosts. Some time later, Warbler and the pirates launch their attack on Artime.
Characters
Main protagonists
Alex Stowe - is the main character. Twin brother to Aaron, one of the original villains, he becomes a powerful fighter and, eventually, the Head Mage of Artime.
Samheed - Strong student who at first resents Alex, blaming him for his own Unwanted designation, but eventually becomes his best friend.
Lani - Child of Senior Governor Haluki, a double agent. Younger than the others, Lani was Purged when she was only twelve. Resentful of this fact until she learns her father, already knowing about Artime, had it done to get her out of Quill. Interested in books and one of Artimes finest students.
Mr. Today - The Head Mage and creator of Artime. Mr. Today created Artime and its magical creatures to save his daughter and the other young Unwanted from death. Also the twin of evil High Priest Justine.
Claire Morning - Mr. Today's daughter and instructor for the students who show a talent for singing.
Simber - An animated statue of a winged cheetah who protects Artime.
Florence - An animated statue of a warrior who also protects Artime.
Meghan - One of Alex's friends who loves music and singing.
Sky - A girl from Warbler Island who Alex falls for.
Crow- Sky's little brother and a friend of Henry Haluki.
Henry- Crow's friend and Lani's little brother.
Kaylee- A girl from our world, who stumbles into theirs.
Main antagonists
Aaron- Alex's twin brother. This is not consistent throughout, Aaron becomes a protagonist.
High priest Justine- the high priest of Quill
Gondoleery- the new high priest of Quill
Secondary characters
Eva Fathom - known to the High Priest only as 'Secretary'.
Copper - Sky and Crow's mother who was saved from pirate island
Reception
In a review by Kirkus, The Unwanteds is noted as a cross between The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Kirkus further notes that "blending elements from two popular genres", ensures that the books will be popular with readers drawn to stories of dystopian fantasy.[1]
References
- 1 2 Rubino, Caitlen. "THE UNWANTEDS by Lisa McMann | Kirkus Book Reviews". Kirkusreviews.com. Retrieved 2012-10-21.
External links
- Official website
- http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/28/entertainment/la-ca-lisa-mccann-20110828
- http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/10/holland_natives_new_book_the_u.html