Actual Rating: 3.5 
 ...Sigh. 
 That sigh was not because the book was frustrating, but because...Well... 
 I had an ENORMOUS reading slump while reading this book. I would read a large chunk of this book, and put it down for a week. Then I would pick it back up again, read another large chunk, and then leave it behind for another week. And I guess the only reason for the slump was because of this book. It just felt very uninteresting to me. I mean, it was great and all. But I was A) preoccupied with loads of other things and B) just didn't feel like reading it. 
 I'm sorry, Fablehaven. And I honestly feel like my slump wasn't all Fablehaven's fault. Half of it was myself, so that was why I gave it 4 stars instead of 3. 
 The plot at the beginning is quite boring. Kendra and Seth are siblings, 14 and 11, respectively. Their parents drop them off at their grandparents' house after their other set of grandparents pass away and their parents have to attend a fishing cruise. The thing is, the grandparents Kendra and Seth are now living with are basically hermits, and they don't visit together, ever. There's a bunch of mystery around them. 
 Then Kendra and Seth find out that their Grandpa (and Grandma) Sorenson are the current caretakers of Fablehaven, a mythical creature sanctuary. 
 This discovery leads to plenty of discoveries, adventures, the usual, and they find out that a demon lives in Fablehaven, slumbering. One thing leads to another and they find said demon being awakened. Of course, chaos ensues. 
 I have to say, the plot was quite intriguing and creative. I doubt there are many middle grade books out there that have similar plot ideas, and if there are, I haven't read them. Unfortunately, there were only like, two plot twists in the entire book, if we don't count discoveries and what not. And I doubt that even one of the "plot twists" counts as a twist. I'd say that there's only one huge plot twist in the entire book, which makes it rather uninteresting to read. Plot twists are crucial and it's sad that Mull doesn't seem to have many of them. 
 The main characters -- Kendra and Seth -- were obviously parallels of each other. Whereas Seth was the rambunctious, adventurous, daring younger brother, Kendra was the intelligent, thoughtful, rule-following older sister. It is this rule-following that later saves Kendra, though I won't tell how. 
 Unfortunately, I feel that Kendra just didn't do much herself. I mean, her family would probably all be dead at the end if not for her, but did she do anything directly? No. I wish that she would have done more once she was lifted from the policy. 
 (If you think I'm vague, you have to read to know what I'm talking about.) 
 As for Seth, I felt he was honestly annoying at points. Sometimes he was just dumb and did the wrong things, and I wanted to scream at him. At his age, I would never do what he did. I did prefer Kendra over Seth, all the time. 
 The writing was...bland. It didn't seem to have any bling or pizzazz to it. I couldn't detect much humor anywhere in the story and it overall made it a very bland read. 
 Overall, not a bad book. Needs a few tweaks, but I hope that the next book, Rise of the Evening Star will show those improvements to me. Especially because that book seems to be getting dazzling reviews all around. 
 But then again, so did this one. So...I dunno. Will have to read to truly know.