This middle-grade fantasy series follows a boy who is pulled into a magical realm called the Outskirts — a world between worlds — and must compete in a series of dangerous games to earn the power needed to find his way home, while uncovering the true nature of the world he has stumbled into. The series is fast-paced and adventure-driven, featuring a wide variety of fantastical locations and creatures across its five volumes.
Cole Randolph chases after a group of friends being taken by slavers through a mysterious portal and finds himself in the Outskirts—a world of five kingdoms where magic takes different forms in each—working to rescue his friends while discovering that he has an unusual connection to the magical energies of this world. A fresh and inventive series opener from Brandon Mull that introduces a richly varied magical system.
Cole and his friends travel to Elloweer, a kingdom of illusion magic, where a mysterious Rogue Knight is upending the political order and Cole must use his unusual abilities to navigate enchantments and rescue enslaved friends. A strong second volume that deepens both the world and Cole's growing understanding of his own powers.
Cole and friends enter Zeropolis, a kingdom of technological magic where robots and mechanical wonders coexist with a threatening corporate power structure, and discover a conspiracy that threatens the stability of the Outskirts. A third installment that introduces an entirely new aesthetic register to the series.
In Necronum, the kingdom where the dead linger as echoes and can cross to the other side, Cole and friends navigate a world of ghosts, death magic, and the deepest secrets about the Outskirts and the stolen essences of the Outskirts princesses. The darkest and most atmospheric volume in the series.
Cole and his allies navigate the final kingdom of Creon, a place of time magic and ancient secrets, racing toward a climactic resolution of the entire series as the true nature of the Outskirts and the stolen essences is finally revealed. A satisfying conclusion that brings all five kingdoms and their magical systems together for a meaningful finale.