Saturday, October 1, 2011

Quest of the Demon

Quest of the Demon by M. L. Sawyer (n.p.: Smashwords, 2010). Review copy provided by author.

Darci is an average teen who enjoys basketball and hanging out with her best friend.  Investigating an odd noise in the night, she pokes at a curtain only to find herself transported to a land called Nahaba, somehow summoned by an apprentice wizard named Taslessian.  He has no idea how to get her back to her world,and then it turns out that there's a larger purpose to her arrival--she is needed to save this world from an evil demon.  A wise dragon equips Darci, Taslessian and three others--an elf, a taciturn female warrior, and an intrepid knight--for their quest to rid the world of this demon. Their perilous journey takes them over land and sea where they meet many foes intent on foiling their quest, but they persist until Darci meets the demon.

Quest of the Demon is a fantasy story that uses many standard fantasy devices, like dragons, magical creatures with unpronounceable names, smelly villains with ugly features,  fabulous weapons endowed with fantastic powers, and kids who somehow succeed despite enormous odds.  It's a fine story if you like fantasies, and I would recommend it for fantasy readers, but don't expect anything extraordinary.  It reads well enough (British spellings) and has some lukewarm romance elements, too. It's far too violent and bloody for younger readers, but fine for tweens & teens, ages 12 & up.

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