Book Review - Quest of the Demon

Title: Quest Of The Demon
Author: M L Sawyer

Published: by M L Sawyer, via Smashwords 

Release Date: January 28th 2011

ISBN: 0011233648 (ISBN13: 2940011233647)

Synopsis

Darci is a popular sixteen-year-old girl who plays basketball and lives in an ordinary country town. But her life is changed forever when she is accidentally transported to the land of Nahaba by a young apprentice wizard called Taslessian.
Within hours of her unexpected arrival, both teens are thrust into a dangerous journey to the cave of Grisham the Great in the hope that he would be able to send her home.
Upon reaching the cave, however, Darci quickly discovers that there is no such thing as accidents, and that their journey is only just beginning. The Quest of the Demon has begun. 

My Review

I was sent a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Darci is your average high school girl, she likes to play basketball with her friends and lives in a quiet town. One night she hears a noise in her house, when she goes to investigate she gets pulled into a magical realm.

The book started off really good. I quite liked Darci and the idea was really well done. I liked her transition to the other realm and the introduction to Taslessian. You are put right into the action and I really enjoyed it. Taslessian isn't sure how he pulled Darci into his realm, but he doesn't know how to send her back. They discover she has a purpose, she must help stop a war that is breaking out in the realm. She meets a host of characters including Lief - an elf and Defyance a warrior woman.

I'm not sure why but I started to get really confused with all the characters. I couldn't remember who Grisham or Domati or some of the others were and had to flick back to remind myself. I just couldn't keep it in my head. I also found my attention wavering - I'm not sure why, the storyline is good and the plot moves on at a good pace - there are fight scenes, background scenes, blossoms of romance, adventure etc but I couldn't keep focused. 

Overall I liked Darci as a character and I could feel her confusion and hurt and liked the blossoming friendships, but I couldn't make myself care about what happened to her. I did feel drawn to Defyance though - she was an intriguing character and I wanted to know a bit more. She seemed so strong and confident and powerful, often able to get one up on the other characters - especially outsmart some of the men. 

I would have liked to have seen more of a romance between Darci and Taslessian or even Lief, but can see why it wasn't put in. It would have slowed the plot and the quest down too much. Maybe it will happen in the next book.

I did like the twist at the end though, I never saw it coming and it made me go 'oh!'

I think if you area a fan of fantasy and adventure then you will enjoy this book.  I'm not sure why I didn't get into it. I may come back and re-read it sometime in the future. 

Overall it's a well written story and there are some very good parts. I would recommend you try it. You may love it. It just didn't strike a cord with me. 

My Rating

I would give this book 6.5/10. A good plot and story idea, some great characters, but just something missing for me.