Kragos and Kildor the Two-Headed Demon (Beast Quest) by Adam Blade
| Kragos and Kildor the Two-Headed Demon (Beast Quest) by Adam Blade | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
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| Summary: An enjoyable addition to the Beast Quest series. There are a few cheesy moments, but it's so fast-paced that you barely get a chance to notice. Big hoorays for a series that works as standalone books and doesn't have annoying cliffhangers. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 192 | Date: August 2009 |
| Publisher: Orchard | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1408304365 | |
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Tom and Elenna have to recover the Cup of Life that Kragos and Kildor have stolen from their village. If they can't complete their quest in three days, the terrible Malvel will be able to drink from it, which will put all of Avantia in danger. They'll need their animal companions, Storm and Silver, and all their wits about them if they're going to defeat the two-headed demon.
Young fantasy fans will enjoy Kragos and Kildor, and indeed all the other books in the Beast Quest series. Everything moves along at a rip-roaring pace, barely giving you time to breathe, with adventure and peril round every corner. All the characters are writ large, with goodies and baddies clearly delineated. It's not a subtle book, but its young audience wouldn't expect it to be.
The writing is clear and direct, with an accessible vocabulary. It's got enough fantasy lingo woven into it to help create an atmosphere, but not so much that slightly less confident readers will struggle with it. There are a few cheesy moments where the dialogue seems forced, but before you get a chance to roll your eyes, you're yanked along to the next element in the adventurers' quest. I'd have liked a few more extended segments or plot twists, rather than everything being resolved quite so quickly, but the writing makes it work a lot better than in similar books.
Unlike other series, the Beast Quest books don't require any prior knowledge of the world - and a good thing too, with forty or so books in the series! You're thrown right into the action, but you don't feel out of your depth. Everything's all wrapped up neatly at the end, without any awful cliffhangers. Your interest is piqued, but you don't feel short-changed. Kragos and Kildor is packaged as a special bumper edition, divided into two books in one - I'd just ignore that and treat it as a longer than average Beast Quest book. I also liked that the extras at the end (a competition to win a goodie bag, links to the website and all it promises, and a few Top Trumps) felt like genuine extras, rather than things shoved in to pad out a book. ...Of course you will need to buy more to have a decent game of Top Trumps, but it doesn't feel forced. Any confident readers looking for a series to get stuck into will find plenty to enjoy here.
My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.
Runemarks by Joanne Harris is a wonderful choice for the young fantasy fan. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy brings fantasy to the real world, and does so with a healthy smattering of humour.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Kragos and Kildor the Two-Headed Demon (Beast Quest) by Adam Blade at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Kragos and Kildor the Two-Headed Demon (Beast Quest) by Adam Blade at Amazon.com.
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