The Demon Awakens (DemonWars) [Mass Market Paperback]

Once again the demon's time had come. His goblin and giant armies spread death and misery in the land of Corona. The first village to fall was Dundallis. Only two survived.

Jill, also known as Pony, was unable to deal with the massacre she witnessed. Her mind sealed it all away. Unable to even recall her name, she was taken in by a friendly couple. Her life led her to train hard and become one of an elite corps of warriors.

Elbryan thought himself to be the only survivor. He did not know his beloved, Pony, lived. He was taken and trained by the elves to be the next mighty Ranger. Elbryan was no more. He was forged in battle and became Nightbird, the Ranger!

Elsewhere, on a far-off island, a shower of gemstones fell from the sky, each full of incredible power. It was up to one young monk to steal them from a corrupt monastery and keep them from the evil that had awakened. People called him "the mad friar". He was the chosen one! Only he could destroy the dactyl. But first a warrior, a ranger, and a centaur must get him there!

***** R.A. Salvatore shows clearly in this book why many people consider him to be today's Master of Fantasy! From the beginning and until the ending, the story is non-stop thrills that kept me hanging onto every typed word! No one writes Fantasy like R.A. Salvatore! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Elbryan is one of two sole survivors of a goblin raid on his village, Dundalis, located in the remote forests and mountains of the Timberlands. Believing everyone else to be dead, including his best friend and potential lover Jilseponie, he willingly agrees to be trained as a ranger by the elves, a secretive bunch who consider themselves to be far superior to the humans. After several years Elbryan grows from a whining immature boy into studdly handsome strong brave (etc) Nightbird the Ranger, learning along the way about his uncle Mather, who years previously was trained as a ranger and died serving his countrymen. Elbryan returns to the Timberlands intent on protecting his people from further attacks.

Next is Jilseponie (Jill/Pony), who also survived the raid on Dundalis, but was so traumatised that she lost all memory of the raid and ended up in the city of Palmaris, far to the south, where she was taken in by the friendly Chilichunk family and brought up as their adoptive daughter. After a brief, disastrous, relationship, Pony ends up in the army where she learns to be a fighter and impresses all who she works for. But things get far more interesting for her once she meets up with the most interesting character in the story - Avelyn - the monk who has lost his faith.

Avelyn starts off as an idealistic youth who eagerly joins his beloved Abellican church, and he excels at the martial arts. He also is adept in the usage of the magical stones. This is the aspect of Salvatore's world that is the most interesting and unique. By absorbing yourself into various types of stone you can perform various feats such as leaving your body, healing etc. The rulers of the Abellican order would have the world believe that only the monks are blessed with the ability to use the stones and do their best to persuade the masses of their superiority. However, Avelyn discovers the truth, that these stones just fall from the sky in a random event and anybody can learn to use them given the right training. He rebels against the church's idea that it should rule and subjugate the people, and develops his own ideas about how the church should serve the people in life instead of only being concerned with the spiritual afterlife. He is especially horrified at the church's use of murder to further its own ends and leaves, after being branded as a heretic. He meets up with Pony, and teaches her how to use the magical gemstones, in a direct act of rebellion against the insular church. Avelyn's gradual disolusionment with the church is the book's strongest storyline, closely followed by the internal machinations of the Abellican order, as people are promoted and demoted for entirely political, rather than godly, reasons.

Once the three main characters predictably meet up, they go off, accompanied by Bradwarden the Centaur and Tuntun the elf, to fight the demon. The fights are exquisitely described, as you would expect from Salvatore, and a satisfactorily ambiguous ending is achieved.

So although the premise is not entirely origial, the Demon wars saga is reasonably well written, with excellent characterisation (with the notable exception of the Demon Dactyl, who is your typical card-board cut-out villain). The series continues well (although I've only read up to Mortalis, which is book four out of a final total of seven books - I think Salvatore's still writing the seventh though) and can be considered to be consistent though not too demanding reading. While not being the best, this series is far from being the worst of fantasy fiction