Beast Quest 2 – Sepron the Sea Serpent

Adam Blade's Sepron the Sea Serpent is the second Beast Quest, a short, fast adventure for 7 year olds, and this one happens out at sea.

What happens

It opens badly for somebody else entirely. A boy called Calum is out fishing with his father. They have caught nothing for weeks. Then the water starts to boil and a monstrous head comes up out of it on a long, slender neck, thick scales crusted with barnacles, seawater pouring off its sides.

It bites the mast in half.

Then we are back with Tom, a blacksmith's apprentice who has just freed a dragon called Ferno, and who is riding west with Elenna, a horse called Storm and a wolf called Silver.

The set-up is very clean, which is exactly why these books work for new readers. A wizard named Aduro has told Tom that the dark magic of Malvel has turned all the Beasts of Avantia evil. Each Beast wears a collar. Get the collar off, free the Beast, put that corner of the kingdom right, then go on to the next one.

Tom has a magic map that moves. When he unrolls it the serpent rears out of the painted waves and slaps its tail, and a drop of spray lands on the back of his hand.

He has doubts as well, which is the nicest touch in it. He is only an apprentice. There are so many Beasts. His father is missing and Tom wants to make him proud anyway.

Ten short chapters and a prologue, so the whole thing is over quickly. The words are easy but the danger is not written down for anybody, and there is real relish in the monster descriptions. Rows of razor-sharp teeth. A forked tongue. Cold eyes.

If your child gets upset by animals in pain, the good news is that the Beasts are not villains here. They are creatures under somebody else's spell, and the whole job is to get the collar off them.

The series goes on more or less forever, which is either the worst news you have had all week or the best, depending on how you feel about a child who has finally found something they will actually read.

What to read next

Tom's first quest is in the library too. Ferno the Fire Dragon opens back in the village, with the horses attacked and the river gone dry.