Beast Quest – Avantia, Call to War

Adam Blade's Avantia, Call to War is a grim, fast Beast Quest story for 9 year olds about three young riders who can't stop arguing.

What happens

Tanner rides Firepos, a huge flame bird. Gwen rides Gulkien, a wolf with leathery wings. And then there's Castor on Nera, a golden jungle cat, and Castor has an opinion about everything (mostly that he's right).

They're after the third piece of the Mask of Death. Whoever wears the whole mask can control every Beast in Avantia, and the warlord Derthsin wants it badly. A magic map shows the piece hidden near the Southern Caves. General Gor is already a step ahead.

Then Firepos is hit by a sudden pain from an old scar under her wing. Tanner feels it too, and he falls right off her back.

The nearest help is a village called Hartwell. Its sign has a skull and an axe on it and the words "death to the unwelcome". Lovely!

Some chapters are told by the Beasts themselves, which is a super way to feel how much they love their riders. You're inside Nera's head as she stalks a boar in the dark. You're with Firepos as she dives to catch Tanner before he hits the ground.

The squabbling is fun too. Castor challenges everyone to a race when they could be flying into an army. He also refuses to leave his dagger behind when they're told to go in unarmed (which turns out to be rather handy).

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This one gets very dark. Early on, Tanner flies over burned villages with bodies on pikes and a sign scrawled in dried blood. Later a villain whips a dead boy's body until the skin rips from his back. After that, the riders fly over a family murdered beside their wagons, two children among them.

So it isn't for a child who finds cruelty upsetting. If your reader already loves a grim fantasy battle and isn't bothered by the nasty bits, they'll probably tear through it.

What to read next

If they'd like to go back to an earlier part of Tanner and Gwen's quest, Avantia, Chasing Evil is in the library too. It's where Gwen first meets Gulkien by a river and climbs straight onto his back.