Beast Quest – Avantia, Chasing Evil

Adam Blade's Avantia, Chasing Evil is a Beast Quest fantasy for 9 year olds about two young riders, their flying Beasts and a brother who can't be trusted.

What happens

Tanner was a baker's boy until his village was destroyed. Now he rides Firepos, a giant flame bird. Gwen rides Gulkien, a huge wolf with leathery wings who sees the world only in greys.

They're racing to find the scattered pieces of a mask made from the face of the very first Beast, before the warlord Derthsin does. Whoever holds the whole mask can control every Beast in the kingdom.

It picks up just after the first piece has been won. Then Gwen's twin, Geffen, slips away in the night with it.

Gwen won't believe he's betrayed them. Tanner is sure he has. That argument sits at the heart of the opening chapters, and it's the strongest thing in them. Wouldn't you want to believe the best of your brother?

Some parts are told by the Beasts themselves. The opening is Gulkien remembering the morning he first heard Gwen laugh and knew she was his rider, which is a lovely way in.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

This is a much darker Avantia than the Tom and Elenna books. Tanner kills a soldier with his sword up close, and the book stays on the blood. Firepos burns soldiers to ashes. A village tells how its men were killed and its boys led off with ropes round their necks. Tanner even thinks it himself. A few days ago he was a baker's boy, and now he's a killer.

That's a lot for a young reader who loved the gentler Beast Quest stories. It reads much older than this shelf. For a confident reader who's ready for a proper fantasy war story, with loyalty and betrayal at its heart, it's gripping.

The flying battles are brilliant. A vulture pulls a winged chariot through the clouds and a scarred servant of Derthsin throws daggers from his sleeve. Gwen fights with a rapier in one hand and a throwing axe in the other.

What to read next

If the bond between a child and a great Beast is the bit they love, Wild Born is where a shepherd's son calls up a huge wolf with blue eyes that nobody expected to see.