Beast Quest – Avantia, Fire and Fury

Adam Blade's Avantia, Fire and Fury is a dark Beast Quest adventure for 9 year olds about four young riders racing a warlord to the last piece of a cursed mask.

What happens

The heroes here are four Chosen Riders, each bonded to a Beast of their own. Tanner flies the flame bird Firepos. Gwen rides Gulkien, a wolf with bat-like wings. Castor has Nera, a huge golden cat. And Rufus, a boy who can shoot light from his fingers, rides a giant snake called Falkor.

They already have three bits of the Mask of Death, which would give its wearer power over every Beast in the kingdom. The last piece has appeared on the map near the great volcano. The warlord Derthsin wants it too, and so do his servants.

The real twist is that Tanner wants it as well. He's drunk his Beast's blood and it's made him stronger and angrier. Wearing just one scrap of the mask filled him with a hunger for revenge. You feel him fighting it every step of the way.

Some chapters are told by the Beasts themselves, which is a lovely touch. Falkor tasting the air in a dark cave for the boy he's been waiting for is super atmospheric.

This is much darker than the Beast Quest books most young readers know, and it's worth knowing before you hand it over. It's the end of a longer war story, and the losses come with it. Tanner's father was killed and his mother taken, and his grandmother was cut down by Derthsin's general. Gwen's twin brother came back as a rotting undead soldier and ended the curse by throwing himself from a cliff. The friends talk about all of this.

On the page, Tanner hacks the heads off a chariot full of snakes, and a villain threatens him with the whip he was once tortured with. The riders punch each other bloody in an argument too.

For most children at the younger end of this shelf, that's a lot. It suits a confident reader who already loves Beast Quest and wants something with real weight to it.

What to read next

If you'd rather start somewhere gentler in the same kingdom, Tom's very first Beast Quest is Ferno the Fire Dragon, back when he's a blacksmith's apprentice longing for a real adventure.