First Hero

December 15, 2011
This first volume in a promising new series is fizzy, fast-paced adventure all the way. When Tanner was just 7 years old, he watched as his village was attacked and his father was killed by a warlord called Derthsin. To his surprise, a great dragon named Firepos intervened and destroyed Derthsin. After the battle, Firepos stayed and began to train Tanner, who is to be his chosen rider. Eight years later, a new threat to Avantia has come in the form of General Gor, who is searching for the pieces of the infamous Mask of Death. Firepos and Tanner are shocked to learn that Derthsin, who must have somehow managed to survive the last battle after all, is behind this plan and that he intends to use the reconstructed mask to control the great beasts of Avantia, including Tanner's dragon Firepos. Gor steals a map of the pieces' locations, abducting one of the map-maker's apprentices, a boy called Geffen, to help him interpret it. Tanner soon goes off on a quest with Gwen, Geffen's twin sister, who has her own beast, a giant wolf called Gulkien, to rescue Geffen and recover the map. Will their mission succeed? Firepos' narration in a heightened first-person is interspersed throughout the third-person account, introducing transitioning readers to the linguistic style of high fantasy. A slim, easy-to-read, high-interest offering that will be an easy sell to readers just venturing into chapter books. (Fantasy. 8-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2012

Gr 5-7-The Beasts have gathered. They must find their chosen riders since a dark force has entered the land of Avantia. Eight years later the story picks up again with Tanner, rider of the firebird Firepos, as an even more evil army ransacks his home. Their leader is looking for the Mask of Death, an evil and powerful tool that Tanner's grandmother cut into pieces and hid throughout the land. Tanner must find the mapmaker in another town before the destructive army does, but is too late and instead he finds another rider, Gwen, and her flying wolf. Together they rescue her brother, who has been captured by the army, and destroy the evil general. They win the battle and retrieve a map that shows the location of the Mask, but a stronger evil still lurks and will rise again. This slim first installment in the series uses the usual tropes of its genre and a typical good versus evil plot, with the suspense being who can get the sacred object first. The story itself focuses on the violence, with vivid details of killing. In one scene, Tanner's grandmother is tortured and killed, run through with a sword "dripping with gore." With nothing new to offer, this fantasy does not leave readers hungry for more.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2012
The once-vanquished warlord Derthsin has returned, and young Tanner and his legendary Beast, Firepos, must gather the other Beasts and their riders to stop Derthsin from rising to power and enslaving their world. Descriptions of action scenes are so detailed that the rest of the narrative feels lackluster. These short, fast-paced novels will appeal to young fantasy fans.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)