The Demon Awakens

I liked the start of this series. Its a unique world with a dfferent magic system. Salvatore does a good job starting things off with this book. The characters are interesting, and his plot moves along at a fast pace. Good stuff. ( )

As the world is corrupted and evil, a demon awakens in the distant mountain of Aida born of lava. A ranger trained by elves, a monk who has learned the magical arts of precious stones, a warrior girl and a centaur venture out to fight this demon and this is their story.

The book is fast paced but we don't relate to or pity any charecters. ( )

Review posted here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2010/07/r-salvatore-demon-awakens.html

The Demon Awakens follows, mainly, three different characters. It starts though bu introducing us to the villain....er demon, Bestesbulizubar. Yes, even demons have the most ridiculous names I have ever seen. I understand that this is set in the Old Times, if you will, but jeez. I am sure even back then someone would have had the crap beaten out of them for a name like that. Anyway, we are introduced to the demon's awakening (duh) and, of course, like any self respecting demon worth his salt (I am laughing at my own contradiction), he wants to raise some hell. That is when this long, yet somewhat enjoyable story beings.
This book takes us on a journey following the three main characters who have experienced plenty before the age of 30. The first two characters we are introduced to are Elbryan Wyndon and Jilseponie Ursal (Pony for short). They are very good childhood friends that obviously will fall in love. They drift apart after their village is attacked by goblins and giants. Elbryan thinks Pony is dead and vice versa. Elbryan is soon trained by mysterious creatures to become a protector for the villages. Pony goes through even more various stages of hell. But she is quite the tomboy so she was able to fight through all her obstacles. It is after one of her obstacles she was found and mentored by our third character.
The third main character is Avelyn Desbris. A young man training to become a monk for the Abellican Church. In this training, he shows he is one of the most promising members of the church. This brings attention to Avelyn from the leader of the church (you know, besides God). This is when Avelyn finds that there is more to this church than what is on the surface and his faith is put to the test.
I have read plenty of reviews for this book and I know quite a bit don't like it. I did though but I do understand the reasons why. I believe the biggest downside to this book is that it is verbose (too wordy, I know who am I to say that, right?). But this book had so much descriptions of various landmarks and stuff that really were not needed. It was a little daunting in parts, but through all of that I still could not stop reading it. Sure the reading was slow, but I read through it still. When I got to the end, I found that I really wanted to get my hands on the second book in the series. Was this book great? Not really. Could this have been better? Yes. Is it something that should be read at least once? Yes. ( )

This book was pretty good. I guess I was expecting something a little bit more from Salvatore. The beginning was fabulous, as we watch the three main characters develop and form. After the three reunite, however, the power behind the story is gone. It starts to seem as though Salvatore didn’t know what to do with these wonderful characters he created, so he just sends them off on a Lord-of-the-Rings style quest. ( )