Ferno the Fire Dragon (Beast Quest)

Rated a five-star adventure by Max, my soon to be third grade grandson, this is a story written in the spirit of the tale of King Arthur. The protagonist is a commoner and has been tagged to save his villiage and world from a terrible beast with magical powers. As he fulfills his destiny his troubled and sad past begins to make sense. This book is a great tale of good versus evil, honor, and promise of futures for little boys like our protagonist.

Pretty simplistic children's book, i'm obviously not the intended audience but i have a hard time believing i would have liked this much if i was a kid.

Tom has been sent out on a secret mission, but why? The bad wizard has turned the good beasts into bad ones, and now Tom needs to set them free. But he can't possibly do it on his own, can he?

He finds a girl there called Elenna, who parts with him, but can he still free the dragon?

Me and Mummy discussed that this was probably a boys' book, and that it's probably not the book that I'd want to read anyway. I'm now starting on Billionaire Boy, which I hope is more of a girls' book!

The author didn't describe Tom too much, so I don't think I really cared for him too much. The author only really described Elenna, who wasn't really as main as Tom was. My only impression on him was that he was a little bit sad about his father dying in a way show more Tom did not know.

This book's writing was a bit big, and I am rather used to having it smaller. But apart from that, it was OK, but not the best. I don't think I'll finish off the series unless I'm forced to ;) show less

PLUS -
* Plenty of action and adventure
* The promise of many more similar books to come - this one features a dragon, it is followed by sea serpents, yetis etc etc.
* It does exactly what it says on the tin - beasts, fantasy, quests and adventure.

MINUS -
* Not a startling original premise

OVERALL -
* The start of a series of good, simple reads for developing readers aged 7-10, with particular appeal for boys

Set in Avantia, under the evil spell of Malvel, the Dark Wizard, six Beasts - fire dragon, sea seprent, mountain giant, horse-man, snow monster and flame bird - run wild and destroy the land they once protected. Ancient Scripts predict an unlikey hero, a boy, shall take up the quest to free the Beasts from the curse and save the kingdom. This is the story of Tom as he braves Ferno the fire dragon.
Boys will enjoy this as a next step from Zac Power.

The closest I could find to an intro to D&D-like situations. You both wanted to read the next one.

The first book of the fantastic series Beast Quest. If you're a person who likes fantasy and adventure, this is the book for you so you'd better read it.