“The Demon Awakens – part 1” The Demon Wars Saga By R. A. Salvatore

“The Demon Awakens – part 1”
The Demon Wars Saga
By R. A. Salvatore
Multi-cast production
Produced by Graphic Audio
Approx. 7 hours

It’s a beginning of a new era in part one of the high fantasy saga of the Demon Wars by R. A. Salvatore. The Demon Dactyl awakens and begins to put together an army to destroy the land of Corona. R.A. Salvatore created a saga that runs through seven books and is the basis of the role-playing game “Demon Wars.” Now teamed up with Graphic Audio these books come to life as “A Movie in Your Mind.” In order to do justice to the books Graphic Audio is producing the saga in parts. The First book “The Demon Awakens” begins with this part one audio book.

To start the book off the demon “Dactyl” awakens and the sounds of his coming back to life after spending an eon encased in stone are extremely well done. The creative staff at Graphic Audio bring to life the sounds of this awakening.

In “The Demon Awakens – part one” the listener is introduced to the main characters of book one. Elbryan and Jilsesponie (Pony) are a couple of 13 year-olds that live in the village of Dundalis. They go out to welcome back the village’s hunters as they come back from their annual big hunt. To their shock one of the kills being carried is a goblin. This brings horror and awe to the minds of the villagers as goblins have been unheard from in so long that many of the villagers don’t know anything about this race of evil beings. Elbryan and Pony seem to be just falling in love in this peaceful time in the land of Corona. But just as they begin to explore this love their village is attacked by a goblin and giant raiding party. Elbryan and Pony are separated as their village is destroyed, each one believing they are sole survivors.

Once again the audio production quality along with the music will put you on the edge of your seat as you hear the village being destroyed and the villagers fighting back.

After the destruction of Dundalis, Elbryan is followed by some elves that have a history with his family. He is taken in by these elves to be trained as a ranger. This training will continue until Elbryan is strong enough and skilled enough to defeat the strongest elf in the clan.

Pony has more of a dark future ahead of her. She is found wandering and dirty in a nearby village and without memory of the attack on Dundalis or her past. She is taken in by a couple of colorful pub keepers who give her the name of Cat deStray, where she is employed in the pub as a barmaid. Pony/ Cat is not fond of the unwelcome approaches by the pub’s patrons and at one point is cornered by 3 drunkards who are upset that she turned them down. In a quick brawl she defeats the 3 drunks to many of the people’s surprise.

Another main character introduced is Avelyn Desbris, a freshly graduated monk who is taught the magic of the stones that fall from the “Halo” that surrounds the planet. The “Halo” at given times in history drops the stones from the sky and only special monks are allowed to gather the stones and wield their power. Each stone is capable of different powers, and to the surprise of the abbots Avelyn is the most powerful wielder of the stones they’ve seen. Avelyn is chosen to gather the stones, and is sent with other monks to an island which only certain religious leaders know of. Avelyn is a very spiritual monk that begins to question not his faith but the religion itself during his journey to the island.

This book introduces the characters with some great fight scenes either between humans and goblins, giants, dwarves, elves or other humans. The production of Graphic Audio puts you in the middle of the fight hearing and maybe sometimes feeling the punches, sword slashes or arrow hits. You might actually want to check for bruises.

I think the best I can say about this audio book is “GIMME PART TWO, NOW!”