Hey guys,
Got another book review for you, and I think you will really like this one a lot. It is an action packed fantasy adventure, written by the son of someone I am sure you all know. It is full of Magic, Pirates, Demons, a boy with a secret and a story within a story. Sound good? Let’s get started.
The Stowaway – A book review by Darcy Low
“Barely a teen and already guarding a secret that could jeopardize his young life, Maimun is marked for death. With the help of a mysterious stranger, the boy escapes his village and flees out to sea, stowing away on the pirate hunting ship, Sea Sprite, where he comes across a most unlikely ally: the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. With a half-demon determined to destroy him, and a crew of sailors resentful of the trouble he’s caused, Maimun must find the courage to prove his worth, both to his friends and to himself.”
The Stowaway is very different from any other book I have read before, it starts in the middle. Yep, you heard me right. When the story opens, our main character, Maimun; has been taken captive after a ship to ship battle out at sea. We find him chained aboard a pirate ship, and being questioned. The pirate not only wants to know his story, but how he came into procession of a very powerful magically stone. A stone that is sought after by two waring gods, and could destroy the entire world. Our story then becomes Maimun’s story, as he buys for time and tries to think of a way to escape.
This is one story I didn’t mind the back story so much, in fact the whole book is written in the first person. Which really helps. We learn that Maimun is just a normal boy growing up in a small village, all he knows of the world outside are stories he has heard from people traveling though. When his village is attacked and destroyed, he is entrusted with the safe keeping of a magical stone. One so powerful, gods both good and evil want it and will do anything to get it. His family killed in front of him, young Maimun is rescued by Perrault, a fighter/magic user himself. Together they run from a demon, Asbeel. Who wants the stone for his evil master.
When I first started this book, I almost stopped reading. Thinking I must be read the second or third book of a series. But after looking, i realized what the writer was doing. Different, but really cool! the whole book is action packed, with the characters being just one step a head of the demon. But it is the character of Maimun that makes you want to keep reading. You see everything though his eyes, seeing the world of Forgotten Realms that he only heard about in stories, seeing magic for the first time, learning how to defend himself and when to run. You get into his character and want to see what happens next to him.
I don’t want to tell how he winds up getting captured by pirates, that is what the whole story is about. The back story of how he got there. You will just have to read to find that out.
I waited until now to tell you who the writer was of the book, I am sure you caught the name Drizzt there. Well he is in the story, but only VERY briefly. This isn’t his story, in fact if you think this book was written by R A Salvatore; you are partly wrong there.
This is the first book of a series written by father and son, R A Salvatore and his son Geno. Pretty cool huh? Geno does a great job of bringing the Realms to life in his pages, as well as showing a lot of the fantasy world to readers and video gamers that have read books or played games set in those dangerous lands. I enjoyed Maimun’s character and am really pulling for him to get out of the trouble he’s in. In Geno’s hands, Maimun is both capable and inexperienced, a dangerous combination given what he has to do to deal with. He’s obviously powerful enough, for some reason unknown to us so far, that others fear him, but not skilled enough to take care of himself.
Seek this one out guys, you will really love it. I am looking forward to reading more, and seeing how things turn out. It leaves you wanting more.
Darcy
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