<< Back to previous page

"Revenge of the Shadow King" by Derek Benz

Author:

Derek Benz

Publisher:

New York: Orchard Books, 2005

Reviewed by:

Holly Sanhuber, Muskego Public Library

Subtitled, “The Grey Griffins, Book I,” this adventure fantasy starts with a group of friends who meet to play “Round Table,” a fantasy card game, and ends with a struggle to save the Earth from otherworldly invasion. With his parents’ divorce, Max Sumner’s foundation seems shattered. His personal disorientation is exacerbated by the appearance of fey creatures, both good and evil, in his small Minnesota town. Max also has points of stability: his friends, Iver, the children’s “Game Master,” and Logan, Max’s family’s driver, who trains him in kung fu. The Grey Griffins, Max’s friends and classmates, meet in Iver’s antiquities shop to play “Round Table,” never realizing the playing cards have power beyond their printed images. Action is non-stop, with an uninterrupted series of magical events and battles. Oberon, the powerful ruler of the Shadowlands of Faerie, is planning to lay waste the world. His Slayer Goblin’s attack, the possession of a troubled bully by an evil demon, a fountain that spews slime, an attack of birds reminiscent of Hitchcock, and the rise of a deadly forest all challenge the children. Language is appropriately used; the kids’ being slangy, and Iver’s and Logan’s grave, measured, and formal. The imagery is sometimes quirky and original: “Roscoe was an enormous hunting dog that Harley had received for his sixth birthday. The dog was as big as a tank, ferocious as a lion, and had developed an unfortunate taste for postal workers and truck tires.” Contrast this with the description of a “Spriggan” of the otherworld: “. . . a rumpled creature . . . resemb[ling] a cat, drenched and angry after an unwanted bath. It was the color of fireplace soot . . . [T]here was a short jagged beak, and the fur atop the creature’s head (if fur it was) shot out in a tangled mass of spikes. There was intelligence and mischief captured in giant eyes that shimmered like moons in a starless sky.” Tough Harley, brainy Natalia, and asthmatic Ernie, who is braver than he thinks, need to call on all of their resources to defeat the threat. At book’s end, questions remain unanswered, and the victory feels tenuous at best.