THE STOWAWAY

Opening a new plotline set in the Dungeons & Dragons Forgotten Realms, this father-son collaboration sends Maimun—a 12-year-old orphan with a mysterious past who bears a god-connected stone that seems to radiate good luck—fleeing from the very quick and powerful demon Asbeel. Speaking like Sheherazade to a sword-wielding captor at the opening, Maimun describes in episodic flashbacks how his life turned into one long chase over land and sea once he was given the stone by his enigmatic foster parent, Perrault. The pace never falters, the cast is positively festooned with pirates and menacing magical creatures (such characters from parallel stories as Drizzt Do’Urden the Dark Elf also put in appearances) and Maimun’s narrative ends on a cliffhanger that will leave readers slavering for the next episode, due out in 2009. Light on explicit violence, gore or death despite plenty of opportunities for all three, this makes sturdy fare for younger fans of D&D or sword-and-sorcery fantasy in general. (Fantasy. 10-12)