Come and tell me about Beast Quest?

[Marne]

Dd1 is asking for beast quest books as her friends are reading them (boys), what are they about? are they ok for a 7 year old?

The Book People are selling Series 1-3 (18 books) for £16 - much, much cheaper than if you buy them individually.

Depends how easily scared your DD is, really. As above, they aren't great literature, but DS1 finds them a great way to idle away half an hour or so..

They're fine for a 7 yr old.

They have beasts, jewels with special powers, and weapons. I think I would have liked them.

These are essentially the "Fairy" books for boys; they first came out when DS2 was in about year2 and he loved them.

The plot is similar: Tom and Eleana (accompanied by wolf and horse) have to undo some evil wrought by bad magician, thus saving the kingdom of Avantia from various dreadful fates. Ths might be by freeing a captive/tormented Good Beast, vanquishing a Bad Beast, collecting magic armour etc etc etc. They're not scary - more action with a bit of tension. By the time you've read 56 of the damned things, there isn't really any tension left.

Don't do it.
They are badly written badly edited drivel.
Tom wins all the quests. But only because of Elenna. And they NEVER EVER go to the toilet. Or wash.
I am subverting DCs by insisting the Pirate King is called Sanpro. Given even they refuse to read the books and make me do it, I believe I have earnt the right.

Scholastic/School books have them for a tenner each series .... if you must.

They're OK. We got a set for DS1 and he was excited about them for about half a book then lost interest. He prefers something with a bit of humour, like Astrosaurs or Jeremy Strong.

Well, ds1 loves them, but then he has ASD, likes everything to stay the same and hates surprises - so that might be a hint.

Basically they are highly formulaic 'quests' where the goodies always win in the end and they bring out about two full sets a year in attempt to keep children coming back for more.

I would say they are fine for a seven year old, bearing in mind that's roughly around the emotional/developmental age of my nine year old ds. He is actually far more advanced in his reading skills than the books require, but finds the repetition and formula comforting and safe.

Ds is working his way through the back catalogue by borrowing them from the local library.

Thank you, i have ordered her one book (at a great price from Amazon).

Moosemama- dd has ASD and has a thing about dragons and beasty things and is a bit of a book worm, at the moment she's reading 'how to train your dragon' and has just finished 'pirates of the carabian', we will give one book a go and see how it goes.

Doh! Sorry Marne I didn't realise you were the OP.

Hope she likes the book.

FYI each quest is 6 books long.

Like others have said not the most brilliant stories around but I found they worked fantastically in getting my then 7 year old DS in to reading chapter books, he devoured them until he became bored and moved on and has never looked back. Purely for that reason I think that they are fab!

I agree zazas.
(Enid Blyton did that for me and she was totally formulaic and nothing scans!)