Jake Yaniak's Blog: 'Turtles All The Way Down' - Posts Tagged "chimera"

I try to keep up with what my son is reading, but since he has much more time than I have, this has become an impossible task. Well, he ran out of books, so I downloaded The Slayer and the Sphinx: Book 1 on my Kindle for him - he read it in one night and the next morning he was saying that it was his favorite book, and that he hoped 'They' would make a movie out of it.
It took me a while to find the time to finish it, but when I read it I definitely understood why my son liked it so much. It is a very unique fantasy story set in modern times in our own world rather than in ancient times in a fantastic world. The story moves fast from the very first page and never really slows down. The battle scenes are described clearly, and it is never hard to picture what is happening. The characters are well-developed and themes about trust and honesty give the story more depth than it would have as just a simple adventure story. There is one particular 'white lie' that, I am sure, will have some interesting consequences for the heroes in future books.
This is definitely a great book for older kids and young teens. There is nothing offensive or smutty in it. There is some mild violence in the book, but nothing gross or graphic.
Lastly, I think it is quite impressive how Adam Bolander manages to make an interesting story using such obscure creatures as Sphinxes, Banshees and Chimeras etc. He definitely challenged himself in choosing to write about such creatures instead of focusing on the more traditional goblins, dwarves and elves.