"The Demon's Apprentice"...the best book series you aren't reading

[Ian Keldon]

Like urban fantasy? You'll LOVE the series "The Demon's Apprentice" by Ben Reeder!

Book 1: The Demon's Apprentice

When 15 year old Chance Fortunato suddenly finds himself living with his long lost mother and new found little sister Deirdre, it's like living in a dream. Chance doesn't get to enjoy his idyllic suburban life for long, though, before the mystical underworld he's just escaped comes calling. As much as he wishes he could ignore it, Chance knows in his heart that he is the only one who can track down the murderer of his new friend and mentor, Sydney Chomsky. Suspected by the police and hunted by the Wizard's Conclave, Chance discovers dark secrets in every corner of his new life. To bring his mentor's killer to justice, Chance will have to fight evil on its own terms, and discover if that makes him a hero...or a monster.

available in PB and Kindle

Book 2: Page of Swords

Being a normal teenager is hard. For Chance Fortunato, former demon’s apprentice and reforming warlock, it’s almost impossible. On the outs with Shade, his alpha werewolf girlfriend, behind on his magickal studies and still hunted by the Conclave, Chance thinks his life can’t get any worse. But when an empath named Dani asks him to find her missing girlfriend, Chance’s life suddenly spirals out of his control.

Caught by the Conclave, he finds himself facing a Trial by Ordeal. To save himself and his new mentor Dr. Corwyn, Chance must find the stolen Maxilla Asini, a powerful sword that can change the balance of power between the magi and the forces of the Nine Hells. As he searches for the Maxilla and continues his search for the missing girl, he discovers a sinister link between Dani’s abducted girlfriend, the disappearances of other teens in New Essex, and the politics of the local vampire coven. Caught between multiple forces, Chance soon discovers that his only hope may be the missing Maxilla.

With the forces of both good and evil aligned against him, will a bad attitude, the help of his friends and a little faith be enough to help Chance beat the biggest challenge of his life?

available on Kindle. paperback pending

Don't let the age of the main character fool you. Benisn't writing YA, he's writing urban fantasy with a young protagonist. The importance is different.

Chance (the series protagonist) is a uniquely well-written character with a strong voice and a charming combination of worldly wise snarkery and strikingly pure innocence. Part Harry Potter and part Harry Dresden with a dash of Glen Cook's Garret thrown in for seasoning.

Anyone interested in a good read, esp if you like urban fantasy, ought to give these books a try.

http://www.amazon.com/Ben-Reeder/e/B005FB6LNY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

 

[sojourner]

I stopped reading at "Chance Fortunato" in the quote above. ugh.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I made it all the way to "alpha werewolf girlfriend."

 

[nightwind1]

I lost it at "magickal".

 

[Hound of UIster]

Sounds like self-published vanity cruft that they use to spam up wikipedia.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I made it to "Maxilla Asini" which sounds cool as a Latin Vulgata citation, until you realize it means "an ass's jaw".

 

[sojourner]

LOL!

 

[Icemizer]

That...that just sounds bad.

 

[Admiral2]

Whenever TV Guide used to do articles with that headline "Best show you're not watching" my immediate response is always "If I ain't watchin' it, I obviously don't agree it's the best. There's a flaw in logic there somewhere..."

In that vain, I got off the train at "Like urban fantasy..." I haven't liked urban fantasy since Beauty and the Beast with Linda Hamilton went off the air.

 

[Ian Keldon]

I made it to "Maxilla Asini" which sounds cool as a Latin Vulgata citation, until you realize it means "an ass's jaw".

Which is entirely appropriate in the context of the story, which you would know if you'd read the book.'

Addressing several other posts:

"Magick" (as in "magickal") is the proper Old English spelling of the word "magic", and is actually widely used in the pagan community today.

If you guys are simply not into urban fantasy, that's fine, but I think it's way over the top to refer to it as "self published vanity cruft". Ben's publisher, Pendraig, is small press, but entirely legitimate.

Maybe you should actually READ the books instead of talking like you "know" whether or not they're good. You just might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

 

[hyzmarca]

"Magick" (as in "magickal") is the proper Old English spelling of the word "magic", and is actually widely used in the pagan community today.

No, it isn't. The proper Old English spelling of "magic" is "drýcræft" and the closest adjective to "magical" is "drylic."


Magick is just pretentious.

And no one speaks Old English, anyway, so even if it was a proper spelling it would still be absurdly pretentious.

 

[Ian Keldon]

"Magick" (as in "magickal") is the proper Old English spelling of the word "magic", and is actually widely used in the pagan community today.

No, it isn't. The proper Old English spelling of "magic" is "drýcræft" and the closest adjective to "magical" is "drylic."


Magick is just pretentious.

And no one speaks Old English, anyway, so even if it was a proper spelling it would still be absurdly pretentious.

Excuse me, I should have said Early Modern English, not Old English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magick

and the term is in use today by pagans.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I made it to "Maxilla Asini" which sounds cool as a Latin Vulgata citation, until you realize it means "an ass's jaw".

Which is entirely appropriate in the context of the story, which you would know if you'd read the book.'

It's still stuff from an ass's mouth.

 

[Mage]

"Magick" (as in "magickal") is the proper Old English spelling of the word "magic", and is actually widely used in the pagan community today.

No, it isn't. The proper Old English spelling of "magic" is "drýcræft" and the closest adjective to "magical" is "drylic."


Magick is just pretentious.

And no one speaks Old English, anyway, so even if it was a proper spelling it would still be absurdly pretentious.

Excuse me, I should have said Early Modern English, not Old English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magick

and the term is in use today by pagans.

It's lovely that my girlfriend studies at University. Especially since she studies English, in all its forms.
The first use of a word close to modern english magic is from the Middle English Period, coming from the Middle French word 'magique'. In Middle English, the spelling varied from 'magik', 'magyk', 'magyque', 'malgyk', 'maugik', 'magike', 'magyke', 'magique', 'magict', 'Magika', 'magicke', 'magick' and 'magic' as we know it now.

The usage of the word these days is only done by those who feel the need to differentiate themselves from something.
It's not in the Ofxord English Dictionary, which should give a proper clue as to wether or not it's a legimate word, or just a phrase used by some people.

 

[Mage]

From the girlfriend: And as for 'drýcræft', it's actually a term for magic that doesn't lead to anything good. Here are some entries from several Old English texts, using the word drýcræft.

1st entry: forˈbraid = To become corrupt, decay.

Year: c888 Text: Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xxxviii. §1
Quotation: Þæt hio sceolde mid hire drycræft þa men forbredan.
Rough translation: that he [..] with his magic that corrupted one.

(So the magic in this quotation corrupts/decays an individual)

2nd entry: roun-staff, noun. [compare Old High German rūnstab, Old Icelandic rúnastafr] = a runic letter or symbol

Old English text: Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxi. 204
Quotation: Þa axode se ealdorman þone hæftling hwæðer he ðurh drycræft oððe þurh runstafum his bendas tobræce.
Rough translation: the elder [...] by magic or by runes...[?]

(Unfortunately cannot translate the last three words, but this quote connects the magic with the runes, confirming hyzmarca's story)

3rd entry: morthdeed noun. = an evil deed; specifically. (a) a mortal sin; (b) a murder.

Year: c1175 (Old English)
text: Ælfric Martyrdom of St. Vincent in W. W. Skeat Ælfric's Lives of Saints (1900) II. 434
quotation: Þa ðe wæron forscyldegode, oþþe þurh manslihte oððe þurh morþdæda, oððe þurh drycræft, oððe dyrne forliger.
Rough translation: [...] or by manslaughter, or by murder, or by magic [...]

(This piles together manslaughter, murder and magic, indicating that in this sense of the word, drycræft was pretty much frowned upon.)

So I totally agree with hyzmarca. If you want to be fancy-pants. Go use drycræft instead. :P

 

[beamMe]

Maybe you should actually READ the books instead of talking like you "know" whether or not they're good. You just might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

I have to agree with you on this.

The synopsis reads like shit though.

 

[FPAlpha]

Uh.. no.

This sounds like some fantasy elements and some urban elements got thrown together in a blender, switched on and hopefully something good comes out.

Judging from the blurbs that was not the case.. i think i'll pass (or read some Dresden Files instead).

 

[stj]

I made it to "Maxilla Asini" which sounds cool as a Latin Vulgata citation, until you realize it means "an ass's jaw".

Which is entirely appropriate in the context of the story, which you would know if you'd read the book.'

It's still stuff from an ass's mouth.

Maxilla Asini is still the only hint of any originality or sprightliness in these synopses. I expect it is a reference to one of Samson's encounters with the Philistines.

These kinds of recaps are very bad for highlighting the fundamental unoriginality of fantasy, which in practice seems to be required. Way too much SF just borrows stuff from other SF stories but rearranging the pieces isn't the point it seems to be in fantasy. That's one reason why I find fantasy to be so hit or miss. Mostly miss, so I'll pass.

 

[BillJ]

I stopped reading at "Chance Fortunato" in the quote above. ugh.

Yup.

The synopsis reads like someone's trying to ride the Harry Potter/Twilight gravy train.

EDIT: Stopped at the "Chance Fortunato" bit the first time around, but went back and read the whole thing when Ian Keldon seemed to be implying no one was giving this a chance. My original post seemed contradictory so I thought I'd clarify.

 

[nightwind1]

Uh.. no.

This sounds like some fantasy elements and some urban elements got thrown together in a blender, switched on and hopefully something good comes out.

Judging from the blurbs that was not the case.. i think i'll pass (or read some Dresden Files instead).

From the blurb, it sounds like bad White Wolf (Vampire:The Masquerade, etc.) fanfic.