Quarterstars Awakening (War for the Quarterstar Shards) - Book Review

Quarterstars Awakening is David McDaniel's book two of his, "War for the Quarterstar Shards" series. McDaniel provides a little background of how the Quarterstar originated in a prelude to the new episode.  He tells of a wizardly old man with the ability to levitate, mesmerizing a group of children with the tale of the Quarterstar’s genesis.  It involved the accidental collision between a strange monstrous evil black beast called a Markenhirth colliding with a plummeting star. Its impact shatters the star into four pieces. The four shards are believed to each hold tremendous powers and, if rejoined would give unheard of powers to whoever possessed it. McDaniels draws you into his thoroughly imagined world that is bursting with the wild vision and convincingly detailed landscape that Tolkienites would salivate over.

The novel centers on a relationship between the character Traelyn and King Jaerick Krowe. Traelyn is around 300 years old who has rejuvenated herself repeatedly by using the virtually magic Drodennum plant that can turn back aging a couple of decades. She is a human in a land that is populated by elves, goblins, and various other strange intelligent beings that are slowly becoming civilized. Most of the beings are tribal and live in forested areas. King Jaerick Krowe has been successful in creating an alliance between many of the tribes of elves, growing his kingdom, and ultimately becoming a potent force in his realm. Traelyn was once romantically involved with Jaerick Krowe, and oddly both she and the king dream a disturbing vision that appears to foretell of them reuniting.  The Quarterstar was also part of their dream. Where were the shards?

Traelyn is the daughter of Dar Drannon, who disappeared a long time prior but now has revealed himself to her. He is not in a physical form, but some sort of revenant that she can see and feel. 

A horrible war or conflict is brewing, and her offspring will soon be pitted against a formidable enemy.  Traelyn’s son Daegon has created a massive army that will be put to the test in the epic battles. The land that these warring tribes inhabit is full of all types of strange creatures. Huge flying dragons that can pick a horse up and fly away with it. There are creatures called ravages that are somewhat wolf-like but normally walk on two feet. When they see the blood of their prey they frenzy and even attack each other.

Quaterstars Awakening is a fast-paced and fun read, featuring McDaniel’s lavish and completely enjoyable world-building, made grand and epic by the range of fascinating creatures and beings that inhabit the forest of this new world.  He takes elements of classic fantasy and does unexpected things with them.   He has dragons that talk, hawks that dare to attack dragons and dragons that like to munch on a human as if they were hors d'oeuvre.  Quarterstars Awakening is also a love story, but there aren’t any gratuitous sex scenes, the same can’t be said about violence; it contains many very vivid depictions of creatures tearing one another apart.

It is a truly magical story displaying McDaniel's unrestrained imagination.