The Demon Awakens (The Demon Wars Saga #1) by R.A. Salvatore : Audiobook Review

In THE DEMON AWAKENS, bestselling author R. A. Salvatore creates an astonishing new world for readers to explore–and an intrepid hero to lead the way: Elbryan Wynden, who must confront the dark tides of destiny in his epic search for justice and peace . . .

A great evil has awakened in the land of Corona, a terrible demon determined to spread death and misery. His goblin armies and fearsome giants ravage the settlements of the frontier, and in the small village of Dundallis their merciless attack leaves behind two shattered orphans: Pony and her lifelong friend, the youth Elbryan. Taken in by elves, Elbryan is raised to become a formidable ranger–a fateful role that will lead him into harrowing confrontation.

Meanwhile, on a far-off island, a shower of gemstones will fall onto the black sand shores. These heaven-sent stones carry within them an incredible power–the key to all that is good in the world and all that is evil, and it is up to one young monk to liberate them from the corrupt monastery that harvests them. Pray that they don’t fall into the wrong, clawed hands…

Since I recently finished Child Of A Mad God, I thought it would be a good time to go back and start reading the Corona books again from the very beginning. It’s been around 15 years since the last time I read the original Demon Wars Saga trilogy and my memory on it is a bit fuzzy, but I think I can honestly say that so far I’m enjoying it so much more than I ever did as a teenager. The Demon Awakens by R.A. Salvatore was an exciting read full of action, adventure and some truly amazing friendships that I was unable to stop listening to even though I did remember exactly how it was going to end.

Since it’s been quite awhile since the last time I read The Demon Awakens my memory of reading it isn’t very good so I can’t really remember what made me enjoy it as much as I remember enjoying it as a teenager. Now though I think I can easily say that it is the amazing characters that the author has populated the book with that makes me love it so much. All three of the main viewpoint characters were fun to read about and I loved watching how their separate story lines slowly wove together over the course of the book. I feel like the friendships they formed with each other and the people they met on their journeys helped drive the story in some interesting directions

While I loved the characters and thought the story was amazing, I do think The Demon Awakens really lacked in overall worldbuilding. Other than the history of the main characters you don’t get a lot of backstory or history into the world of Corona in this book, just little bits here and there. The good thing is that you don’t really need any of that to enjoy this story as it is firmly rooted in the present and doesn’t look back to it’s pat all that often. I do seem to recall that the next book in the trilogy delves a bit deeper into the history of the church and the world though so I’m really looking forward to that, you may not need it to enjoy this book but I still think it was a missed opportunity for the story.

I decided this time that I would listen to the audiobook instead of actually reading the book an I’m so glad that I did. Tim Gerard Reynolds did a fantastic job bringing the characters of The Demon Awakens to life with his narration. He packed so much emotion into his reading that at times I really felt the emotions the characters were feeling at the time, showing yet again why he’s one of my favorite narrators of all time.