The Demon's Pawn: A Book Review

Review by Suzanne MacNevin

The Demon's Pawn is a novella written by Canadian fantasy writer Frederic King - who has only written and published one story as far as I can tell - but it is a phenomenally good story in my opinion.

So good I think it would make a good film.

If I knew a movie producer I would be telling them to buy the film rights to the story.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

Young Katya Yerovik has been raised in an elven monastery almost as long as she can remember... and her memories before then haunt her as nightmares about her father and herself being chased by a red-eyed horse with fiery hooves. When she reaches adulthood she sets out traveling west towards the Holy City of Kost to try and find her father. Armed with a bow, a sword and some rusty splintmail she faces the dangers of the road.

But unknown to Katya she has been a pawn in a game of chess from since before she was born, and the player is none other than the demon prince Varaziak who has set his sights on the Holy City of Kost.

But what that synopsis doesn't tell you is how the author has managed to weave a story in which all the pieces and players come together in the climax of the book - and how things that seem insignificant near the start of the book later turn out to be very important.

I don't want to spoil the plot or the ending for you so I have to tread carefully here - but basically the point I am trying to make is that Frederic King is a storytelling genius. The literary equivalent of a chess master who thinks twenty moves ahead.

And to top it all off Katya Yerovik, as a character, comes off as the Bruce Willis of heroines - she gets injured regularly - and its believable. Part of the story ends up being about her ability to survive in difficult circumstances (so if you are a fan of Die Hard films, you will probably enjoy this book).

The book is available on both Kobo (see The Demon's Pawn on Kobo) and Amazon Kindle (see link below). It is slightly cheaper on Amazon, not sure why - might have something to do with exchange rates.

I won't say anything more, I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice to say I really enjoyed it.