The Realmsic Conquest by Demethius Jackson: A Review

The Realmsic Conquest series consists of two books: The Hero of Legend and The Icon of Earth.

The Realm is the world’s only magical kingdom and at the heart of its magic lies the Realmsic Crystal. The Wizard Kelm and the new, young King Maebus must protect the Crystal and the Realm against a potent threat from the Warlord Damian, who will not scruple to use any power to overcome the Realm’s defenses. To do so, they must make the right decisions, choose their allies wisely, and utilize the power of The Hero of Legend….if they can find him.

Author Demethius Jackson describes this series a ‘self-help fantasy’, designed to provide a model for young readers in making choices and developing self-reliance and resilience. Given that, I was a bit apprehensive in beginning this pair of books, concerned that the story might be a bit ‘preachy’. That concern, I am happy to say, was completely unfounded.

What Jackson gives us is a well-plotted, very well written fantasy adventure story in which the values of consultation and cooperation underlie the story but are not blatantly obvious. In that way (and that way only, because the genres are so different) they reminded me of the British children’s classic Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (and other books in the series) which I once heard described as “a lesson in good manners”. While there is nothing strikingly new about The Realmsic Conquest, as a solid fantasy-adventure for readers at the younger end of the young-adult readership it more than passes muster. Had I a twelve-to-fourteen year old to recommend books for (or either a younger readers with above-average reading skills or an older reader for whom reading was more difficult) I would be buying them this pair of books. Strong male and female characters, solid plotting, good dialogue and well-paced action all added to my positive impression. Jackson’s writing flows well; action and description are well balanced. There were almost no errors of typography or production in the e-pub copies I read. I really couldn’t find much to fault the books on at all.

So, five stars to both books for the late middle-school/early high school age reader. More from Demethius Jackson should be hoped for!

The author provided me with copies of both books in return for an honest review.