Eden Quest (Dane Maddock Adventures, #14)

by David Wood

[Jeff Sexton]

Tropical Adventure Turns Mystical / Fantasy. This is one of the rare books from Wood (in this series, he does have a pen name that is more pure fantasy) that has any level of actual fantasy in it, and even here it is more of a mystical bent that *could* be read as more scifi - though it is certainly on that boundary, in a similar place as roughly half of Ted Dekker's Circle Quadrilogy.

What starts out as a tropical vacation quickly turns into a race to find and obtain priceless artifacts which leads to the mystical/ fantasy payoff - meaning that prior to the fantasy section, this is a pretty standard Maddock Adventures book, with the usual elements - various people showing up from prior adventures, Bones showing up where he isn't "supposed" to be, Bones wise cracking and cracking bones, Maddock outsmarting most everyone and being all chivalrous while doing so, etc. The things that long time fans know and love, but done in a way such that newer readers won't be lost - but will be enticed to go back and read about these prior adventures with the various connections.

Overall a fun and quick - just under 200 page - read, and thus a good actual beach read. :D Very much recommended.