Beast Quest

Beast Quest
Cover of Ferno the Fire Dragon, the debut novel in the series.
Multiple Series
Author"Adam Blade", a pseudonym for various ghostwriters
IllustratorDavid Wyatt, Steve Sims.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's fantasy
PublisherOrchard Books
Published2007–present
Media typePrint (hardback and paperback)
E-book
No. of books154

Beast Quest is a best-selling British series of children's fantasy–adventure novels produced by Working Partners Ltd and written by several authors all using the house name Adam Blade.[1] As of October 2024, the main series had achieved a total of 154 books published, and over 20 million copies of the books have been sold altogether since March 2007.[2][3]

An editorial team at Working Partners first creates the storyline for each book and "then approaches a number of writers whose experience and style we think might suit the project and ask them to write a sample – usually the first three chapters of the book". The editorial team picks the sample with the voice that we think works best for the project."[4]

The series is published by Orchard Books in the UK and by Scholastic Corporation in the US and is aimed largely at boys and girls aged 7 and over.[5][6] The novels have been described as "clearly and simply written, [striking] the right balance between adventure and story telling" and a "great series to get kiddies, who normally wouldn't be, interested in reading."[7] The books take place in a world called Avantia, and focus on a young boy named Tom and his friend Elenna as they attempt to restore peace to the land by stopping beasts from causing destruction.[8][9] Kathryn Flett, writing in London's The Observer, has called the books "almost certainly a work of publishing (if not quite literary) genius...Narnia meets Pokémon via Potter."[9] The books are among the most-borrowed from UK lending libraries.[10][11]

There is also a companion science fiction series called Sea Quest.[12] From 2021 to 2023, Adam Blade also created a short spin-off series called Space Wars, consisting of only four books. There is also a 2015 mobile video game based on the Beast Quest book series, and a 2018 version for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4 (Maximum Games). A new mobile version was released in May 2020 by Animoca.

  1. ^ Stroud, Clover (12 January 2014). "Rainbow Magic: loathed by parents, loved by children". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  2. ^ "Coolabi".
  3. ^ "Coolabi Group unleashes brand new 'Beast Quest' mobile game". coolabi. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  4. ^ "How We Work". Working Partners. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Nicholas Clee on the library charts". The Times. London. 4 February 2012. p. 19. ProQuest document ID 919738907.
  6. ^ "Beast Quest: Creta the Winged Terror". Booktrust. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  7. ^ Mountford, Janet (15 March 2008). "Vedra And Krimon Twin Beasts of Avantia". The Sentinel. Stoke-on-Trent. p. 6. ProQuest document ID 426828385.
  8. ^ "Ferno The Fire Dragon Beast Quest 1 by Adam Blade - review". The Guardian. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  9. ^ a b Flett, Kathryn (6 December 2009). "Dragons, wizards and a mother in search of a glass of red... At last, a boys' own bedtime story they actually want to read". The Observer. London. p. 5. ProQuest document ID 250388970.
  10. ^ Flood, Alison (8 February 2013). "Woman of Steel: US writer in most-borrowed list for 30 years". The Guardian. London. p. 18. ProQuest document ID 1285161231.
  11. ^ Evans, Sophie (8 March 2013). "Kids get dead excited about author's new horror story". Hull Daily Mail. Hull. p. 20. ProQuest document ID 1315222469.
  12. ^ Williams, Charlotte (24 August 2012). "Orchard to launch Sea Quest in 2013". The Bookseller: 7.