"Mortalis - Part 2" Book 4 of "The Demon Wars Saga" by R. A. Salvatore

"Mortalis - Part 2"
book 4 of "The Demon Wars Saga"
by R. A. Salvatore
Multi-cast performance
Produced by GraphicAudio
Approx 6 hours

The Demon Wars Saga continues with book 4 "Mortalis." Actually, "Mortalis" is the book that bridges the 2 trilogies in the saga. Mortalis sums the happenings of what has happened just after the demon dactyl, Bestis Belzibar has been destroyed, even his spirit which possessed the body of the head of the Abellican Church.

The Demon Wars Saga is a series of books that cover the fantasy realm of the the land of Corona. Where the elves raise rangers to protect the woodlands and humans, Magic is performed by monks through gemstones, and centaurs protect the woodland creatures and play bagpipes. R. A. Salvatore created the series that has taken a life of its own even into a fantasy roleplaying game. GraphicAudio is producing the audio books and releasing them in 6 hour segments thus dividing each book into three parts. This makes the listening easier than having to get lost in the huge series all at once. For the first book and part of the second I was just rolling one right after another, but during the listening of the second book I had to wait for each release and the time in between allowed for me to absorb the story during my downtime.

GraphicAudio does a superb job in producing these audio books. They produce them with their slogan "A Movie in Your Mind" close to heart. These productions are full of great voice actors, sound effects and incidental music that keeps the story rolling and keeps the listener fully submerged in the world created by R.A. Salvatore.

In this edition of the series, Honce-the-bear, a country/state in the land of Corona has just had their Abellican Church fall to the evil of the demon dactyl, and a war with giants, goblins and dwarves. During the reconstruction period the Church, under the orders of the king, is getting their house back in order, but the Rosy Plague has entered the land. This plague is untreatable even by the magic gemstones of the church.

Rogue Abbot/Bishop Marcalo De'Unnaro is sent to St. Gwendoly abbey to find out if the rumors of the plague are true. What he finds is the townsfolk and monks from the abbey mostly dead from the plague. He begins his evil plans to build the church to his own doctrine, but when the new Father Abbot tries to remove him from the Church, he forms a band of Brothers Repentant, seeking to cleanse the land of all its sins. This plan also includes genocide.

Jilseponie, Poney to her friends, has returned to her home to grieve over the grave of Elbryan, the ranger and her husband who was killed in the final battle against the demon spirit. She learns her friend is dying from the plague and brings her to the abbey only to be turned away because all abbeys and the castles have closed their doors to keep out the plague. She is sent out with a handful of the gemstones to see if she can find a cure.

Juravial of the Touel'alfar, the elves, has retrieved a horse for one of the two new rangers that are being trained, one of which the son of Poney and Elbryan. Juravial learns of the plague and returns to the home of the elves where they are also shut off from fear of the plague.

The adventures seem grim but the story is compelling and with the attention to detail production in these audio books you will be wanting for more.