Previous book: Beasts of Olympus (Series, Book 4): Dragon Healer.

Next book: Beasts of Olympus (Series, Book 6): Zeus's Eagle.

This is the fifth book in the "Beasts of Olympus" series. Pandemonius (or Demon as he is most commonly refer to in the series) is the 11-year-old half-mortal son of the god Pan and the mortal Carys. Demon is the official Beast Keeper of the Olympic gods and it is his responsibility to take care of the various beasts. In this story, Demon must write his notes and read the medicine books, but he cannot read the words properly, until Hephaestus devises special glasses for him. Demon must help Arnie the griffin with an irritating itch which causes his feathers to fall off. Demon discovers that Arnie's condition might be contagious and names it Purple Spotted Feather Plague. When he goes to his training with Chiron, he saves a young boy from raging centaurs. The boy is apparently Chiron's grandson, Prince Peleus. The prince was looking for his lost magical sword and had mistakenly interrupted a centaur ceremony. Later Demon helps a little wolf cub and in return, the wolves find Peleus' sword. Then Pan suddenly appears to ask Demon for a cure for his headache. In return, Pan teaches him how to play his magical pipes better.

Later Athena suddenly appears. Her owl Sophie has been acting weirdly and suffers from upside-down hiccups. Athena orders Demon to cure her, on pain of death. When Demon hurries to consult Chiron he encounters Peleus' mother, Endeis, the nymph of the mountain and Chiron's daughter. With her help he discovers that Sophie swallowed one of Eros' love potions.

Suddenly Athena returns in great alarm. She informs Demon and Endeis that the phoenix has gone blind and lost its voice. If the fire bird does not sing its special Song of Renewal it cannot guard against the fire devils and is may cause problems for Olympus and for the world. Demon and Peleus hurry to find the phoenix. They want to go there via the special transport system of the series, the Iris Express, provided by the messenger rainbow goddess, but she is occupied and in the end they fly on the Ethiopian Pegasi.

Upon arriving, they meet the giant Antaeus, who is suffering after his fight with Heracles. It is Antaeus who guards the phoenix and it was he who alerted Athena. The Phoenix signals to Demon that they must consult the ants, meaning a nearby nest of fire ants, the Myrmex.

When they arrive at the ants' dwelling, Demon discovers that Peleus is the son of one of the Myrmidons, who are the ants' "cousins". As a result the ant queen agrees to help the two and gives them special nectar for the Phoenix. The nectar heals the Phoenix and he is then able to sing his song and stop the fire devils who disappear. As a reward, Athena grants Demon a beautiful ornate book for him to write down his patient notes as Chiron's apprentice.

In this story, Demon again must risk his life to save wondrous beasts while fearing the harsh consequence of failure. Being warned by the gods of what may happen to him if he fails is a recurring theme in the books, and each god and goddess describes imaginative ways of punishing Demon (burning him, turning him to a wood and then chop him etc.). However, while these threats are comical and absurd and the readers probably understand that no serious harm may actually come to Demon, one may wonder about the message. Demon must succeed no matter what; his life depends on it. Although one can also learn by failing, for Demon this is not an option. The readers may cheer the valiant and brave hero who defeats the odds but he never learns through failure, since he always succeeds; usually with the help of friends. This might be the real message; that we cannot succeed on our own all the time and it is okay to ask someone for help.

The author continues her tongue-in-cheek hidden references to mythological events and characters. Here Peleus, the young man, is of course Achilles' father, but many of the young readers are probably ignorant of the fact. Athena also mentions that Zeus made her help "some wretched hero son of his kill a gorgon." [location 512].

The labours of Heracles continue to follow the story in the background, as we witness the damage they cause to others.

In this story, Demon is not only risking his life on a rescue mission; he must also face his own difficulties. At first, it seems he may be suffering from some kind of dyslexia, "'Chiron says I have to make notes on all my new patients,' Demon replied. 'But the letters won't stay still. They all wiggle and try to run away when I read them, AND when I write them down.'" [location 28]. However, unlike Percy Jackson, Demon simply needs glasses. This is of course a positive message for young readers who might be facing the same situation and perhaps feel embarrassed to wear glasses. Demon is thrilled to have them though, as now he can read and write properly. Demon even learns from Hephaestus that Eros faced the same problem; the love god needs glasses as well.

Demon continues to be a kind-hearted hero who abhors violence. When he sees the centaurs attacking Peleus he thinks, "He was fed up with people thinking that everything could be sorted out with swords and violence." [location 94]. Later he wonders, "'Why do you heroes always have to be fighting?'" [location 905]. The author tries to undermine the common portrayal of a hero as someone who fights, and replace it with a new model, someone who can solve problems without resorting to violence, like Demon.

It is, of course, a fact that the vast majority of ancient mythology (from various cultures) involves people with swords and heroes who fight, yet the author tries to convey a message of peace and harmony, especially between people  and nature. The goddesses in the story also use violent threats; this time it is Athena who orders Demon around. Even the pleasant Hestia warns him (when he asks her for special food for the griffin), "She smiled. It was a smile with teeth in it. 'Don't make rash promises to goddesses, Pandemonius. They can lead you into all sorts of trouble.'" [location 430].

The most heart-warming and emotional moment in the story appears when Pan visits Demon. Pan is a careless father who only wants his son to help him after partying all night. He is certainly not a good role model. When Demon helps him, Pan praises him, "'Clever lad,' he said. 'You'll be as great a healer as Chiron in no time.' Demon glowed with pride. Praise from his father meant a lot to him, and he didn't often get it. He didn’t often see him, in fact." [location 321].

This episode appears after Demon takes care of the young female wolf cub, so we can see the comparison between the caring wolf dad and Demon's estranged father. Yet Demon is happy that his father is proud of him and asks him to teach him to play the pipes. The unique pipes connect father and son and in a way this instrument is a replacement for Pan, since they are always with Demon, helping him to relax the beasts (and perhaps comfort himself).

This book's is manly comedy-adventure, the readers can sympathize with Demon and hope for his success. Yet there are serious themes which the author conveys under the light-hearted tone. Demon appears to be calms and calculated even under terrifying consequences. Although he is always facing threats, since they are so absurd, they do not appear too dangerous and we are reassured that he will be fine. Demon is caring and loving, and readers who also need to tend to a family member might find solace in his heroism and compassion. He can be alone but not lonely which is also a powerful message.  

The review refers to the Kindle edition (9781848125803).

The illustrator of this Kindle edition is David Roberts and the publisher is Piccadilly Press, London.

See "Addenda" under Beasts of Olympus (Series, Book 1): Beasts Keeper.