The Last Seal by Richard Denning

From the back cover:

17th century London - two rival secret societies are caught in a battle the threatens to destroy the city and beyond. When a truant schoolboy, Ben, finds a scroll revealing the location of magical seals that bind a powerful demon beneath the city, he is thrown into the centre of a dangerous plot that leads to the Great Fire of 1666.

Richard Denning has written a humdinger.The action starts on page one and builds and ebbs throughout the book. It's this constant building and releasing of tension and action that keeps the reader on the edge of her seat.

The characters of Ben and Freya are well developed. They are so very different from each other but together they just work. I adored them both. Evil is personified in Dantalion, the demon. His introduction was enough to keep me nervous about his inevitable return. I did have a few issues with the name 'Dantalion', though - for some reason I kept thinking of a musketeer. That's probably just me.


The 'Power Words' and 'Historical Note' at the back of the book were both great additions and I'd like to play on that a bit. The five 'power words' I would use to describe this story are: riveting; powerful; exciting; magical; compelling. Even after reading all 374 pages, I wanted more. Thankfully The Last Seal is the first in a series. I can't wait for the next one. Boys and girls from middle school age to adulthood will be totally captivated by Mr Denning's book.

A Taste From Page 91:

"Well, the scroll was written by Cornelius after he had created the seals. He had hidden the slab itself in a secret location protected by another even more potent seal: The Last Seal. He was a genius. Beyond intelligent, he was unique and seemed to know and understand certain matters at almost a divine level. He used obscure Words of Power that only he could understand: only he and perhaps a direct descendant."

Feeling the intensity of the man's stare upon him Ben thought he could tell which way the conversation was going. He was filled with a sense of awe at the implications of what Gabriel was saying.