The Maze of the Beast was always my favourite entry in the first Deltora Quest series, so I was very keen to revisit this particular book in my reread.

After leaving Dread Mountain, our heroes find themselves following the river Tor towards the coast where they knew the sixth gem would be. They are saved from two shapeshifters called Ols by Dain, the boy who they had previously seen travelling with Doom back in Rithmere.

The introduction of the Ols were fantastic, adding that extra level of paranoia to our companions travels and interactions - not knowing if at any point, they could be caught unawares by these shapeshifters in various guises.

Dain himself is an interesting addition, and you can see the little hints and clues that Rodda is leaving that he is more than what he seems (it's a double twist!! But I get ahead of myself).

Jasmine deciding to travel apart from the group half way through as she is the most recognisable one of the party definitely upped the stakes, as she is by far the most competent out of the trio.

I had completely forgotten the whole plot with the pirates, and they really feel very bizarre compared to the rest of the story. It felt like they were only added because this story was on the coast/river, therefore pirates.

The maze section itself with the Glus is still great, with well written atmosphere and terror, and I can definitely see how this left a huge impression on me back then. Our companions being forced to listen to the other pirate who ended up in there with them running away from the Glus, screams and splashing footsteps echoing through the twisting maze is just wonderfully visceral.

The Amethyst just being in a random rock in the maze was a little... uninspired? Confusing? Eh. Bit disappointing compared to the rest of the book.

4/5, onwards to The Valley of the Lost!

I liked the characters just not the creature. I had a few nightmares.

Definitely one of the darkest and slimiest of the original series, whatwith the imagery of the Glus and the Maze (great originality with the dripping walls slowly sealing the victims in place). The visuals of The Glus are especially creepy, kudos to Rodda. And while the pirates are a bit one-note, they add a more relatable human villain element to contrast all the monsters and such. The River Queen steamboat was a fun touch. I was imagining a certain episode from Over the Garden Wall during the boat scenes though of course lacking the whimsy of that show.

Also, I do love the introduction of the Ols, who play a big part in the overall story. They're the kind of villains that insert that feeling of mistrust through every following scene: "is this character reeeeally the character we've known these past few books?" Great writing device, can't let the readers become took complacent.

3⭐️ It's been a while since I started this series, and I'm somewhat back. We have one more book to collect the last gem and then a book about going back to the palace. Along the way, we meet more dangers and characters we've met from the rithmere games. Aside from the obvious monster itself (Glus the thing on the cover), a new monster encounter called ols. It can take the form of a person, but there are flaws in them, like can't go more than 3 days to shift back, and it's behaviour is accurate to the real person.

I don't understand how in the shifting sand Doom was begging them to join the resistance and stay at the stronghold but then when they did join their stronghold two books later, he throws them in a "test" (isolation for 3 days) to see if they're monster because of the ols and when they DID past the test he wasn't planning on letting them out. What was the point in forcing to join??? I get that they're being cautious, but you knew them and behaviour BEFOREHAND and yet????

Anyways I enjoyed the rest of the journey, I think in the next book, Tora will get explained more, and a certain someone (you know who you are) will reveal his true self. I don't have much else to say. Every chapter is exactly how the show went, and we're so close to getting the last gem.