The Ballad of Bonaduke—Episode 54: Dantalion by R. T. Slaywood: Countdown

The Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 54: Dantalion

by R.T. Slaywood

DETAILS:
Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #54
Format: Kindle Vella Story
Read Date: July 19, 2024

The Story So Far…

A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.

He’s abducted by some representatives of a mysterious group who subject him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.

Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. He takes refuge in a homeless encampment shortly before a police raid. He’s apprehended and finds himself an interrogation room and shortly escapes after using his grift (but with results he didn’t quite intend). He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and seems to have succeeded—well, the two of them got away from the group anyway—breathing but bruised. They make their way to a fast-food taco joint and Bonaduke really needs to refuel to keep going. He tries, but fails to get food because he keeps passing out. Thankfully, the clerk is the same guy from the liquor store and he both recognizes him and gives him first aid. The woman (Zero) wakes up and shows some abilities of her on as she helps them escape from her captors who’ve tracked her down. One thing leads to another—Zero and Bonaduke’s magics don’t mix well (at least until they understand what each other can do?), and they end up in a video-game race against the squatters in a tricked-out version of Eric (the clerk’s) car. Note, I said video-game race, not a video-game-style race. They’re actually in one. When dumped back into reality, he’s surrounded by bruised and broken bodies (of people and cars). And then he gets into a supernatural fight and survives…just.

Or maybe not. But he gets better. And then his new…friends? Acquaintances? People who keep popping up in his life?…start explaining exactly what’s going on to him while they set up a new HQ and try to teach him about his abilities (and everyone tries to understand them) while they try to fund their further work.

What’s Dantalion About?

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…how do I summarize this? So the little contraption they assembled to take control of the book and free Om worked. Largely, anyway. And not exactly how they thought it would. But…it worked.

The downside is, they freed a malevolent presence in the process. And I’m not sure that Bonaduke or any of the others is really up to dealing with him/it. And…what exactly it wants is pretty vague.

So, what did I think about Dantalion?

You can really tell that Slaywood was having a blast writing this one–and he was really into the frantic pace, filled with action. As he should’ve been.

The downside to that is that he didn’t proofread or anything–so many more mistakes than normal (and, I’m aware that I’ve complained about them before, this is a higher degree). They were primarily distracting enough that they took me out of the moment–just so I could make sure I understood his meaning even when the words didn’t allow it.

But the rest? Good storytelling–plenty of happenings, some degree of telling us what’s going on, and clearly a bunch of people who are in above their heads.

This was a fun one, and I hope the trend continues.