Chasing Evil is book two in this Beast Quest series, and as such, it does not stand alone; it is necessary to read book one in order to understand what drives Tanner and how Gwen came to the story.  The legend has it that whomever wears the Death Mask will control the five magical beasts of Avantia and, therefore, control Avantia.  After the death of the last Death Mask wearer, the mask was broken in four pieces and hidden throughout Avantia.  An evil army is now on the march to retrieve all the pieces of the Death Mask and thus rule Avantia.  Apparently the evil tyrant who last wore the Death Mask has a trace of mortality left and needs the Death Mask to become whole again.  Similar to Voldemort not being all there in the first few Harry Potter novels.  Tanner is revealed as the first ‘chosen rider’ to have a magic beast and is on a quest to find the other pieces.  The last words of his dying grandmother send him to a mapmaker of a nearby village who will help him.  There he meets Gwen, the second ‘chosen rider’ whose beast is a wolf.  Gwen’s jealous, competitive twin brother turns traitor and gives the evil General Gor the locations of the mask pieces.  This is all in book one.  Then, in book two, the one reviewed here, much of the beginning goes about explaining in a not so exciting way, the story from book one.  Here, Tanner and a disbelieving Gwen, go to rescue her twin brother, Geffen.  As they come to another village which has been destroyed by General Gor, they meet Castor, the third ‘chosen rider,’ who beast is a lion.  The three of them team up to go on the hunt for Geffen and the mask pieces.  Where they find him and events surrounding his rescue are exciting, there isn’t really quite enough in this book to give the reader a reason to keep going onto books three and four.  I am curious as to how the beasts play a part in Avantia, but it sure is taking a long time to get to the point.  Many, many battles with unkillable army leaders.