The Fifth Quest

by Debra Oswald

Rosie is about to be catapulted into a high-powered world of TV making, special effects, TV stars and fame that will test herself and her friendships. Meanwhile, Maya, the character she plays in a hit fantasy series, faces tests of her own. Ages 11+.

Genres: Young Adult

248 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Debra Oswald is a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She is a two-time winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award and author of the novels Useful (2015), The Whole Bright Year (2018) and The Family Doctor (2021). She was creator/head writer of the first five seasons of the successful TV series Offspring.

Her stage plays have been performed around the world and published by Currency Press. Gary's House, Sweet Road and The Peach Season were all shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award. Debra has also written four plays for young audiences—Dags, Skate, Stories in the Dark and House on Fire. She has written three Aussie Bites books and six children's novels, including The Redback Leftovers.

Her television credits include award-winning episodes of Police Rescue, Palace of Dreams, The Secret Life of Us, Sweet and Sour and Bananas in Pyjamas.

Debra performed her one-woman show Is There Something Wrong With That Lady? at the Griffin Theatre in 2021 and a month-long season at the Ensemble in 2023.

Reviews

[Carlyn Brody]

I first saw this book when I was sixteen. My favourite place to hang out was the bookshop and I use to spend all my money there. I remember picking up this book a few times and reading bits of it. I wanted to buy the book but never got around to it. Eventually, all the copies were gone and I forgot the title of the book and author. I tried to search for a copy online but that was hard to find without name of the book and the author so I never got anywhere. Fortunately, I found a copy in a thrift shop and bought it.

The Fifth Quest is a fictional fantasy TV show similar to Xena. The star of the show is Ashtari, a warrior princess who also has magical powers and can speak almost all ancient languages. Ashtari travels the lands righting wrongs with her trusty sidekick, a half dog man Kish and hunky brother Xanthus.

‘Zumara is too old to continue the girl’s training’ explained the fortune teller. ‘The time has come for you to fetch Maya and take her on as your apprentice.’ (p. 3 The Fifth Quest).

Fifteen year old Rosie Cordell and her friend Nadia are obsessed with the show. They mouth the words when they watch and spend hours talking about the littlest details. One day, there is an audition for a new sidekick for the Quest series and Nadia drags Rosie along to the audition. Rosie wins the coveted role of Maya, the new companion. The book is about Rosie’s journey through fame and how it impacts on her friendship with Nadia.

I don’t even think she meant to put me down. It’s just that Nadia’s opinions were so loud and they whooshed through her brain so fast, she drowned out other people’s ideas without even realising she was doing it. After a while it gets to you and you give up expressing your opinion. (p. 96 The Fifth Quest).

The book alternates between chapters on the TV show and Rosie’s life. Rosie matures through the experience starting off as naïve and a bit of a pushover into someone more assertive. Rosie has to deal with the entertainment industry types with all their egos and smooth talking. As an adult, I groaned at some of the stuff that she got lead into but I realised that I could have been the same at that age. I also liked the difficult relationship that Rosie had with Nadia, as Nadia was really the one who wanted to be an actress. The two suffer from a lot of misunderstanding and jealousy which resolves near the ending.


I also liked the behind the scenes look at what goes on a TV show. Debra Oswald was a writer for many Tv shows and films so some things in the book are drawn from her experiences. I also think that she balances the perks of fame and the downside in an honest and realistic way. The book is a fun read and I think teenagers will like it, particularly those wanting to be actors.

[ayyahness]

I wasn't wrong when I first thought that The Fifth Quest would be an easy read. That's what you get when you try to read something out of your age, but I'm not saying it in a negative way.

Probably, it's with the demographic target, that the half of the book seemed to be a bit rushed. Characters like Neil and Patrick could have been established better, in order to give Rosie a clearer perspective of trust through her experiences (It has always been Anita who did the job, and the inserts of Neil and Patrick by the end didn't come to me as something very effective). Honestly, it could have been executed better, but the rush in the end wasn't actually that bad. It's just that it has this really biiiiiig potential to be a better book.

It was a nice read, though.

[Belle]

This is the story of a normal teen girl who becomes an actor in a country famous TV series.
The book started out with some promise, and it was at an okay level of interesting, but then it kind of went downhill from there. The things that happened in the story seemed believable enough, but the author could have written them better. And they just didn't seem to flow right.

[Selah Bell]

This is the story of a normal teen girl who becomes an actor in a country famous TV series.
The book started out with some promise, and it was at an okay level of interesting, but then it kind of went downhill from there. The things that happened in the story seemed believable enough, but the author could have written them better. And they just didn't seem to flow right.

[Elizabeth]

This is the book I go to when I have nothing to read. It's a comfort book. Easy to read and has been one of my favorites since primary school. It was one of the first books I read from front to back. I hold it very close to my heart :)