Demon Road by Derek Landy, a review (The Demon Road Trilogy, #1)

Demon Road by Derek Landy is the first in an urban fantasy trilogy set in the USA. After reading and adoring the Skulduggery Pleasant series for so many years I just had to try out his alternative series.

Demon Road by Derek Landy

We follow a 16 year old called Amber, who discovers that her parents are demons who want to eat her, because it will increase their power. And all her parents friends are in on it too, bar one. That one helps Amber to escape and she goes on the run on essentially the supernatural version of Route 66, meeting some violent and magical people along the way.

Amber, unfortunately, did feel like a knock-off Valkyrie (the main character in the Skulduggery series). She was interesting, but just felt a little 2D and lacking in dynamics. Our secondary characters, however, were pretty fleshed out and I enjoyed learning more about them! (Other than the token Irish character, who really needs some more fleshing out. Although it seems like he might get that in the next book, but right now? Glen ain’t my fave). The characters have a similar banter style that we’ve become used to in the SP series, not the same thankfully, but just as banter heavy and slightly ridiculous which makes it fun.

The instigating plotline in this one is… quite ridiculous. It almost makes Skulduggery look normal. But the actual story arc is done well and I enjoyed the road trip aspect, traveling around the US and stumbling across various deadly supernatural entities. The book leaves off with the prospect of this continuing in the the rest of the series so that could be fun. I also really enjoyed our anti-heroine-demon MC, definitely something a little different. She’s not portrayed as pure or as completely breaking away from her demon nature. If anything Landy leans into it and makes her a little worse. But that’s just what makes her seem more like a real person.

Unfortunately there did seem to be a fair amount of fatphobia towards the main character in this book, it seems to be lightly fought back against by Landy but not enough in my opinion. And Ambers overall appearance is heavily focused on (seriously Glen, you’re such a prick about this) with insults continuously flung about calling her ugly in her human form. There’s honestly no need for that and I hope it’s toned down a lot for the next books.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 7, Atmosphere: 6, Writing: 6, Plot: 7, Intrigue: 6, Logic: 7 and Enjoyment: 7 which gives an average of 6.57 and a 3.5* rating. I’m debating whether I’ll round this up or down on Goodreads.

Highlight here for trigger warnings: murder, death, blood, cannibalism, gore, violence, trafficking, child death, gun violence, kidnapping, stalking, fatphobia, emotional abuse.

Overall, this isn’t as good as the Skulduggery series. And whilst it feels rude to compare them it also is inevitable. However, separate from that series it’s still a decent book (separate from the fatphobia and Glen – but Glen might just be me) and I’d still recommend for people who think it sounds interesting to give it a shot. You should just also try out the Skulduggery series!

Have you read anything from Landy? Did I mention Skulduggery Pleasant too much? Let me know! 🤣

The River and the Book by Alison Croggon, a review

The River and the Book by Alison Croggon is my first book by her since I read the Pellinor Series. We all know how much I love that series (check out my handle) so I was super excited to dive into more from her!

This is a short, but beautiful, book that has solidified my love for Croggon’s writing. We follow a young girl named Simbala who is very important in her village. She can speak to the Book, which answers the villagers questions. It’s an honoured position and one that she understands the weight of. The river is also incredibly important to the village, but they notice that it is not as prosperous as it used to be. In fact the river seems to be poisoned from the cotton plantations upstream which don’t care about what they pump into the river. One day a western woman comes to the village, looking into the damage that the river pollution is causing. But she is the biggest danger of all to the village.

This book has important and nuanced discussions on white saviours and their “good” intentions versus the negative impacts that they leave in their wake. Simbala spends years attempting to correct the impact of this western woman, but nothing will ever be the same again.

From a literature perspective we get to see so much character development from Simbala, she starts off not knowing anything about the outside world. Because she doesn’t need to. But as that need changes she slowly learns more and sees others reactions. She still maintains her convictions and her beliefs, whilst becoming a different person than she was when she left her home. There is also fantastic worldbuilding. Whilst this is a very mild urban fantasy, Croggon still does a fantastic job of embellishing and explaining the world and I feel so invested in the lives of these people.

On CAWPILE I rated this: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 8, Writing: 8, Plot: 10, Intrigue: 9, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 9 giving an overall score of 8.71 and a 4.5* rating.

Highlight here for trigger warnings: a passing mention of rape, poverty depicted, cultural appropriation, death of a parent, colonialism, xenophobia.

I loved this read and I’m so so glad that I finally delved into more from Croggon. This is a beautiful book and I really do recommend picking it up! (as well as obviously the Pellinor series – duh). Have you read anything from Alison Croggon before? Are you going to now? Let me know!!

The Dying of the Light, a review

This is the ninth book in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy and was originally intended to be the last. Which means this was supposed to be the big finale. And oh boy did Landy deliver.

This is an amazing “last” book. So many people died. My heart was broken so many times. And this is a reread for me! I’ve read this book a few times, but most recently I’ve been doing a full series reread along with the Dead Famous Readalong. So this was impacting me when I already knew the story.

We have sharp twists and turns, where nothing is anything like it seems whilst we try to avoid the “big evil” (look I’m trying to be spoiler free), and Landy engineers this in a way that wraps up so much about the world and all those loose ends that we’ve had floating around from the previous books.

Don’t get me wrong, the book isn’t perfect. Some things didn’t quite make sense, with the plot being a little choppy in places, but regardless this was still a fun read.

For my CAWPILE ratings I gave this book: Characters: 9, Atmosphere: 10, Writing: 9, Plot: 8, Intrigue: 8, Logic: 8, and Enjoyment: 8. That gives an overall score of 8.57 which is a 4 star book.

It’s not perfect. But this was a good book and even better when knowing we still had more of the world to delve into.

Midnight by Derek Landy

I have been reading this series for years now. I first read them by borrowing them from my middle school library, and then my mum got me the first 3 paperbacks (all that was out at the time) for Christmas. Since then I have gotten every single book within a week of its release date and I’ll be honest I’m completely biased and love all of these books. This urban fantasy world has been built so well and I’ve enjoyed the way that Landy has managed to keep the books relevant to his older readers since the series first started and also relevant to the children finding the books today.

In the eleventh book in the series, Val is back and her little sister Alice is in danger. She’s been kidnapped in order to lure Valkyrie into a fight, and she’s running straight for it. We have Omen back in this book again, and I enjoyed his contribution. We don’t need everyone to be a badass! Sometimes it’s great to see how someone like us would react (because let’s be real, no matter how much I wish I was Val, I’m definitely an Omen) in this world of madness and magic.

Some people aren’t enjoying this revived series, which to be honest I hadn’t seen until I was writing up this review. I have never actually checked the internet that deeply for skulduggery related content, and I was kind of surprised to see the negativity from fans. But I also understand it, the series definitely has a different feel in this “new” series, and it did also feel like it had been rushed to completion. But I still really enjoyed being back in this world and devoured this book in one sitting, so if you like the world Landy has built I do definitely recommend still picking this one up.

If you’ve never read a Skulduggery Pleasant book then what are you waiting for? It’s a book about magic, a skeleton detective and a young girl in Ireland. It’s awesome!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, a review

So I’ve finally read a Cassandra Clare book, it took me long enough! Not only did it take me a while to buy the book(s) to the point where the box set was out, but I also didn’t read the first book till a couple years after that. And I’ve still only read one, but here we are. I gave the book 4 stars, but it’s a weird one. I obviously did enjoy it, in fact I flew through it incredibly quickly, however, it just was a bit…juvenile? I feel like I would have enjoyed it vastly more if I had been 12 to 15, rather than 21 when I read it.

Part of this was the writing style itself, it just felt very young and underdeveloped, however, I’m sure that Cassandra Clare has improved much over time and I look forward to seeing this progression in future books. There was also the element of the plot, which seemed incredibly predictable and there were only a couple of moments throughout where I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen…

BUT

I still really enjoyed it?! I was simultaneously engrossed within the story and also completely separate and evaluating the events which were taking place on a critical level in a more negative light. It was an incredibly weird experience.

As I said, I still gave this book four stars, and I definitely intend on reading more of Cassandra Clares work as to me this suggests that there is real potential for me to enjoy her future works now that she has so many books out and has honed her writing even further. Fingers crossed that is what has happened and I’ll enjoy the books progressively more as I continue on!

Have you read the Mortal Instruments series? If so what did you think of it? Are you really p***ed off at me for my review or do you think I was too kind? Let’s chat!