Book Review: The Demon's Lexicon
Aug. 14th, 2009 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I finished Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon today. I'm of two minds about the book - I can't decide whether I liked it or not. On the one hand, it's exciting and fast-paced and set in an interesting world; on the other, I loathe the main character, and the writing style leaves something to be desired.
The good: this is a very plotty book. I kept picking it up, oh, I'll read to the end of the chap - oh, wait, I finished that chapter fifty pages ago. Oops. But wait! Nick and company are heading off on another adventure! Never mind it's three o'clock in the morning!
Furthermore, the plot is not merely fast-moving but twisty, and the twists are both utterly unexpected and thoroughly logical once revealed. Books usually fall down on at least one of those criteria, so I salute Brennan's plotting skills.
She also displays a decent hand for world-building. It isn't particular deep, but it hangs together nicely, and she doesn't waste time trying to cobble together an explanation for how all of this works: it works that way because it works that way, kind of like electricity, if electricity could eat you soul.
The bad: I wanted to kill the main character, Nick, by about page twenty. By halfway through the book, I would have accepted the death of his brother (who was a sweetie) as reasonable collateral damage for removing Nick from the world forevermore.
This is a matter of personal taste - Nick's a sociopath, except for his affection for his brother Alan, and other people may find that more compelling than I do.
However, Nick's sociopathy doesn't excuse the fact that every single time emotions come up we are informed, at some length, about how Nick feels emotions are stupid, and doesn't understand them, et cetera et cetera, I got that on page fifteen so just let the poor dead horse lie there already, okay?
The other characters have similarly repetitive descriptions. Alan is kind; the girl Alan has a crush on is brave and determined; the girl's brother is weak. I realize that Nick is not supposed to be verbally gifted and perhaps one shouldn't expect a lot of variety from him - but that's a really poor excuse for characterization by sledgehammer - especially given that Nick's dialogue rarely suggests he has verbal troubles. He's usually pretty witty. Cruel, but witty.
At least the characters live up to their descriptions. There is nothing more annoying than a character who is described, practically defined, by their kindness or cruelty or bravery, and then fails so show any sign of that trait. And, while they aren't particularly deep, they get the job done: it's a very exciting book.
Bottom line: it's worth reading, although I wouldn't make a point of seeking it out. I'll be interested to see what her next book is - I'm confident that some of the flaws in this book will smooth out once Brennan is more confident in her skills - but she's not on my must-read list of authors by any means.
(If anyone else has read The Demon's Lexicon, I'd love to discuss it with spoilers in the comments.)
The good: this is a very plotty book. I kept picking it up, oh, I'll read to the end of the chap - oh, wait, I finished that chapter fifty pages ago. Oops. But wait! Nick and company are heading off on another adventure! Never mind it's three o'clock in the morning!
Furthermore, the plot is not merely fast-moving but twisty, and the twists are both utterly unexpected and thoroughly logical once revealed. Books usually fall down on at least one of those criteria, so I salute Brennan's plotting skills.
She also displays a decent hand for world-building. It isn't particular deep, but it hangs together nicely, and she doesn't waste time trying to cobble together an explanation for how all of this works: it works that way because it works that way, kind of like electricity, if electricity could eat you soul.
The bad: I wanted to kill the main character, Nick, by about page twenty. By halfway through the book, I would have accepted the death of his brother (who was a sweetie) as reasonable collateral damage for removing Nick from the world forevermore.
This is a matter of personal taste - Nick's a sociopath, except for his affection for his brother Alan, and other people may find that more compelling than I do.
However, Nick's sociopathy doesn't excuse the fact that every single time emotions come up we are informed, at some length, about how Nick feels emotions are stupid, and doesn't understand them, et cetera et cetera, I got that on page fifteen so just let the poor dead horse lie there already, okay?
The other characters have similarly repetitive descriptions. Alan is kind; the girl Alan has a crush on is brave and determined; the girl's brother is weak. I realize that Nick is not supposed to be verbally gifted and perhaps one shouldn't expect a lot of variety from him - but that's a really poor excuse for characterization by sledgehammer - especially given that Nick's dialogue rarely suggests he has verbal troubles. He's usually pretty witty. Cruel, but witty.
At least the characters live up to their descriptions. There is nothing more annoying than a character who is described, practically defined, by their kindness or cruelty or bravery, and then fails so show any sign of that trait. And, while they aren't particularly deep, they get the job done: it's a very exciting book.
Bottom line: it's worth reading, although I wouldn't make a point of seeking it out. I'll be interested to see what her next book is - I'm confident that some of the flaws in this book will smooth out once Brennan is more confident in her skills - but she's not on my must-read list of authors by any means.
(If anyone else has read The Demon's Lexicon, I'd love to discuss it with spoilers in the comments.)