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A review by siavahda
The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas
2.0
I loved the concept a lot more than I did the execution, so I'm not sure how much of my 'meh' is actually reflective of the book's quality rather than my disappointment that it wasn't what I'd hoped for. To me it read as shallow and choppy, poking at half a dozen different Issues without giving any of them the depth and development they deserved, with a very jerky plot that was just too predictable to be very interesting. A lot of the 'twists' happened very abruptly, jumping from problem to resolution (or mystery to reveal) with nothing in-between - I knew each one was coming, but only because of course it was, rather than because the story built to each one organically. Very little made any kind of sense (I still don't understand whether the Paradise Society was resurging or not, or what it meant if they were. They didn't do anything??? It was like they were just there to be a vaguely scary prescence waaay back in the background. Way back. So far back they're basically invisible.) and the answers we did get came at the very last minute, told instead of shown.
And a lot went unanswered entirely. If demons are afraid of God does that mean He exists? Are demons evil or not? Where do they come from? Demons fuel magic somehow? But other people do magic without demons? The Wish Man is unkillable except for how he isn't? How did Kevin know the symbols and how does that help anyone decode them? What was up with Clea? Something about the town draws the occult, but Wish House can be anywhere? So what makes this town special?
Okay, no, I'm docking another star, because I finished this just a few minutes ago and the more I think about it the more it annoys me. There was so much that was Needlessly Mysterious or B-movie horror-esque (Mathis removing her glasses: of course she has a dead blind eye behind them. Of course she does. Because this is That Kind Of Story.) or just randomly handwaved. It's very quick and easy to read, but only because there's no real substance to it.
It's depressing to consider how great this could have been versus what we got instead.
And a lot went unanswered entirely. If demons are afraid of God does that mean He exists? Are demons evil or not? Where do they come from? Demons fuel magic somehow? But other people do magic without demons? The Wish Man is unkillable except for how he isn't? How did Kevin know the symbols and how does that help anyone decode them? What was up with Clea? Something about the town draws the occult, but Wish House can be anywhere? So what makes this town special?
Okay, no, I'm docking another star, because I finished this just a few minutes ago and the more I think about it the more it annoys me. There was so much that was Needlessly Mysterious or B-movie horror-esque (Mathis removing her glasses: of course she has a dead blind eye behind them. Of course she does. Because this is That Kind Of Story.) or just randomly handwaved. It's very quick and easy to read, but only because there's no real substance to it.
It's depressing to consider how great this could have been versus what we got instead.