Scan barcode
A review by belles_bookshelves
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan
3.0
I usually don’t trust books with pouty lipped guys on the cover (No offense guy on the cover. For any other reason I’m sure you'd seem attractive, but right now you’re on a cover and I don’t trust you). My theory has yet to be debunked. It was really hard to finish reading this. I debated just stopping, but I had some guilty conscious issues. Luckily I did eventually get to the end, which was definitely the best part of the book.
Quick Overview: Nick and his brother Alan with their half crazy mother have been on the run from magicians their whole lives, and have been on their own since their father died. The most persistent magician is Black Arthur, the man who drove their mother mad. He's after a charm she took and is willing to do anything to get it back. Things get even more dangerous when Mae and her brother Jamie come for their help after he's marked by a demon. Nick doesn’t care about helping people and doesn’t care much for them bringing their problems too. He’s only interested in keeping him and his brother safe. The always caring Alan insists on helping them though, and as a result is also marked by a demon. Now instead of running away from magic Nick and Alan, along with the useless tag-alongs, must go looking for magicians to take off the marks. Nick has always seen Alan as the only constant thing in his life, but as secrets slowly start being revealed he realizes Alan has been lying to him, and begins to wonder what else he’s been hiding.
The book is set in present day and as usual, magic is going on right under our stupid noses, we just don’t see it because…well, we’re stupid. The characters bothered me the most. You hear a lot about how hot Nick is. You’d think the author would trust you to understand the first five times within 100 pages it was said. The book is told in third person, but you’re only told Nicks thoughts, which don’t differ much from either anger or… oh wait, that’s about it. Nick is constantly annoyed, angry, or completely void of feelings at any given moment. It’s just tiring to see nothing else but rage page after page. Most times though, I felt Nick had a point, and his logic made sense(maybe not a good sign). Alan was my favorite, but whenever he did something particularly self-sacrificial I’d just want to slap him. I’d probably hate Mae and Jamie too if I were Nick. Actually I just hate Mae. She’s pushy and naïve and was a HUGE pain in my behind. She reminded me of those girls who smoked in the bathroom, drawing scary pictures on their hands and saying they are witches hoping that if they believe it enough then it might actually be true and thus making them the ultimate bad-a**. Jamie was witty and funny, but didn't sound authentic most of the time. It's like he was used as the designated comic-relief-gay-guy. Same with Mae (not the gay part, the not sounding authentic part). Mostly though I was annoyed: Alan protects everyone and has a crush on Mae, who doesn’t deserve him. Mae is missing sections of her brain so she flirts with both Alan and Nick. Nick hates Mae, but she’s kinda hot and he knows no girl can resist his hot bod, but wait that’s not okay because Alan likes her. Hold up, Nick is pissed at Alan so maybe he doesn’t care. Jamie cracks a joke. Nick remembers he hates everyone. Especially Jamie. And Mae. And his crazy mom. Repeat.
I’m a huge sucker for action scenes and this book had enough of those to satisfy me. What I really liked seeing though was the relationship between Alan and Nick. They both want to protect each other and sometimes you see how one does a better job than the other. I feel like I should point out that I thought the whole cheek kissing thing was weird. I know their brothers. They’ll hold hands on the others death bed, and touch their head if the other is unconscious, but under no circumstances have I ever known a male over the age of 12 to kiss another male relative on the cheek. Maybe that’s just me, but moving on. The actions of the characters make sense at the end. Not to sound like a smarty pants but I guessed at the “big secrets” pretty early on, as I think a lot of people did. I admit, some stuff I didn’t guess ahead, but it wasn’t mind blowing. The villain was a bit disappointing at the end too. Still, how all that stuff eventually played out was smart and original. The description was done well; you get a real feel for the characters feelings and the atmosphere.
So in all, the book was hard for me to get through, but the end tied it up well. The whole brotherly bond thing was nice to see. You don’t read many books that depict that. The title is pretty cool and smart. If you’re someone who usually reads books with these types of characters then I’m sure you’ll love it. I admit that I’m kinda resentful at how many and pep talks I had to go through to finally convince myself to finish it. Not sure if I’ll finish the series seeing as I still hate Mae. Maybe if the next cover doesn’t have a pouty lipped boy. We’ll see.
Quick Overview: Nick and his brother Alan with their half crazy mother have been on the run from magicians their whole lives, and have been on their own since their father died. The most persistent magician is Black Arthur, the man who drove their mother mad. He's after a charm she took and is willing to do anything to get it back. Things get even more dangerous when Mae and her brother Jamie come for their help after he's marked by a demon. Nick doesn’t care about helping people and doesn’t care much for them bringing their problems too. He’s only interested in keeping him and his brother safe. The always caring Alan insists on helping them though, and as a result is also marked by a demon. Now instead of running away from magic Nick and Alan, along with the useless tag-alongs, must go looking for magicians to take off the marks. Nick has always seen Alan as the only constant thing in his life, but as secrets slowly start being revealed he realizes Alan has been lying to him, and begins to wonder what else he’s been hiding.
The book is set in present day and as usual, magic is going on right under our stupid noses, we just don’t see it because…well, we’re stupid. The characters bothered me the most. You hear a lot about how hot Nick is. You’d think the author would trust you to understand the first five times within 100 pages it was said. The book is told in third person, but you’re only told Nicks thoughts, which don’t differ much from either anger or… oh wait, that’s about it. Nick is constantly annoyed, angry, or completely void of feelings at any given moment. It’s just tiring to see nothing else but rage page after page. Most times though, I felt Nick had a point, and his logic made sense(maybe not a good sign). Alan was my favorite, but whenever he did something particularly self-sacrificial I’d just want to slap him. I’d probably hate Mae and Jamie too if I were Nick. Actually I just hate Mae. She’s pushy and naïve and was a HUGE pain in my behind. She reminded me of those girls who smoked in the bathroom, drawing scary pictures on their hands and saying they are witches hoping that if they believe it enough then it might actually be true and thus making them the ultimate bad-a**. Jamie was witty and funny, but didn't sound authentic most of the time. It's like he was used as the designated comic-relief-gay-guy. Same with Mae (not the gay part, the not sounding authentic part). Mostly though I was annoyed: Alan protects everyone and has a crush on Mae, who doesn’t deserve him. Mae is missing sections of her brain so she flirts with both Alan and Nick. Nick hates Mae, but she’s kinda hot and he knows no girl can resist his hot bod, but wait that’s not okay because Alan likes her. Hold up, Nick is pissed at Alan so maybe he doesn’t care. Jamie cracks a joke. Nick remembers he hates everyone. Especially Jamie. And Mae. And his crazy mom. Repeat.
I’m a huge sucker for action scenes and this book had enough of those to satisfy me. What I really liked seeing though was the relationship between Alan and Nick. They both want to protect each other and sometimes you see how one does a better job than the other. I feel like I should point out that I thought the whole cheek kissing thing was weird. I know their brothers. They’ll hold hands on the others death bed, and touch their head if the other is unconscious, but under no circumstances have I ever known a male over the age of 12 to kiss another male relative on the cheek. Maybe that’s just me, but moving on. The actions of the characters make sense at the end. Not to sound like a smarty pants but I guessed at the “big secrets” pretty early on, as I think a lot of people did. I admit, some stuff I didn’t guess ahead, but it wasn’t mind blowing. The villain was a bit disappointing at the end too. Still, how all that stuff eventually played out was smart and original. The description was done well; you get a real feel for the characters feelings and the atmosphere.
So in all, the book was hard for me to get through, but the end tied it up well. The whole brotherly bond thing was nice to see. You don’t read many books that depict that. The title is pretty cool and smart. If you’re someone who usually reads books with these types of characters then I’m sure you’ll love it. I admit that I’m kinda resentful at how many and pep talks I had to go through to finally convince myself to finish it. Not sure if I’ll finish the series seeing as I still hate Mae. Maybe if the next cover doesn’t have a pouty lipped boy. We’ll see.