A review by lydsansthekidd
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

3.0

There were a lot of markers from your usual YA novel in this. You had the sort of love triangle between Nick, Alan, and Mae. There was also the usual trope that is prevalent in supernatural YA where someone finds out the truth about their birth. The funny thing is they were there... sort of. Like, the love triangle sort of existed, but not really. Nick was sort of into Mae, but didn't want her because Alan did, but then he doesn't care and it's all a little wishy-washy. I mean, it doesn't help that the third-person limited point of view focusing on Nick doesn't have much to work with since he doesn't conventionally show emotion. The "surprise" about the person's true lineage isn't really a surprise either because it's obvious that they aren't quite what they should be. (Trying to keep it vague, but I think I still probably gave some of it away.)

Tropes aside, the book is still interesting. There are some really good moments in the prose. The characters can be flat, but they're just compelling enough. All and all, I liked it enough.

I will say though that I think this book got recommended to me through the LGBT+ tag. There is a gay character and he's an adorable disaster, but I definitely wish that he had more "screen time" since he was one of the four main characters. I was frequently hoping that instead of sort of fighting over Mae, one of the brothers would show interest in Jamie.