Tag Archives: demons

March 28, 2013 · 6:00 am

Hell to Pay by Matthew Hughes

Matthew Hughes

This is the third (and last, I believe) book in the To Hell and Back trilogy by Matthew Hughes. You can check out my reviews of The Damned Busters and Costume Not Included. Be warned, there are spoilers here for those first two books!

At the end of Costume Not Included, things were a little wonky. Satan, Hardacre, Chesney’s Mom, and Joshua were all chilling in the Garden of Evil working on a new draft of the Bible. And from spending time in Joshua’s presence, Chesney was cured of his autism and now behaved and thought more like a normal person.

Now Chesney (with the help of his demon sidekick Xaphan) is battling bad guys out-of-town while Melda tries to manage the financial assets that Hardacre left in their care. Chesney also learns that Poppy Paxton hasn’t been the same since Xaphan wiped her memory of the horrible things she saw, and he’s determined to make it right. Meanwhile, Satan’s archduke Adramalek knows that something suspicious is going on when he can’t contact Satan and Xaphan isn’t talking. Also, there are warrior dinosaurs.

Basically a lot of crap hits the fan, and it went in a really odd direction. There were still some enjoyable parts and I was happy to see more of Xaphan, but the first book in this series was definitely the best. I feel like the ending of this book was a bit of a cop-out, honestly. But remember how I mentioned that Chesney becomes normal at the end of the second book? Well that bothered me, because Chesney’s high-functioning autism kind of made him fun. Well at least in this book, he learns that sometimes being normal kind of sucks, and that made me happy.

Anyways, this was an okay book but a disappointing end to the series. I wish there was a book just about Xaphan!

Sarah Says: 3 stars

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October 4, 2012 · 10:15 am

Costume Not Included by Matthew Hughes

 

Remember how much I gushed about the cool book called The Damned Busters? And then I went to buy the sequel and they had JUST gotten rid of it before I got there and I was so sad? Well I went and ordered it online and started reading it the same day it came in the mail, so here we are!

Costume Not Included is book 2 of the To Hell and Back series and picks up just a couple weeks after the events of the first book. (So you know, SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK, GO READ THAT ONE FIRST THEN COME BACK HERE.)

Chesney is enjoying his crime-fighting and spending time with his first girlfriend ever, Melda and life is pretty good. That is, until his mother starts harping on him to come read what her boyfriend, the Reverend Hardacre, has been writing – The Book of Chesney, in which Chesney becomes the next big prophet and helps restructure the world. Between trying to find and fight crime, telling everyone that he doesn’t want to be a prophet, and trying to keep his girlfriend and mother from tearing each other apart, Chesney has his hands full.

So, this book was still a lot of fun – but admittedly, less than the first book. There was a lot less of Xaphan, which made me sad. His 1920′s gangsta-talking ways crack me up. For instance, this scene between Chesney and him:

“Is there anything you aren’t telling me?” he said.

The enlarged weasel eyes looked at him sideways. “Yes.”

“What?”

The demon began ticking off its stubby fingers: “The median annual temperature in Timbuktu, the middle name of the guy who stocks the meat cooler at the Safeway on Route 44, the measurements of the winner and first runner-up in last year’s Miss Universe pageant, the-”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“That’s a relief,” said the fiend. “We coulda been here all night.”

 

Also, Chesney kind of lets himself fade into the background and trusts Melda to make most decisions for him. The religion subplot (that God is just an author who is constantly re-writing a book – a book in which we are all just the characters) was still unique, but started to take a confusing turn when Hardacre’s plan to turn Chesney into a prophet was added in.

Overall, this was still a really enjoyable book about good guy Chesney just trying to save the day, and I am SO excited that the third book, Hell to Pay, comes out in February the day before my birthday. I’ll obviously be buying it the day it comes out!

 

Sarah Says: 3.5 stars

 

 

 

 

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September 6, 2012 · 5:00 am

The Damned Busters by Matthew Hughes

Matthew Hughes

I LOVE it when I decide to purchase a book on  a whim, without ever hearing of the author or the books, and it turning out to be a really good book. I was browsing around Barnes and Noble a while ago and they had this book and its sequel, Costume Not Included, on one of the display racks. I read the description of the first book, The Damned Busters, and decided it sounded fun enough and bought it.

Chesney Anstruther accidentally summons a demon one night, and when he refuses to sell his soul it sets off a volatile situation in which Hell goes on strike. Bad things stop happening everywhere, which turns out to be a very bad thing. To try to get his demons back to work, Satan comes up and strikes a bargain with Chesney, which results in him having personal use of the demon Xaphan for two hours everyday to fulfill his heart’s desire: to be a crime-fighting superhero!

This book hooked me in from the very first page. Chesney is a fun character – he’s a bit of a beta male, but he’s also a numbers whiz and pretty clever – almost to a fault. He’s a nice guy though, and I liked seeing him think his way through social interactions and his crime-fighting ways. He loves his comics, and all he wants to do is be a good guy superhero and help fight bad guys. The fact that he has to team up with a demon to do this is hilarious, and I ended up really liking Xaphan – who talks like a 1920′s gangster. But it turns out fighting crime may not be as simple as Chesney was thinking…

There’s also a bit of a religious plot underneath everything that I’m really liking – obviously, since Hell is involved. I don’t want to spoil it for you because it’s a really inventive and unique idea, so you should just read it and see for yourself.

A shy guy who dresses up and fights crime, a gangster-slang talkin’ demon, tension between Heaven and Hell, various dames that may or may not need rescuing – seriously, this book has a lot of weird stuff that comes together in a pretty awesome way. I flew through this book in just a couple days, and I think I’m going to go to Barnes and Noble today to pick up the sequel*. It was THAT good. And according to the publisher’s site, the third book will be out later this year / early next year. I’m already eagerly awaiting it.

Also, I’m a little sad to see that this book doesn’t have many reviews on Amazon, so I’m purposely going to post my review there. I rarely post my reviews on Amazon, but I really think this book and author deserve the praise!

 

Sarah Says: 4 stars

 

*So I did go to Barnes & Noble to pick it up, and about 15 minutes before I got there they had just scanned that section for returns. Matthew Hughes’ books were on the returns list, so they MOS’d it and stripped off the cover. I was SO SAD. If only I had read this book a little sooner I could have saved that copy of the sequel from being destroyed. So I guess I’ll have to order it now.

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August 20, 2012 · 3:58 pm

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches

 

Wow, the things to say about this book. I avoided A Discovery of Witches for a long time, cause it was really popular and that usually ends with me thinking it’s so overrated. I tentatively put it on my to-read list when I heard the two main characters, Diana and Matthew, compared to Jamie and Claire from Outlander. And I FINALLY got around to reading it last week for the Bout of Books readathon. I started it on audio and got sucked into the story, but I have to say that I didn’t really like the narrator, so I switched to the paperback copy a few chapters in.

Well, it would help if I told you what the book was about, right? Diana Bishop is a scholar and comes from a long line of witches, though she rejects her magic. While doing research in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, she comes across a magical alchemical manuscript but returns it to the stacks in an attempt to keep magic out of her life. But by finding the manuscript, she’s suddenly drew the attention of daemons, witches, and vampires who all want it and will go to drastic lengths to get it. Among them is the handsome vampire Matthew Clairmont, who has an interest in the book but also starts to show an interest in Diana.

BUT IT’S ABOUT SO MUCH MORE. There’s a lot to like in this book – it starts off with the mystery surrounding the manuscript and evolves into a complex plot with a wide range of characters. I’m trying to avoid saying “It’s so good and you should just read it” so how about I list the stuff I liked about the book, mmmkay?

  • The magical world set-up. Basically there’s 4 types of beings – humans, witches, demons (daemons just looks so silly), and vampires. And they all kind of stick to themselves and all have their different quirks. Again, so much more to go into here, but it would spoil some of the discoveries made while reading so I won’t go into detail.
  • The history and scope of the book. The characters visit at least 4 different countries throughout the book, and there’s a good amount of history mentioned in the background of some of these characters.
  • Diana and Matthew – of course they’re a cool couple and I rooted for their romance. I would NOT compare it to Jamie & Claire – they’re not that good. In fact, in the beginning they’re a little bit Twilight-ish which turned me off, but the dynamics of their relationship changed as they story went on so that wasn’t an issue.
  • Awesome secondary characters, including Matthew’s friend Hamish and Diana’s over-protective aunts.
  • The fun whimsical stuff that accompanies paranormal and magical stuff in books – cool powers, ghosts, traits of the creatures, etc.
  • A whole lot happens in this book and kept me reading at a really fast pace, and even though this is very clearly the start of a trilogy it had a good solid ending too. I can’t wait to start the sequel, Shadow of Night. I already have it!

And for some balance, a couple of things that bugged me…

  • Diana’s personality throughout the book completely changes. It’s good, cause she was a bit narrow-minded and whiny in the beginning. I’m actually pleased with the way her character grew, but the growth was a bit abrupt, at least to me.
  • Vampire-lore. I get that vampires are fiction and therefore the rules can be played with, but really – vampires that can be in the sun AND can eat regular food on occasion? That’s a little convenient. But thank goodness there’s no sparkly vampires, so I guess no harm really done.

 

Sick of me rambling yet? A Discovery of Witches is a really good book. There’s a little something for everyone: magic, history, science, ethics, mystery, romance, action… you get the picture.

 

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

 

 

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February 20, 2012 · 8:18 am

Review: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I couldn’t decide on a cover, lol.

  • Title: Good Omens; The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch
  • Authors: Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
  • Publisher: Ace, 1990
  • Pages: 354
  • ISBN: 0441008615

Dude… I am not having good luck with Neil Gaiman.
 
So, I’m taking part in Jenn’s Gaiman Challenge this year, because he’s one of those authors that I feel like I should really like. He’s really popular, especially among other fantasy authors, so of course he’s got to be awesome, right? I tried American Gods a few years ago and DNF-ed it, but I’m giving Gaiman another chance via this challenge.
 
So, I wanted to DNF Good Omens too. I was so excited to read it because (just like American Gods), the premise sounded SO GOOD. The end of the world is coming up, but the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley have been on Earth pretty much since it began, and they’ve grown rather fond of it. They decide to keep a close eye on the Anti-Christ, to see that he doesn’t grow up too evil and bring about the end of everything. They seem to have lost him, however. Also, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming together, and there’s witchhunters running around, and a weird witch with an extremely accurate Book of Prophecies, and… yeah.
 
I have a feeling that I would have liked this book much, much better if it had focused solely on Aziraphale and Crowley. They were definitely the most interesting characters of the book, and I actually kind of liked them. However they barely account for half of the book – the rest is split among the Horsemen, the Anti-Christ child and his friends, Anathema the witch, the witch-hunters, etc… Gaiman and Pratchett put so many characters and storylines into this book that it was kind of boring, and I developed no real attachment to any of the characters. And while there was a little humor and I enjoyed the footnotes at the bottom of the pages, it really wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.
 
In all honesty, if I hadn’t been reading this for a challenge, and because I know how much Jenn loves it, I would have quit about 100 pages in.
 
The only thing that makes me feel a little better is that I went online upon finishing and read some more about the book, and apparently Pratchett wrote the majority of the book. I mean, they wrote it together and whatnot but he spent more time on it than Gaiman. Which makes me still optimistic about trying a different Gaiman book… Perhaps Stardust or The Graveyard Book next. I WILL find one I like, dammit!
 
Sarah Says: 2 stars

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May 18, 2011 · 4:42 pm

>Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore

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I cannot believe I haven’t reviewed a Christopher Moore book on this blog yet!!! Chris Moore is one of my very favorite authors – he’s absolutely weird and hysterical. I re-read his novel Lamb last year, but apparently it was before I really got into the swing of things on the blog.

So, this is Moore’s debut novel. Surprisingly I hadn’t read it yet – actually, I’ve now read all but 3 of his books. Kind of like Jane Austen, I try to spread them out. Luckily, Chris Moore is still alive and kicking and still writing, so there will be more from him, but still. I like to spread his novels out for pure enjoyment.

Practical Demonkeeping is about a man named Travis, who has been traveling the country with the demon Catch for the last hundred years. Travis looks about 25 but he’s actually been around since the 1920s-ish, constantly traveling and trying to find a way to send Catch back to hell. Catch has a nasty habit of eating people, and while Travis can try to hold him back, he can’t rest until he sends the creepy bastard back where he came from. Finally, his search leads him to the tiny California town of Pine Cove, where he hopefully finds the answers he’s looking for.

I enjoyed this novel for a bunch of reasons. Partly because Pine Cove and it’s residents appear in future Christopher Moore books, so I was able to see them again and learn more about them. Catch also appears in another novel (Lamb), and while he’s technically a bad guy cause he’s a people-eating demon – he’s also really snarky and kind of funny. I was glad to see so much of him in this book. There’s also a hint of mythological and biblical backstory, in which we learn who exactly Catch is and when he was Earth-side up before.

While there weren’t a whole lot of laugh-out-loud moments, there was a lot of witty wordplay. And I liked this quote the best:

“Are you saying,” Brine interrupted, “that the human race was created to irritate Satan?”
“That is correct. Jehovah is infinite in his snottiness.”

I totally enjoyed meeting the residents of Pine Cove all over again, but I will say that sometimes I got kind of lost in the big cast. I guess that’s where this really shows that it’s Moore’s first novel. It’s my only complaint.

If you’re new to Christopher Moore, I wouldn’t recommend starting with this one. Try Lamb, A Dirty Job, or Bloodsucking Fiends first. This is still a worthy read though, and I’m glad I own it and can add it to my Moore collection.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

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December 13, 2010 · 2:23 pm

>The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

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OK, let me say that this was entertaining, and I never found it dull. If you’re looking for something engaging and mildly intellectual, this might be a good pick for you. Now be forewarned that I am an atheist (or at the very least, I really don’t like organized religion) and that assuredly biases my view on the book. Just as I’m sure a Christian reading it would be biased. I honestly don’t know how you couldn’t be biased when reading something like this, but anyways…

C.S. Lewis writes as Screwtape, an accomplished demon / devil who writes advice-filled letters to his nephew Wormwood, a new “tempter” who is try to damn a young man.

If you’re a Christian or even just mildly religious, you might feel that this is an eye-opening account of how evil really works and how much you have to be alert for all the ways in which you might be tempted. Which I’m sure is EXACTLY what C.S. Lewis wants you to feel. For me, it’s him (Lewis) blaming every little thing that men think, say, or do on temptation from demons. Have you ever seen the movie The Waterboy? You know his mama that says that everything is “the devil”? That’s pretty much C.S. Lewis here.

He implies that well-educated skeptics are on their way to Hell. He implies aethists are on their way to hell. He implies that the devil is what makes men want to work for things like social justice. He implies that trying to be unselfish is the devil’s work. He implies that it’s the devil’s fault that women are less likely to marry and have children. Seriously, if there’s something a human does, the devil is probably to blame. He removes all human accountability for their actions, and lays all the blame on the devil’s work- therefore trying to make you really paranoid that every little want, desire, or thought you have MIGHT be the devil at work and you should take caution.

Also, it’s interesting that in Lewis’s Hell, demons actually have records offices, demons-in-training, and intelligence-gathering offices. It was fun to picture Hell as an office-type setting. That might be the one thing that he got right.

3 stars

~Sarah

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