Burn It To Ground
Review of
Demon’s Lexicon
by Sarah Rees Brennan
Sixteen-year-old Nick knows that demons are real.
Magicians call up demons in exchange for their power. The demons can appear in any shape, show you marvels, promise you anything - until you invite them in and receive their mark. What happens next?
First you get possessed.
Then you die.
Nick’s been on the run his whole life, ever since his mother stoel a charm from the most feared magician of them all, and the only person he trusts is his brother Alan. Alan’s just been marked by a demon. Only Nick can save him, but to do so he must face the magicians - and kill them. The hunt is on, and Nick’s going to discover things he never dreamed were out there...
I wasn’t going to read this book. For me, it’s just one of those books that sound real awesome but the problem lies here: according to the backcover, the lead is a male. I rarely read books with male leads. I start them and I like them but I never finish. I actually hate them, because they are good. But no strong female characters means me reads not. Well, yeah, I know it’s sexist. I don’t like it either.
But Demon’s Lexicon isn’t just that. It’s also a book that shocks you. Reading it is like a good game of hide and seek that ends with a huge prize - no matter if you lose or win. Of course, you couldn’t tell it’s awesomeness by reading the backcover. The summary tells you absolutely nothing, it degrades the twisting plot of DL. Thank god the cover - no matter which one - is better.
Straight to the point: the bad boy of bad boys ever, Nick Savyer. I could comment, how I love his way of describing things, as if he sees them through a window. How, through Nick, we see every little detail, how he has this strong grip on everything and how absolutely adorable he is. Yes, I said adorable. Because, yes he is a bad boy, but he’s not bad bad. He’s just like that because of a certain idiot who should be burned alive. But still, I find Nick to be lovely and adorable and he could do anything and I wouldn’t hate him. One of the best things about him is that he makes mistakes. He may have a thick armor on, but it doesn’t make him unfeeling. Plus, Brennan’s way of writing brings out every detail in vivid color and she never fails in bringing him through.
At the start of the book I didn’t think much of one Alan Savyer. And it must be the way Nick thinks of him - Nick sees he has to protect his brother, that he’s the one who has to make the sacrifices for his brother. But, as Brennan brings us to the end and whacks us with a frying pan, we see that the Savyer brothers are both just as adorable in their ways of demon hunting and scheming. He’s the geekier one, the one with the glasses, so of course his points rise up a lot. Plus, we still don’t know everything about what he’s capable of, so he makes me curious.
Mae and Jamie. Let’s start by saying I love Jamie. First, any gay character with a real good personality is a favorite of mine, but his awkwardness is the best. You hardly have awkward characters that aren’t unimportant in books, that aren’t either hated or killer or created just to show off the leading chracters. Jamie’s nothing like that. He lives his own life with his awkwardness and he brings more comedy to the book. It almost feels like without him, DL would be a very angsty book to read. Just the way Nick reacts to him is extraordinary.
Mae. I’m preparing myself for the tomatoes, but I hated her. She wasn’t like Alan, whom I just didn’t get in the beginning, but Mae? I hated her, for she seemed like the Mary Sue virus from fanfiction - the eccentric girl, with secrets, will do anything for her family and gets the hot guy(s) to love her. She seemed to have no imperfections. But here I slapped myself. We see very little of her. Half of the so-called smallness of her character is thanks to Nick: it’s as if he has conflicting emotions about her, so no wonder we, as readers might. So I slapped myself and really looked at her. She loves Jamie, which is wonderfully portrayed in the book, even through Nick and honestly, the girl’s got fire in her. There’s definitely more to her and I’d love to know more.
The brothers’ relationship is - the way I see it - the other carrying force of the book. They both have secrets from each other, they both love each other, even though it might not always seem like it. It all comes down to this amazing need to protect each other, to sacrifice themselves for the other. Now that’s brotherly love if you ask from me. And the same is with Mae and Jamie. They also have this huge love for each other and the need to protect their sibling. But theirs is also more prominent and they embrace it, while the Ryves brothers have this manly way of not showing it.
The second thing for me is Brennan’s writing. It’s so emotion-based, so filled with little details and yet it moves like flowing water - or at places like a raging fire. It won’t let you go, you just breathe it in. Brennan delivers humor and depth in one hand. It makes me feel like that she could pull of even the worst of books with just the way she writes.
The plot is to die for. It’s full of twists and turns so that you never know where it’s going. You think you do, but you don’t. While you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t even know half of the characters. They’re all hiding something from each other and at the end of the book you have no idea who’s who and where the story is going.
So my final words? Read this book. Even if it’s out of your comfort zone with demons, or the main character being a male, read it. It’ll be worth it in end and it’s a beautiful beginning for a trilogy that’s a wild ride with crazy characters.
