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lightreads ([personal profile] lightreads) wrote2009-08-18 11:50 am
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The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Breennan

The Demon's Lexicon The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Young adult urban fantasy with teenaged brothers running from evil magicians and demons.

All right, this impressed me. I classified it in the first chapter as 'YA urban fantasy with demons: species generic,' but then the protagonist just kept happening. He's fifteen and a sociopath, not to put too fine a point on it, who would see the whole world burn without a qualm as long as his brother is safe. The close POV on him in all his disfunction, and the emotional nuances he does and doesn't get, is mostly deftly handled (except when it's clumsy), and he totally made the book for me.

Observation: It's really strange how a relationship that's deliberately slashy – the author clearly intended the homoerotic subtext and deliberately coded brothers as lovers – just isn't as engaging as unintentional homoeroticism. Perhaps I really do slash for subversion, after all, because when it's spoon-fed so obviously on every page, it's just not as fun.

Criticisms: were the plot twists supposed to be that transparent? Because, well, duh. Also, I'm pretty sure her witty banter in her fanfic was a lot more, um, witty (she wrote Harry Potter back in the day).

Still, when the sequel comes out, I'm there.

View all my reviews >>
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[identity profile] charlie-ego.livejournal.com 2009-08-18 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
It's interesting to see your take on it! Glad you liked it.

So, I think (probably because you're a writer) you fall more into the "ha I see plot twists easily" category than I do... I didn't see the second plot twist (Nick's ID) coming at ALL, though in hindsight, of course, it's completely obvious. I'll actually go out on a limb here and say that if you thought that was transparent you're more discerning than average, given that my husband didn't see it either, and he usually is very good at catching things like that.

Now, the first plot twist (Alan's ID, as well as some of Alan's subterfuges) was in fact completely transparent, and even I got that one. My theory is that part of the idea of the first plot twist was to set me up ("Ha! I so completely saw that coming!") so that I was caught off my guard for the second plot twist. But I guess that didn't work for you :)

I think she was in a real bind with the witty banter, because the whole problem with Nick is that he's not really, er, supposed to do the witty banter thing. So it comes across, at least to me, as a little forced the whole way through. Also, I liked her Harry Potter banter better as well, but there she was able to riff off of what we knew from HP canon. I suspect her later books in this universe will be able to benefit from that particular skill more.

[identity profile] lightreads.livejournal.com 2009-08-19 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
My theory is that part of the idea of the first plot twist was to set me up ("Ha! I so completely saw that coming!"

Yeah, I could believe that, partly because the first twist was so completely obvious. I mean, in the first chapter I think it was we get Nick thinking about how everyone says they don't look alike, at which point I went, "right, got it, moving on." And to be fair I didn't have the second twist perfectly -- I thought he had a demon, but that it was a silent passenger that influenced him, or it did a lot of driving in his head but he didn't know. The clue I missed was the dyslexia, which was a clever touch.

Which was the best part of the book for me. There's this one bit where Nick says something like, "but I knew what the word 'brother' means, and now he's not that," which was sad, and made the title make sense and pulled it all together a bit better.

I'm pleased this is a trilogy and not an open-ended series, because she clearly has a plan.

[identity profile] charlie-ego.livejournal.com 2009-08-19 10:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, you're still way more clever than I; I didn't get anything about the demon. Though clearly I should have.

The really hilarious bit is that -- and I remember I've told you not to read this before -- Cassie Clare, or whatever she calls herself, uses basically the same completely obvious twist in City of Bones (I think? Was that the first book? I am way too lazy to look it up)-- except that, as far as I can tell, it is THE Big Plot Twist. And even I got it way back in the first chapter.

My favorite line... oh, well, before I recap my entire post at you, here it is... though you'd have to put up with more burbling about how I liked the plot more than you did (http://charlie-ego.livejournal.com/32325.html#cutid1) :)
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