Author: Royce Buckingham
Format: eARC
Print Length:
172 pages
Publisher: Story
Merchant Books
Published: Feb.
25, 2012
Seattle’s demons are scared and wreaking
havoc in the rainy city. They’ve burned their way through the Seattle
underground, threatened to topple the Space Needle, and sent a twenty foot statue
rampaging downtown.
It’s up to Nathaniel Grimlock, the teenage Demonkeeper, to control them, but
when he discovers what’s stirring them up—a legendary monster known as the
Demoneater—he finds that he’s in over his head yet again!
My Thoughts
“He is devouring them,” it said simply. My mentor is a Demoneater.” Read the journal in which a Demonkeeper was
writing in. He has just realized that
his mentor, the one who trained him to be a Demonkeeper is no longer the man he
knew. This was bad, really bad. You see a Keeper’s job was to give demons a
safe place to live.
The book then fast-forwards to present day,
where the Fremont troll has disappeared.
This would not normally warrant attention, except the troll was incased
in two tons worth of concrete, wire and steel rebar. Instead of being a statue in the park like
the normal humans thought, the troll was really a sedentary entity who liked to
make folks squirm. While Nat, Sandy and
Richie are out looking for the troll they run into to equally strange
characters. Mr. Calamitous, a weird
researcher and Lilli a free-spirit from San Francisco.
The introduction of another female
character- as we all know will lead to a love tri-angle. The love tri-angle does little to help the
book move along. The execution of the
love tri-angle is awkward at best. In
fact, it actually made me very mad at Nat- how dare he put Sandy though
this. As each other’s first romantic
interest, one would have hoped that Lilli would have just been a friend to Nat
and Sandy. But no- Buckingham goes
there. Even worse, there is no true
resolution of the tri-angle before the end of the book.
Demoneater is a refreshing take on the
paranormal world that had exploded over the last few years. I had a hard time cheering for Nat, the main
character. Yeah, he helps Richie out and
gives him a place to live. Richie by the
way is hilarious. Sandy is loyal and
resourceful, a character that you want happiness for. Lilli, is well weak, with a woe is me kinda
attitude that annoyed me. Why? Her character sees the beauty in things, but
it is not portrayed every well.
The entity that scares the Troll into
hiding does not come out into the open until chapter 23. I cannot help but wonder if the introduction
of the bad guy earlier would have made the book read at a faster pace.
The cover of the book while eye-catching
does not give anything away, neither does the synopsis. This is a shame because
while some do judge a book by the cover, others judge it by the synopsis. I did not feel that either did the book
justice. A trio of teenagers, surrounded
by mischievous demons while a female teen looks on from the distance with a
demon on her shoulder would be a better jacket for the book.
I am going to have to rate this book 2½ stars
out of 5. I was excited to read the book
and remained excited about it until Chapter 10 titled Two Kisses. While I do like love tri-angles, I feel that
not all books need them. This one
clearly did not, as it crushed my enjoyment of the book greatly.
My Ratings 2½ stars out of 5
Other Characters
Richie- homeless teenager, Nat makes him
his apprentice.
Sandy- Nat’s librarian girlfriend, he is
her first boyfriend. She happens to be
his first girlfriend as well.
Mr. Neebor- the ornery old guy who lives,
you guessed it next door.
Mr. Calamitous- weird researcher, keeps
showing up.
Lilli- a free-spirited hippie chick, who
happens to be another Demonkeeper.
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