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mindoftheraven's review
challenging
dark
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Death
andra_mihaela_s's review
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
This is my first read from this author and I can only say: GIVE ME MORE!!đ¤Š
genre : paranormal historical fantasy
rating : â â â â â
CW: ugh...mentions of violent deaths, murder, demonic possession
Thoughts âŞ
Soooo...in my opinion , this book was the perfect combination of actions and discussions.
We follow an unnamed MC , an exorcist, who's job is to expel demons from the people in his area...pretty boring for him...but what can he dođ¤ˇââď¸... work is work.đ
The focus of the plot is the interaction between our MC and the Prosper of Schanz, a genius who's determined to raise the world's first philosopher-king...too bad he is possessed đ¤đ¤ˇââď¸
I'll let you discover why Parker is such a talented man. Be prepared to learn some stuff about bronze horses and also, be shocked in regards to our MC's view on life.đ¤
The novella is written in such a way you'll read it in a sitting đ. The protagonist is NOT a good person, or even a good employee ( given the fact that he exhibits extreme denial, indifference and possibly sadistic inclinations)...but you want to see what he does/ says and how the other characters react.đđł
All in all, I loved the ending and what it said about our MCđ, and I'm fully prepared to read more by this author!
I highly recommend you try this is any of my ramblings sounded interesting, or if you enjoy morally grey characters and philosophy mixt in!
genre : paranormal historical fantasy
rating : â â â â â
CW: ugh...mentions of violent deaths, murder, demonic possession
Thoughts âŞ
Soooo...in my opinion , this book was the perfect combination of actions and discussions.
We follow an unnamed MC , an exorcist, who's job is to expel demons from the people in his area...pretty boring for him...but what can he dođ¤ˇââď¸... work is work.đ
The focus of the plot is the interaction between our MC and the Prosper of Schanz, a genius who's determined to raise the world's first philosopher-king...too bad he is possessed đ¤đ¤ˇââď¸
I'll let you discover why Parker is such a talented man. Be prepared to learn some stuff about bronze horses and also, be shocked in regards to our MC's view on life.đ¤
The novella is written in such a way you'll read it in a sitting đ. The protagonist is NOT a good person, or even a good employee ( given the fact that he exhibits extreme denial, indifference and possibly sadistic inclinations)...but you want to see what he does/ says and how the other characters react.đđł
All in all, I loved the ending and what it said about our MCđ, and I'm fully prepared to read more by this author!
I highly recommend you try this is any of my ramblings sounded interesting, or if you enjoy morally grey characters and philosophy mixt in!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Death
surdiablo's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Eh, not sure how to rate this one.. đ¤ It's good but didn't quite measure up to the other K.J. Parker novella I read before, called Pulling the Wings Off Angels. Nevertheless, I appreciated the same wry, sardonic humor that was present here as well. It's a fast-paced dark novella with a somewhat unreliable narrator. The ending is a bit abrupt perhaps but otherwise good. Can't say more as it didn't leave much of an impression, but I liked it overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Child death and Torture
bookedbymadeline's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
I was really looking forward to this as Iâve enjoyed similar stories (like CS Lewisâ The Screwtape Letters). Sadly it fell short for me and wasnât what I hoped for. I think the main reason being itâs too short to truly engage with it. Thereâs not enough time for proper world building and getting to know the characters on a deeper level.
Itâs an interesting enough story for a novella but I wouldâve loved for it to be longer and go further. The writing style also felt very stream of consciousness which I donât typically enjoy. We are thrown into the story with no context and thereâs a lot of flashbacks that add to the whiplash of not knowing whatâs going on most of the time. I was hoping for a darker, more existentialist story of demons and exorcisms. I wouldnât categorize this as horror at all either.
Overall it was entertaining enough for a quick read. I hoped and wanted more but Iâll have to search for similar novels to get the depth I hoped for I suppose! I donât plan on reading the sequel simply because the writing style wasnât to my taste so Iâm not intrigued enough to continue the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, and Child death
hendrixpants's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
bloupibloupreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
An amazing and well written novella about a sarcastic and laid back exorcist with very questionable morals. The atsmophere, the characters, the writing style, I loved everything about this book but especially the narrator. In a few pages only we get to see a real insight inside his brain and personality, he almost brainwashes you into thinking that what he's doing is right and correct.
I would recommend this to people who liked What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher!
I would recommend this to people who liked What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
snowwhitehatesapples's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Also on Snow White Hates Apples.
In a world where demons run rampant and exorcists arenât as entirely kind, faithful or martyr-like, itâs only normal that weâll have a narrator as morally questionable (he, as per the summary, gets the demon out but doesnât care what happens to the person possessed by said demon) as the one we have for Prosperâs Demon . However, despite the interesting premise and narrator, the execution left a lot lacking.
For one, if youâre hoping for a strong novella that shows the ongoings of the story, this isnât the one. We get the story from the narrator who just tells, tells and tells but rarely ever describes. More often than not, the narrator also gets sidetracked by his own philosophical musings and weâre stuck for a few paragraphs of navel-gazing instead of moving forward with the plot. As a result, the novella is more of a long rant or monologue than a tale. As interested as I was in the philosophical aspects and the narratorâs character in general, both ultimately didnât matter to me because the execution didnât do either of them justice.
Also, I thought it was weird that Prosperâs Demon is the titular one when instead, it shouldâve been Him. Seriously, because Prosperâs demon only appeared for one section while He was constantly mentioned throughout the novella. It just made no sense to me, especially when Prosper and his demon had smaller presences and on a grand scale, an even smaller impact on the narrator and his life.
Moreover, it was strange that the narratorâs archnemesis was very tame in comparison to the ruthless narrator. Sure, he couldnât do much in the state he was in at the final part of the story, but there were so many opportunities before that? Perhaps thereâs a symbolic significance to this, but if itâs simply to show that not all monsters are monstrous and that humans can be more monstrous than monsters, then I feel that this message had not enough depth. Nevertheless, if youâre looking for a powerful villain to match a powerful antihero, you wonât find it here too. The villainâs practically more harmless than Voldemort who waits till the end of the school year to hurt Harry.
Everything considered, I think Prosperâs Demon wouldâve been a much better read for me had it been executed differently. It was quick, though, so thatâs a plus.
In a world where demons run rampant and exorcists arenât as entirely kind, faithful or martyr-like, itâs only normal that weâll have a narrator as morally questionable (he, as per the summary, gets the demon out but doesnât care what happens to the person possessed by said demon) as the one we have for Prosperâs Demon . However, despite the interesting premise and narrator, the execution left a lot lacking.
For one, if youâre hoping for a strong novella that shows the ongoings of the story, this isnât the one. We get the story from the narrator who just tells, tells and tells but rarely ever describes. More often than not, the narrator also gets sidetracked by his own philosophical musings and weâre stuck for a few paragraphs of navel-gazing instead of moving forward with the plot. As a result, the novella is more of a long rant or monologue than a tale. As interested as I was in the philosophical aspects and the narratorâs character in general, both ultimately didnât matter to me because the execution didnât do either of them justice.
Also, I thought it was weird that Prosperâs Demon is the titular one when instead, it shouldâve been Him. Seriously, because Prosperâs demon only appeared for one section while He was constantly mentioned throughout the novella. It just made no sense to me, especially when Prosper and his demon had smaller presences and on a grand scale, an even smaller impact on the narrator and his life.
Moreover, it was strange that the narratorâs archnemesis was very tame in comparison to the ruthless narrator. Sure, he couldnât do much in the state he was in at the final part of the story, but there were so many opportunities before that? Perhaps thereâs a symbolic significance to this, but if itâs simply to show that not all monsters are monstrous and that humans can be more monstrous than monsters, then I feel that this message had not enough depth. Nevertheless, if youâre looking for a powerful villain to match a powerful antihero, you wonât find it here too. The villainâs practically more harmless than Voldemort who waits till the end of the school year to hurt Harry.
Everything considered, I think Prosperâs Demon wouldâve been a much better read for me had it been executed differently. It was quick, though, so thatâs a plus.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Child death, Murder, and Death
marinapaso11's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Blood, Murder, Child death, and Torture
marthadude's review against another edition
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is such an imaginative novella. Parker creates such a cool mythology in such a short amount of time. The morally grey unnamed narrator is such a fun perspective to read from. Itâs one of those books where youâre enjoying the ride but wondering how things could possibly end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, and Murder
Minor: Slavery
rmperezpadilla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Violence, and Gore