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Not Terrible... but Terribly Disappointing Jun 9, 2009 (21 of 27 found this helpful)
Sarah Rees Brennan is immensely talented. She has extraordinary gifts: she can craft true and compelling characters, write clever, believable dialogue, and suddenly twist a humorous moment into a shockingly sharp tug at your heartstrings. She just managed not to do any of that here, in her first published work.
The elephant in the review-room is this: she's been writing fan-fiction for years, and most of us who ran out to acquire her book are longtime fans. While it may not be fair on some level to compare original work to fan-fiction, it's possible, and necessary, to compare mediocre writing to fantastic writing.
This novel is awash in the cliches of the genre: there's a spunky love interest teen girl with spunky dyed hair and not another character trait in sight but her irrepressible spunk; there's an OMG-my-secret-parentage plotline; and there's an embarrassingly shiny-lipped emo boy on the cover making it clear that much brooding is to be found inside. Only one character is remotely lovable, and even he treads dangerously near the Comic Relief Sidekick stock cut-out character. The rest are wood. Brennan has demonstrated her ability to breathe life into the roughest sketch of a minor character, but the minor characters in Lexicon are less than one-dimensional -- they're naked plot-pushers. And that's not the end of the world; the plot is kind of interesting, once it gets going in the last hundred pages. But it's nothing special.
I desperately wanted to like this book. Brennan has been -- no exaggeration -- my favorite author for years. She's brightened my life countless times, and I will buy every book she ever publishes because I owe her for all that joy. But I'd looked forward to buying copies for everyone I know. I wanted to be able to recommend her. And I honestly don't know what went wrong with this book -- whether her genius was somehow edited away, or whether her body was taken over by aliens (sophomoric, purple-prose-prone aliens!), but it is a tremendous let-down either way.
Here's hoping sincerely that Sarah comes back for Book Two.
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A nice departure from the norm May 1, 2009 (10 of 12 found this helpful)
Nick Ryves is used to running. Ever since he was young, his family has been on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the deadly Magician's Circle that is bent on retrieving the talisman Nick's mother stole from them. Nick has always relied on his older brother Alan to make the right choices and protect them, but when it becomes evident that Alan may be keeping secrets from him, Nick is set on a path that will lead him to the startling truth about his family and himself.
Quite imaginative and unique, The Demon's Lexicon is a nice departure from the norm of YA supernatural fiction. Brennan tells the story in Nick's point of view, highlighting his struggle to trust others and control his emotions, which is an interesting complication. The book moves rapidly, and some readers may find Brennan's brisk style a little hard to make sense of in the very beginning, but it doesn't take long before the story evens out and clicks into place. The paranormal world and the way magic works in The Demon's Lexicon is unique in the sense that any and all magicians are corrupt, and Alan, Nick, and their friends can only protect themselves using magical objects and their own wits, creating a stirring and intriguing mystery with a startling twist that will ensure Brennan's status as a talented new voice in YA lit.
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Courtesy of Teens Read Too May 29, 2009 (7 of 8 found this helpful)
Nick and his brother, Alan, have been on the run for Nick's entire life - and when they're not running, they're fighting the vicious magicians pursuing their mother and the powerful charm she stole. Magicians who trade lives for power. Who killed their father and left Alan with a permanent limp. And who show up yet again as soon as Nick has started to get comfortable in their new home.
This time, everything's different. A demon marks Alan, and Nick can't rest until he knows his brother is safe. Especially after one of the most powerful magician's circles delivers a warning that leaves Alan more shaken than Nick's ever seen. But the harder Nick tries to protect him, the more he realizes how many secrets Alan's been keeping from him.
No longer able to trust the one person he thought he could count on, Nick sets out to find the truth.
Unfortunately, this truth is more dangerous than most...
THE DEMON'S LEXICON is a dark, fast-paced story filled with equal parts of action and emotion - and incredibly difficult to put down once you've started. The narration, from Nick's point of view, is stark but comes with plenty of biting humor.
All of the characters have more to them than it appears at first glance, and it's easy to believe the vivid world of magicians and the Goblin's Market could truly exist amidst our own. The many twists will keep readers guessing and glued to the page, but ultimately the story rests on Nick and Alan and the intense yet tenuous bond between them. It's this relationship that gives the novel its heart, and raises it above the many other paranormal and urban fantasy offerings hitting the shelves.
Highly recommended to all!
Reviewed by: Lynn Crow
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Wanted to love it, but it didn't happen... Jun 15, 2009 (11 of 14 found this helpful)
The Demon's Lexicon is a really well-paced, entertaining debut novel that will definitely appeal to fantasy/YA novel fans. Lexicon follows brothers Nick and Alan. They are magician killing, demon slaying teens with polar opposite personalites. Nick, our main voice in the story, is honestly not the most likeable character. He's the typical bad boy type that all the girls swoon over and his attitude never really progresses much past his nonchalant hard glares and his dry, sarcastic, low-blow comments. His brother Alan, on the other hand, is a kind, sensitive, shy boy who is far more relatable and easy to like.
The story takes off with a demon marking a local teen named Jamie whose pink-haired goth-like sister, Mae, has caught Alan's eye. These marks ultimately mean Jamie's body will soon be taken over by a demon. Mae and Jamie go to Alan and Nick (Not sure how they knew to do this) for help, much to Nick's shock and anger. Mayhem ensues, leading to Alan getting marked also and a massive struggle to save both boys begins. The teens wind up journeying across England to track Magicians they can slaughter in order to remove the demon markings. It sounds a little complicated, but it's really not.
The book was well paced and fun. It gave me a strong 'SUPERNATURAL' vibe because of the two demon-hunting brothers (kind of like Sam and Dean!) and that was pretty cool.
The only problems I had with the story would be the actual character dialogue and the lack of personality in our protagonists. I had no idea the book was set in England until about 40 pages into it when the boys commented on possibly driving to Scotland. I was a little confused since there was no hint of Brit-slang and the author didn't really give off much of a European "feel" to the characters...but, that is a minor concern. Teen readers will probably thrive on the fact that the lyricism is easy to understand. The BIGGEST issue would be the characters. I despised Nick. He was a prick. Alan was nice, but was never really in the forefront of the story. Mae was as wooden as wooden as pinnochio and you never really got to know much about her besides the fact that she was wealthy, had pink hair and had enough talent to dance with Nick in a circle to summon a demon. Other then that, she was as flat as an ironing board. Jamie was confusing and should have been brought into the story more. His akward, nervous, bumbling habits brought a little humor to the book and he was a small bright-spot in the dark world that Nick and Alan were fighting in. I was also a bit unsure of his sexuality. I think that might confuse some teens a bit, but I'm guessing most won't care.
Overall, fun book...easy to read, lots of action and adventure, fast paced and interesting. Biggest issue with it would be the mean main character and the lack of development in the supporting characters. I would read more from this author though!
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interesting idea, not the greatest execution Jun 25, 2009 (10 of 13 found this helpful)
Nick has been running from magicians all his life because his mother stole something valuable from them. He and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives trying to keep her safe...but all isn't as it seems.
Nick isn't exactly your typical teenage boy. He's fiercly devoted to Alan, but he's also devoid of feeling. Because of this lack of emotion, I found it difficult to connect with him. Or even like him.
It's really hard to write a book with an unlikable character, but it's been done. INEXCUSABLE by Chris Lynch is a great example. The key is to give the character some redeeming quality, something that will allow the reader to empathize or at least understand. Unfortunately, there is no such connection to Nick. Combine that with the so-so writing, and I would have set this story aside after twenty pages. But I'm an obsessive book-finisher, so I kept going. And hated Nick more with each page.
His personality is explained at the end, which is when the story gets interesting. Though, the author dropped some clues along the way so it wasn't really surprising. I would have preferred to read more of this aspect of Nick, rather than the constant reminders that he feels nothing.
Which brings me to the biggest inconsistency I saw in this book. If Nick has no feelings, that means he doesn't understand them. And if he doesn't understand them, how can he say he doesn't have them?
When I say I feel nothing, I know exactly what that means because there are times when my emotions overwhelm me. So, I know what it feels like when they aren't there, because I know what it feels like when they're there.
But Nick has never had them. So, to him, this lack of emotion is a normal state of being. I had trouble with him repeating that he felt nothing, because that implies that he knows what it's like to feel something. But he doesn't, because he's never known emotion. So there's no way he could understand the lack of it.
It would have been more plausible for him to not understand the question, and then either get annoyed or try to figure out what all that feeling stuff meant.
I also think this is why I never connected with Nick. If he had tried to understand what it was all about, especially since he has such a strong connection with Alan, then I would have had some respect for Nick. As it was, I didn't.
Though, I understand this is the first of a trilogy. So maybe there will be more exploration in Nick's future.