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Jul. 1st, 2010 12:22 pmSo you guys may remember I did not 100% love The Demon's Lexicon. But I had a strong suspicion I might like The Demon's Covenant more, and it turns out I was right - and I did not even realize to what degree. I really kind of loved The Demon's Covenant! To the extent that I found it very difficult to put down.
This is kind of a sign of the difference that strong narrative voice makes to me, I think. Both of these books are written in very close third person. The first book follows Nick, who is extremely emotionally distant (to put it mildly) and cares about one person in the whole world, who he does not really have any kind of perspective on and who is keeping important secrets from him. So while I enjoyed the experience of reading it, and I think it was a cool risk to take, I found it kind of hard to grow attached to anyone; I felt like I couldn't really get to know them. The second book, on the other hand, follows Mae, who first of all is an awesome, strong-minded, confident and believable teenaged girl with no special powers but a lot of drive regardless - which is awesome, and made me happy - but second of all has a much more relatable and balanced perspective on all the other characters. As a result, by end of The Demon's Covenant, I love everyone (including Nick) about ten times as much as I did at the end of The Demon's Lexicon. I mean, in the way where Alan is on notice and I still do not want to actually be in the same room as Nick ever and I kind of want to kick Merris, but still.
( Spoilery comments go here! )
This is kind of a sign of the difference that strong narrative voice makes to me, I think. Both of these books are written in very close third person. The first book follows Nick, who is extremely emotionally distant (to put it mildly) and cares about one person in the whole world, who he does not really have any kind of perspective on and who is keeping important secrets from him. So while I enjoyed the experience of reading it, and I think it was a cool risk to take, I found it kind of hard to grow attached to anyone; I felt like I couldn't really get to know them. The second book, on the other hand, follows Mae, who first of all is an awesome, strong-minded, confident and believable teenaged girl with no special powers but a lot of drive regardless - which is awesome, and made me happy - but second of all has a much more relatable and balanced perspective on all the other characters. As a result, by end of The Demon's Covenant, I love everyone (including Nick) about ten times as much as I did at the end of The Demon's Lexicon. I mean, in the way where Alan is on notice and I still do not want to actually be in the same room as Nick ever and I kind of want to kick Merris, but still.
( Spoilery comments go here! )
