Demonglass: Hex Hall, #2 -- Rachel Hawkins
Look! Another cat on the cover, even though cats continue to not appear in the story. WEIRD.
Necessary spoilers about Book One follow.
Last semester wasn't easy on Sophie Mercer. Towards the end of it:
- she kissed a boy (good) and then he pulled a knife on her (bad) and revealed himself to be a Prodigium-hunter (also bad),
- shewitnessed the death of her best frenemy (bad),
- she killed the being that committed that murder (good-ish, minus the trauma)...
- who was a demon (bad)...
- and Sophie's great-grandmother. (BAD.)
- Sophie learned that she, herself, is also a demon, and very likely to Go Bad, just like her great-grandma. (BAD BAD BAD!)
So, Sophie has decided that she's going to do the smart thing and get rid of her magic. She'd rather risk her own death going through the process than risk going rogue later in life and killing everyone she loves. (Not to mention any innocent bystanders.)
Her father (also a demon!) wants her to change her mind. So she's promised to take the summer to think it over. In England. With his people. And as if the curveballs from the previous semester weren't enough, she's got a few more to contend with:
- Like the fact that she's betrothed to her friend Cal.
- Like the fact that her dead frenemy is haunting her.
- Like the fact that Archer Cross is still out there, probably wanting her dead, and that she still has feelings for him.
As was the first book, Demonglass is a breezy romp of a romantic fantasy novel. Sophie's narration is entertaining, self-deprecating, and sarcastic. Is it exciting? Check. Is it funny? Check. Is it a page-turner? Check.
Is it as much fun as the first book? Eh.
For me, Hex Hall was particularly fun due to the setting -- I tend to enjoy fish-out-of-water new school stories*, regardless of whether or not there's a fantasy element -- and so that was a change, but I don't think that was my problem. Because, even though Sophie wasn't dealing with a new school situation, she still was dealing with new surroundings -- no, I just felt that Demonglass didn't have the same spark as Hex Hall. It felt like more of the same, rather than feeling refreshing, and the Sophie-Archer-Cal love triangle is starting to feel rather Bella-Edward-Jacob.
But, hey: It's a sequel. Sometimes that feeling just comes with the territory. And I'm sure that younger fans of Hex Hall will be perfectly happy with Demonglass.
Either way, the end of of the book is a complete gamechanger -- like, COMPLETE GAMECHANGER, on the level of Stargazer. So, despite my ambivalence about this one, I'm already looking forward to Book Three.
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*I mean, not always: See House of Night.
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Previously:
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Book source: ILLed through my library