Book Review: The Devil's Apprentice by Kenneth B. Andersen

-
 The Devil's Apprentice is the first book in The Great Devil War Trilogy. Written by Kenneth B. Andersen, the book has been translated from the Danish into various languages and came out in 2018.   The book is apt for readers in middle grade, but honestly who cares, this is such a fabulous book that age can not stop you from thoroughly enjoying this fiery ride.

This book tells the story of Philip, a 13 year old boy, who finds himself Hell because of a case of mistaken identity. Philip is a good boy, make that a very good boy, who never even lies, who finds himself face to face with who else, but the Prince of Darkness. Satan or Lucifer on the other hand, is withering and needs to put his replacement in place and now has this very good boy on his hands. The road looks difficult for the two main characters of our book who will have to go. Philip repeatedly fails at every task meted out to him and Lucifer sees no way in which to evoke the evil that lies buried deep within Philip. While all this takes place we also meet the various characters that live in hell-some of them real rockstars and other maybe not so much.

The book took hold of me from the word go and I really enjoyed reading it. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my daughter, who is 12, will also get around to reading it and loving it, just as much as I did. I have never before read any book set in Hell, in fact I wonder how many of them are there (I can only recall Dante's Inferno and that is just a part of a poem). The writing is wonderful- short chapters that help the story move forward swiftly, solid language (hats off to the translator for doing a good job with English language translation) and last but definitely not least in any way the word imagery that the author has conjured. I could see Satan's flame of life diminishing in my mind and I could very  well witness how Philip transforms as his horns, wings and tail appear.

Read this book if you are suffering from a Harry Potter hangover. It has plenty of twists and turns to satiate your hunger if mystery and thrillers are what you seek and it is so fresh and naive in ways that will make you think that you have stepped back in your childhood (that is if you ever left it behind somewhere).

Thank you @TheWriteReads for the ebook and making me part of the #blogtour.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Decade of Motherhood: Give in

-
Image
Generally age is counted according to the number of years that you have been on this planet. But then  how do you know what your age is when the role that you are accounting for is a not as old as you? The simple answer would be to say that it would be equal to the number of years you have been in the role.  So, this is one of the most important lessons that I have learnt as a decade old mum. My daughter Netra, more commonly referred to as BhindiSood on social media, was born in 2007. Ah! your eyebrows go up. She bluffs, you think, to keep up with the theme. Dear reader but that is not the case. I might be being generous with myself when I m saying that I am a decade old mummy but I am not really bluffing. I did not (and maybe even now) know how to be a mother to a child who I was desperate to get but knew nothing about raising her for all the unaccounted years in between. But then fear not, this isn't either a self pitying sort of a post nor I intend for it to be a te
Read more

To, The Enablers

-
Image
तबस्सुम कैसी हो? हम सब यहाँ बिकुल ठीक हैं।आशा है की तुम भी सही सलामत होंगी। आज मैं ये चिट्ठी इसलिए लिख रहि हूँ की तुम्हे बता सकूं की मैं अक्सर तुम्हारे बारे मैं सोचती हूँ। सोचती हूँ अब तुम क्या करती होगी, काम पे जाती हो अब भी? कोई मना तो नहीं करता? सास बच्चे संभाल लेती है तुम्हारे पीछे से? वो तो अब बड़े भी हो गए होंगे न? स्कूल जाते होंगे? मुझे अब कोलकाता मैं रहते हुए ६-७ साल हो गए  हैं। जब चंडीगढ़ से निकले थे तो उम्मीद न थी की इतना समय इस परायी नगरी में निकल जाएगा। नेत्रा को याद करती हो कभी? वो इस साल १२ की हो गयी है। उसे तो तुम्हारी याद नहीं लेकिन आज भी जब वो ज़िद्द करती है की मैं उसे खाना खिला दूँ और मैं बहुत थक गयी होती हूँ, तो झट से तुम्हारी याद आ जाती है। तुम होती तो मुझे चाय का कप पकड़ा कर उसे प्यार से फुसला के ले जाती और खुद ही खिला देती। कहती, "मेरे पास आओ नेत्रा, माँ को रहने दो। आओ मैंने तुम्हारे लिए कुछ स्पेशल रखा है।" कितने सारे अंग्रेजी के नए नए शब्द सीख गयीं थी न तुम. कुछ तो तुम्हारे ख़ास बन गए थे। जैसे बॉय, गर्ल, रेफ्रीजिरेटर, टेलीविज़न और स्पेशल जिसे त
Read more

This Pujo, things feel different

-
Image
Yesterday was Mahalaya. I have been living in Kolkata for about 7 years now and have been in the city for every single Pujo since we moved in here.  I just like the vibe of the city, the aura of this place when it is time for the Devi to descend to her parental home from the heavens above. It is a different air that the city breathes in and out. It is different colour, sometimes sharp and sometime languid in its shade that dresses the city of Kolkata when the Durga Pujo approaches. Like a veteran of sorts I know this isn't the best time to be on the roads. I know better than to plan anything because beside eateries everything is going to come to a stand still. Nothing will move and no-one will budge their stomachs filled with Biryanis, Aalooer Dums, Jalepis and Chicken Kashas. But this year things have been different. it seems as if the Pujo has just crept quietly upon us. It seems as if Maa did not come down with the usual fervour. Maybe there is a reluctance in the air that
Read more