Started: 04/02/20
Finished: 06/02/20
Spoilers: No
Because this was so short, I wanted to take my time with it. On the whole I enjoyed this a lot. I wish it were longer. Characters: 1 Plot: 1 Setting: 0 Writing Style: 1 Final Impression: 1 Total: 4/5 Characters It was very easy to fall in love with our unnamed narrator. He was fantastically engaging throughout and incredibly voicey in the way he told his story. There was a generous pinch of humour to everything he said and I honestly couldn't fault him. As a protagonist, he was so without scruples that he was practically the antagonist. Loved him. Prosper was also an interesting chap, but there was one big, stand out element about his character that screamed at me constantly. I feel, without any shadow of doubt, that Prosper is based on Leonardo Dav Vinci. Genius, artist, sculptor, philosopher, inventor, Prosper fits the bill. I had this thought to begin with, and then the plot about the bronze horse statue only confirmed my feeling. The similarities between Prosper and Da Vinci were striking and only made me enjoy Prosper more. (Cause Leo is my boy, and by extension, so is anyone who resembles or emulates him.) I also have to mention the two main demons of the story. Him and Her. She was interesting, proving to be very intelligent and, in a sense, more independent than most other demons. He, on the other hand, was hilarious. I loved the banter between the exorcist and Him. They were like bickering siblings and I loved the dynamic. Plot So our unnamed narrator is an exorcist who travels within his jurisdiction seeking out demons within people and moving them on before they can do damage. But then two demons sneak inside a newborn prince, and the genius philosopher hired to teach him, and the exorcist has to decide how to remove them without killing the hosts, or more importantly, not getting himself killed. For a 100 page novella, this really packs a punch and makes an impression. The gorgeous cover drew me in, the unique plot kept me reading. My only issue with it was the details of building the bronze horse were a little overkill. I know it was an important plot point but I would've loved more demon banter, or world-building, or even a little more backstory. Those two or three pages merely describing how to build moulds got a little stale. This was the only part of the story that didn't excite or engage me. But the ending! Holy crap. I didn't see that coming. Way to conclude a story! Setting There's not much I can say about the setting really as the world-building was the only thing lacking here. I believe it's set in a fantasy world, but there is no context at all as to what kind of world. We learn names of different countries but little of their cultures, their standard of living, fashion, etc. This is so much a character driven story that the setting is all but neglected. Being 1st person, this almost works, as why would the narrator need to explain the world? But on the same note, he is literally telling us his story, so why wouldn't he explain it? It was only due to the cover and the fashion depicted there that I imagined the development of the world to be on par with the Elizabethan era. But outside of my own imagination making stuff up, there was little to go on. Writing Style Fortunately, the writing is fantastic, and makes up for the fact that the world is so underdeveloped. It flows and reads like a dream. It doesn't have chapters, but is told through scenes, each one quite short and each very engaging and fun to read. There was definitely a side of dark comedy to this book that I enjoyed greatly. Just the way the exorcist narrates the story is done for comedic effect. And considering the apparent fantasy setting, the dialogue was incredibly modern, but it didn't pull me out the story at all. I guess given the book cover and the implied Elizabethan-inspired setting, I expected them to talk more formally. So when they began speaking the way we would I was pleasantly surprised. Final Impression If this book wasn't so unapologeticly dark, I would call it charming. I might even call it delightful. And given my dark sense of humour and love for all things morbid, this was, to me, quite delightful indeed.
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