Book Reviews and Recommendations
The Devil’s Apprentice
by Kenneth B Andersen
Series: The Great Devil War #1
Release date: October 8th 2018
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devil’s heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but there’s been a mistake and Philip is the wrong boy. Philip is terrible at being bad, but Lucifer has no other choice than to begin the difficult task of training him in the ways of evil. Philip gets both friends and enemies in this odd, gloomy underworld—but who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?
I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this! I was a little nervous at first because it reads a lot younger than I was anticipating, I would definitely put it on the younger side of YA, if not middle grade despite the subject matter. However, that doesn’t mean that older readers can’t enjoy it because I know I did!
I actually didn’t even realize that this was translated from Danish, the translation was really smooth and I didn’t find any issues with any wording or phrases.
For me, it took quite a long time before I got really invested in the story. Don’t get me wrong, the first 50-60% was interesting and important to what goes on in the book, but it wasn’t until around 60% that I got really hooked and just needed to finish it ASAP! It was a very quick read, and once you got to the mystery aspect it was so interesting and I just wanted to know who exactly was behind everything.
I really enjoyed the how unique and creative this was, the way Andersen created this entire community in Hell, which was not only fun to read about but interesting to think about as well. Despite the fact that this is an entire world we are learning about, it never felt like you were getting information thrown at you.
As far as the characters go, I started off not liking Philip because I thought he was almost unrealistically nice, but without spoiling too much, his character development was really fantastic from beginning to end. I also really enjoyed Lucifer, Lucifax and Satina, although I do wish that the relationships between each of the characters was explored a little bit more. We do see a little bit at the end, bit I wish that it was more developed.
One thing I didn’t quite like was the pacing of the story. This takes place over about 2 weeks, which for the amount of things that happen is a little unrealistic, especially in regards to certain people’s personalities.
Overall, I liked this a lot more than I thought I would and I recommend this to anyone looking for a quick, fun and unique read!