Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

The Demon Trapper's DaughterThe Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I'm glad I finished this book, although I didn't like it very much halfway through. I liked the protagonist, Riley. She's the underdog that is going going to kick demon butt. The author is a good writer. She tells a story that is compelling and realistic enough that I struggled. I struggled with the reality she created. In short order, (7 years from now), Atlanta and much of the world is going to be fighting demons. The book describes different kinds of demons that cause different kinds of mischief/destruction. There are a group of people, mostly men, who are demon trappers. They hunt down the demons, use their arsenal of holy water and whatnot, capture them, sell them to traffickers who sell them to the Vatican to be destroyed. The demons are rated by how much trouble/how deadly they are. Ones are mischievous and irritating. Threes can be deadly. Fives are beasts that scared the crap out of me.

So let's go to my problems with the book. The subject of demons is just not the same as fallen angels. No, these babies are pretty terrifying. So if you don't have demon phobias like I do, it will be a good escape. The next problem I had is quickly becoming a pet peeve. Some of the characters dialogue is written with an accent. This is distracting and a little insulting. Tell me Beck is a Georgia boy and he'll have a southern drawl in my head when he speaks. Tell me Stewart is Irish, I'll add the lilt. If the author takes it upon herself to write the "you" into "ya" and "your" into "yer" and I start getting irritated. My alliteration is not the queen's English, either, but I don't quote myself the way I actually speak. There is a reason for using standard English form.

When I get over my irritations with the dialogue style, I have no complaints regarding the author's writing talent. She clearly has quite a bit to offer. Descriptions are clear and complete. Riley's character evolves fluently as do the relationships with the other trappers. Interesting characters are introduced.

1 comment:

CountessLaurie said...

Interesting. I haven't read any demon books. If it's going to keep me up at night freaking out over noises from the kitchen, I might not.

I, on the other hand, create the characters in my head regardless of the author's intent. What? The heroine doesn't look exactly like me only skinnier and prettier? Really? When did you say that? So, the accent reminder works for me.