The Demon's Lexicon (1) (The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy) - Hardcover

Rees Brennan, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416963790 ISBN 13: 9781416963790

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009

Synopsis

When his brother’s life is put in danger, a teen whose family has been on the run as long as he can remember must infiltrate London’s magical underworld in this gripping first book in the Demon’s Lexicon urban fantasy trilogy.

Nick has spent his life fleeing from magicians with his older brother Alan, haunted by a mother who recoils from his touch and the memory of a murdered father. When Alan is branded with a deadly demon mark, the only hope for survival is to kill a magician—a task that plunges them into a deadly game of cat and mouse through the city’s supernatural underworld.

As Nick and Alan navigate the treacherous world of the Goblin Market and confront the sinister Obsidian Circle, Nick begins to suspect his brother has been hiding the truth about their past. Loyalties are tested and betrayal looms, forcing Nick to choose between protecting the only family he has left and facing the possibility that everything he’s believed is a lie.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Rees Brennan is the New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Unspoken and The Demon’s Lexicon trilogy. Her book In Other Lands was a Hugo Award finalist. She lives in Ireland. Visit her at SarahReesBrennan.com.

Reviews

Starred Review. Grade 9 Up–In this riveting debut novel, 16-year-old Nick and his older brother, Alan, are accustomed to life on the run. Since their father was murdered, the boys have been forced to slay demons set on them by magicians seeking the powerful charm stolen by the boys' mother. Nick is furious when Alan receives a first-tier demon mark while saving a neighborhood boy. While seeking to remove it, Nick begins to suspect that his brother is lying to him about the reason for the magicians' attempts to kill them and about why their mother screams whenever Nick touches her. Fans of the Supernatural television series will be hooked from the novel's opening lines (The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink.). Even teens who don't consider themselves genre buffs will appreciate the solid writing, fast-paced plot, and sense of authenticity that Brennan gives to the shadowy world between ordinary, modern-day London and the otherworld of demons and magicians. Though Nick and Alan's story is mostly resolved with Nick discovering the truth behind his father's death and his mother's fear of him, readers will no doubt clamor for the next book in this planned urban fantasy trilogy.–Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD
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What if the bad-boy hunk in your class was actually a sword-wielding demon slayer? That’s the enticing scenario offered up in Brennan’s debut, and although the results are periodically workmanlike, they will satisfy the legions currently clamoring for this brand of dark fantasy. Nick (the aforementioned hunk) lives with his empty-shell mother and older brother Alan, but they’re constantly on the move as they hunt—and are hunted by—evil magicians and their conjured demons. Their brutal routine is interrupted by the arrival of two teen siblings in need of help, one of whom has been “marked” by a demon for certain death and the other of whom fosters a growing desire for one of the brothers. Though unique, the mythology has some holes and feels needlessly convoluted. That said, Brennan excels when she dwells upon her characters’ more human emotions (desire, loneliness, loyalty), and hits her stride in the final stretch, creating several scenes of unexpected horror and piling on some truly surprising twists. Stick with it, and you’ll be glad you did. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus

Edition details

• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1416963790
• ISBN 13: 9781416963790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336