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34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One sexy griffin, a wild Harley motorcycle riding grandmother and a talking Jack Russell terrier!, July 21, 2008
This review is from: The Accidental Demon Slayer (Mass Market Paperback)
Preschool teacher Lizzie Brown's life may never be the same when her long lost witch grandmother shows up driving a hot pink Harley and starts casting magic spells from Smucker's jars. Pirate, her Jack Russell terrier, starts talking! Lizzie discovers that she is the exalted Demon Slayer of Dalea and a demon, Xerxes, emerges from her toilet to cause even more havoc! As they head to Memphis to join the grandmother's just as strange coven to learn magic, Dimitri Kallinikos, a shape shifting griffin shows up as her mentor. Teaching her the three rules of demon slaying, he is both protector and teacher. Dimitri, however, needs her to slay a demon of his own and as their feelings for each other grow, Lizzie and Dimtri are forced to make tough choices when family loyalties come into play in a battle begun generations ago.
Told through Lizzie's eyes, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER, follows the heroine on the journey of her maturation and self-discovery in a well-imagined world ever so kooky yet touched by wonderful dash of tenderness. Within 12 hours, Lizzie has lost her home, her job, her clothes, and her friends to follow her grandmother, accused of murder, to be trained in magic and face demons and her destiny as the new family demon slayer. Unaware of the extent of her powers or her family history, Lizzie struggles to make sense of the crazy world her grandmother opens before her. As she comes to face with The Witches of the Red Skull with its cantankerous witch Ant Eater, werewolves, and above all her own magical powers, Lizzie sees the humorous outrageousness of her situation with a unique sense of innocence and irreverent sass. Although her dog Pirate plays the tough guy, the reader sees the tenderness within Lizzie's heart through him. Dimitri, her protector and mentor, awakens the woman in Lizzie with his body and kiss. Dimitri helps Lizzie focus on her powers and concentrating her magic when her magic turns her familiar world topsy-turvy.
Oh my, THE ACCIDENTAL DEMON SLAYER is a fun book! Angie Fox's world and adventures had me laughing as the vivid and hilarious scenarios got funnier and funnier. The grandmother and her group of witches were a total scream. Angie Fox mixes paranormal with a fun, bold smart tone but by the end, I felt myself immersed in Lizzie's whole world and the drama playing out in her family. Angie Fox's humor gives way to a suspenseful adventure that keeps the reader on the edge as Lizzie and Dimitri face the ominous dangers ahead. The final leg of the journey is spectacular ---.not a gradual let-down but an ever increasing delightful unveiling, not just once but in several gradual layers. Intricacies with wonderful twists and revelations of the paranormal world kept me riveted to this book. What an ending! With her debut book, Angie Fox has created a wonderful magical world that will have readers eager to re-enter and anxiously awaiting her next release!
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50 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed, August 16, 2008
This review is from: The Accidental Demon Slayer (Mass Market Paperback)
I have to agree with Helen Hancox below. And frankly, I wish there'd been more readers like her who'd spoken up, because I would have saved myself some cash.
"I actually found it quite hard to get through this book as it felt very disjointed and the lack of flow and of coherent direction most of the time made it rather disappointing."
-- Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2008
If I had realized that when Reviewer: D. Merrimon Crawford mentioned "Told through Lizzie's eyes" meant told via 1st person as opposed to primarily focusing on Lizzie's point-of-view, that would have been my first clue that I would not enjoy this novel. There have been only a true select few authors (P.C. Cast among said few) who've been able to pull off the "first person narrative" and make it work for me, even forget that it *is* being told in the first person (which I usually find very distracting).
I also made the mistake of assuming (I know, I know) that Pirate the dog would be more like a "familiar" than whatever his purpose is in the story (I still don't know... if it was to provide comic relief, I didn't feel it).
But what I found to be most frustrating with this story, and what made it hard for me to get truly absorbed, was the fact that every single character outside of Lizzie and Pirate consistently acted as though Lizzie should know more, know better, be better, even though she had been raised with *no knowledge whatsoever* and *they all knew it*. It drove me crazy that Lizzie never really called them on that point to my satisfaction.
I also thought there'd be more "shape-shifting" and magic revealed with Dimitri the Griffin... I think he was a griffin only twice in the story, and that was it. No depth to what could have been a truly interesting character, based on his griffin half and what griffins represent in mythology. No expansion. He was flat, and their relationship felt forced to me. Rushed.
Actually, come to think of it, the entire story, all 292 pages of it, felt rushed. Perhaps it was the publisher, the editors who hacked and sliced at the depth of this story. Perhaps it never had it to begin with. All I know is that for me, multiple characters were tossed into the reader's direction with no rhyme or reason, little --if any-- development, and the story overall never got off the ground. It was all surface skimming throughout.
A fact: I devour novels. A 292 pager normally reads for me in 5 hours or less. This one took me 3 days. Why? Because I was willing to put it down to do other things before picking it back up. When I finally finished it, instead of setting it down with my "keepers", I threw it across the room to land in my "library donation" pile.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Biker Witches: 100% Road Kill Power, September 9, 2008
This review is from: The Accidental Demon Slayer (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed this book, it lived up to what Katie Macalister's You Slay me didn't. But that's not saying this novel wasn't flawed.
It was pretty shallow and hollow. Something was lacking that didn't quite make the whole book seem real. Taking away from the world and the characters. I would be really getting into it then the book fall flat and I'd have to get into it all over again. For instance side characters would bash the main character for getting antsy and having questions about this new save the world role she was in. I can understand that these characters needed her, and some people can only focus on that. But the main character would be berating herself about it, she never thought sheesh your all jerks, but I only have this option any way. She was unrealistic functioning at times. Even though the book lacks its little extra something it was still a great read.
The characters where so fun in their variety. I was excited every time I met a new one. I love the biker names Aunt Eater just being my favorite. Even the evil villain of this novel was wickedly new and refreshing. A studly griffon who is the romance interest, is deep and not just a hunk of man flesh ready to please the main character (and readers.)
The humor was wonderful. It was hard not to laugh, and I enjoyed the wit gone in to it. Even if the novel would have fallen flat everywhere, I would have persevered just for the humor. Thankfully it has more then just wonderful humor.
The writing is pretty solid. Never having to make me go back and reread to see what happens. In fact it's pretty smooth sailing.
*** * Accidental Demon Slayer may have its flaws, but they don't hold it to far back. So anyone who was disappointed in You Slay Me, rejoice you can finally get that paranormal humor wonder right here! I look forward to seeing the next title, hopefully the second will nock my negative thoughts right out of the water.
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