Reviewed by: Laura

RATING: 8/10 – Brilliant, couldn’t put it down

GOODREADS:

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth. Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers. But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

REVIEW:

The setting of the book moves to the UK as Sophie finally meets and goes to stay with her powerful father, striking a deal to take best friend Jenna with her. Being English, I always find different countries/author’s perceptions of what life is like here interesting, thankfully other than a few large words added to Sophie’s father’s vocabulary the book didn’t slip into any awful clichés. And I loved the setting of the large, beautiful, British mansion.

On her arrival Sophie meets Daisy and Nick and immediately knows that they are demons too. But demons can only be made and not born, and the spell to make one is meant to have been lost years ago, which leaves many concerning questions.

As the story is such an easy read you could easily dismiss it as perhaps slightly and predictable. But it really isn’t. There were a couple of plot turns that I did not see coming in the slightest. It was well written and perfectly thrilling.

Jenna had to be one of my favourite characters of the story, I actually would have loved to see more of her. How can you not love a vampire with an obsession for all things pink? Do you think if I ask nicely enough she might get a spin off?

I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Hex Hall’ for its wit, and while this book is definitely still funny, Sophie has some fab lines, the tone itself is darker and more intense in ‘Raising Demons‘. The pace is fast and it’s an addictive read.

There seems to be a real trend in young adult books for love triangles. I know we could blame ‘Twilight’, but I loved it, so I shall refrain. And while we didn’t see one in ‘Hex Hall’ this changed in ‘Raising Demons‘. I actually think that the story would have been better without one. The forbidden love angst was plenty to keep my on the edge of my seat, without throwing in another potential love interest. But while it made me frown a little, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

The book had a bit of a killer ending, if you loathe cliffhangers, you might want to wait until book three is released.

VERDICT:

A fab second instalment to the series, which I personally think was slightly better than the first. But perhaps because I enjoyed the slightly more sinister tone. I can’t wait to see where the next book takes us.