Book Review: Demonic Dora (The Demon Diaries #1) by Claire Chilton
Who #1: Claire Chilton
Who#2: Ragz Books
What: Demonic Dora (The Demon Diaries #1)
When: June 30th 2013 (read in 2014)
Where: Goodreads – Kobo – Amazon – Book Depository
Why:Summoning demons is my kind of thing.
How: A copy of this novel was provided by Ragz Books via Net Galley.
SHE’S FINALLY MANAGED TO SUMMON HER FIRST DEMON…
Dora Carridine is trying to summon a demon, but she’s not very good at Latin and nothing ever works out the way she plans.
Her life is fraught with weekly exorcisms and having to watch her father’s fire and brimstone TV show every Sunday. So, when Dora finally succeeds in summoning an incompetent demon lord, she’s absolutely delighted when all hell breaks loose.
She thought summoning a sexy demon lord would be the answer to all of her problems, but her problems are only just beginning when her zealot parents try to burn her at the stake, and Dora is left with only one option—to escape and follow her demon straight into Hell.
Ah, okay. Uhm. I’m not entirely sure where to start writing about Demonic Dora. For one, I’m not even entirely sure which genre this book fits into. It’s much too graphic, and there are too many expletives for it to be YA, but then the main character is in school, so I am not too sure if it fits into adult fiction, either. Whatever it is – it was weird.
When I requested the book on NetGalley, I thought it would be your kind of run-of-the-mill YA paranormal book about a girl who summons a demon and maybe falls in love etc etc. Demonic Dora is so very different to this. I would describe it is paranormal comedy. Like, a parody of the novel I thought it would be.
Whilst I did laugh quite a few times whilst reading Demonic Dora, I am not entirely impressed. I think the story could have held some iota of seriousness, whilst still falling under the ‘funny’ category, but it didn’t. There was not a minute of seriousness within this novel. There was AT LEAST one swear word per page – don’t get me wrong, I found nothing particularly wrong with that, but if some teenager picked up this book without knowing that it isn’t really meant for a teenager, it would be highly inappropriate. I mean, there’s a scene with two demons having sex in an office, and sexual innuendos scattered throughout. Definitely not a YA novel.
Besides the fact that I couldn’t actually take this book seriously for one second, there were some problems. Characters, for one. Yes, it’s a comedy novel, but no, it’s not okay to have zero character depth and relationship development. Descriptions were also lacking, and in the last two chapters, I had no idea how much time had passed because suddenly we were in an arena and Dora had a fighter’s name and it was all hella confusing.
I, however, did like Kieron’s character, no matter how underdeveloped he was. He was cute with his speech, and his naïve understanding of the English language. I laughed especially when he accepted that he was Dora’s ‘bitch’. It was cute.
Overall, Demonic Dora was an entertaining read, even if it was nothing like I expected it to be. There is a chance I will read the second book in this series, but only if I feel like reading a very nonsensical and kind of rude novel, I suppose.
© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.
Your Turn: Have you ever picked up a book thinking it would be one thing, and then it turned out it was another? Do you think paranormal comedy could be a new genre? Let me know in the comment section below!
I picked up the Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White thinking it’d be another YA mythology retelling with action and adventure. It was more coming of age/realizing who you are type of novel. Not much action, even during the actiony bits. lol Still really liked it though :)
Oh, I’ve seen that book floating about, actually! I think it looks really good. I’m glad it surprised you in a good way! I definitely like it when that happens. :)
Well, that’s disappointing. The synopsis of the book sounds great, but when you put it the way you did… Huh, I sort of lost interest then.
I think paranormal comedy should definitely be a thing. I may or may not read it, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be a thing.
Fifty Shades of Grey. I went into reading that book thinking that it was everything that it was all hyped up to be, but it wasn’t and I still think that two stars is generous to it.
I was certainly kind of .. surprised to say the last when I started reading the book. The synopsis is kind of misleading, I suppose.
I think it definitely could be a thing! I mean, it might not necessarily be MY kind of thing, but it would be a good alternative to some of the heavier stuff floating around in YA.
Yeah, 50 Shades wasn’t what everyone had said it was. I couldn’t even be bothered investing in it – that one was a speed read.
I hate misleading synopses. Such false hope…
If it get’s stellar reviews, I’ll consider getting into it.
One of my friend’s LOVES 50 Shades, and I wonder where she has her standards placed for books…