The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan
| The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Loralei Haylock
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| Summary: A satisfying conclusion to an excellent trilogy – full of intrigue, strong characters and a great plot. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400 | Date: June 2011 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1847382917 | |
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Cynthia 'Sin' Davies is a Market girl through and through. Her whole life has been about the dance, the performance and the Market. But now the Market is at war with the magicians, Merris has pitted Sin against Mae – a tourist – for leadership of the Market, and everything is coming apart around her. Sin needs a plan, and fast. Unfortunately, Sin is more of a doer than a thinker. Thinking is where Mae excels, and the pink haired tourist is winning the race for leadership despite Sin's lifelong service to the Market.
Then there's the impossible Ryves brothers. Alan, the boy who allowed a Demon to live freely in their world, and Nick, the Demon in question. Sin is by no means their greatest fan, but when events push them together, Sin starts to see both brothers in an entirely new light.
The magicians have a hold on Alan, one he is trying to prevent Nick from finding out about. As much as Sin fears what the magicians will do, she's even more worried about how far a Demon will go to protect his brother when he finds out what the magicians are up to.
I'm still undecided about the decision to take the narrative away from Nick, as it was in the first book of this series. On the one hand I can see the merit of escaping his very unreliable narrative perspective and widening the overall story arc to keep things fresh and interesting, but on the other, it involves taking the story away from the Ryves brothers, whose relationship is definitely the most interesting thing about the story.
But that issue aside, this is still a great book. The sparkle and magic of its predecessors is still in full force, with enough backstabbing, double crossing and secret keeping to keep you guessing outcomes to the very end.
And Sin may not be Nick, but she is an interesting character, with values and responsibilities that keep the stakes high. The contrast between her and Mae worked especially well, though the battle for leadership of the Market was a bit silly – both characters had valid reasons why they wanted control, and yes it could be argued that both are too independent to work together, but I was still crying out for them to join forces, even when it became apparent that they wouldn't.
Overall, a great supernatural thriller with strong characters, a good plot and a satisfying end to an excellent trilogy that doesn't try to be too neat and tidy or open ended. Excellent stuff.
My thanks to the publishers for sending a copy.
For more great supernatural reads for teens, check out Kelley Armstrong, Lili St Crow and Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.
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