Review: Fast-paced, entertaining, irreverent, and very funny
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2014
Bartholomew is an an ancient demon who loves to wear suits, smoke cigarettes, and deflower virgins. He hates to be called Bart. So, I'll call him Bart for the rest of this review just to antagonize him.The Devil sends Bart on a very annoying task. He is supposed to work with a sickeningly sweet angel-in-training on a mission from Heaven to recover the Shard of Gabriel before it's taken by the Black Cloud of Death. If he fails, he'll be sent to the 9th Circle of Hell to hang out with Hitler, who is a horrible roommate. Naturally, Bart and Samantha (the angel) must head to a private high school to complete their mission, because high schools are hot-beds for demon activity. Now, the ancient demon must work with an angel AND deal with high school drama.The best word for this book is "fun". It's fast-paced, entertaining, irreverent, and very funny. Hill has a fantastic and clever voice as an author. If you're familiar with other Curiosity Quills authors, I would say that this book has the hilarious irreverence of The Kulture Vultures & the Plot to Steal the Universe by William Vitka and the hilarious ridiculousness of Death, the Devil, and The Goldfish by Andrew Buckley.I would certainly call this "edgy" YA. If you don't have a good sense of humor, don't understand satire, or are easily offended, you'll probably be well...offended. I think it might actually be better suited for adults, but sophisticated teens would probably enjoy it. However, I wouldn't recommend that adults hand this out to kids without reading it first.I look forward to see what Ryan Hill comes up with next!