I want to say a big thank you to The Write Reads and Kenneth B. Andersen for having me on the Ultimate Blog Tour for The Devil’s Apprentice. I received a complimentary digital copy but that has not affected my review in any way.
Blurb
Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devil’s heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but there’s been a mistake and Philip is the wrong boy. Philip is terrible at being bad, but Lucifer has no other choice than to begin the difficult task of training him in the ways of evil. Philip gets both friends and enemies in this odd, gloomy underworld—but who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?
The Devil’s Apprentice is volume 1 in The Great Devil War-series.
My Thoughts
So, what can I say? I think I will just jump straight in with I freaking LOVED this one! Phillip Engel is literally the nicest, kindest, angel of a boy you could ever meet. So it makes perfect sense that the Devil should pick him to be his successor! Lol right? No. He meant to choose a horrible bully of a boy but due to a mix up he ended up getting Phillip instead! And, yes, you guessed it, that means a whole load of hilarious and ludicrous situations rapidly follow. If you haven’t already guess yes, the Devil actually meant to take that horrible bully boy (Sam).
I really didn’t know what to expect going into this book. I’d never heard of it before, but then I saw that it was going to be the next Ultimate Blog Tour so I knew I had to check it out. Definitely glad I did. It’s just a great, funny, original YA fantasy that steps away from the tropes that seem to abound these days and dares to be a bit different. And although I’m certainly a lot older than the target audience, all I can say is I loved it. I also really liked that it is actually more complex morally than you may initially think. Good and evil are not necessarily completely black and white things.
You can definitely see some inspirations in the great classics at play here, particularly in some of the descriptions of Hell. Reminded me a little of a Christmas Carol and of course, there is some Dante’s Inferno in there too, so even though the target audience is YA there is definitely, in my opinion, more than enough to keep the older reader interested. Can’t recommend this one enough really.
5 out of 5 stars!!!
Bookish Kingdom 