Another one I got for free at World Fantasy.
I was quite disappointed. The Good Demon is a YA novel that can't quite decide on its views of Christianity and, to be honest, morality. That's because it's not about either, but it takes so long to reveal the true point of the story that you are kind of left wandering around wondering what it all means.
It does go into some good stuff about the nature of evil. But the plot itself is a little thin to hang the story on and the characters are not particularly memorable. The one strength of this book is that Cajoleas understands the concept of setting as character very well, and there are not enough contemporary fantasies set in small town America. As a background, there should be more done with this. (The novel would be gothic if there was a large scary house involved. Well, there sort of is, but not quite enough).
I'm not sure whether I can recommend this one or not. I'm inclined no, but other people will probably like it...and I'm not the target age group. Then again, if a YA novel isn't entertaining to adults, then we are probably doing it wrong.
Spoilers...
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The real theme of the book is that a relationship doesn't have to be romantic to be toxic and abusive. Which is, yes, an important thing to tell kids. I'm just not sure this book does it right. As for its view on Christianity, it turns out to be "God is good, narrow-minded evangelicals are bad," which I can get behind.
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