Review: The Devil's Apprentice

Title: The Devil's Apprentice

Author: Jan Siegel

Date Published: September 2013

ISBN: 9781781081471

Publisher: Ravenstone

Pages: 384

 ★★★✰✰

The Devil is retiring… but who’s taking over? In the house with no front door, a group of teenagers are trapped in assorted dimensions of myth and history, undergoing the trials that will shape them to step into his cloven footwear – or destroy them...The Devil is retiring… but who’s taking over?
When teenage Pen inherits the job of caretaker for a London building with no doors and only a secret entrance from the caretaker’s lodge – which she must never use – little does she know it will lead her into unbelievable danger.
For Azmordis, also known as Satan, a spirit as old as Time and as powerful as the Dark, Immortality is running out. In the house with no front door, a group of teenagers are trapped in assorted dimensions of myth and history, undergoing the trials that will shape them to step into his cloven footwear – or destroy them.
Assisted by only by an aspiring teenage chef called Gavin and Jinx, a young witch with more face-piercing than fae-power, Pen must try to stop the Devil’s deadly game plan – before it’s too late.

What to say ... this one is difficult for me to review. On one hand, the story line was one that I hadn't heard of before (that doesn't happen very often!), the characters were pretty well written and the world that the author created were interesting. On the other hand ... it was just ... too much. This is considered a children's fiction book and it is very, VERY involved. There were tons of characters to keep track of and while I remembered all of them, sometimes it took me a moment to get back into the story. 

That was another issue for me, the flow of the story seemed to start and stop every few pages because you were flip flopping between centuries and characters. Now, it's very likely that I had issues with that because I'm a stay at home mom and with two boys running around, I have to squeeze in reading time between taking care of those two monsters. But it really felt like I was in the car with a 15 year old who just got their permit and are learning how to use the break pedal ... 

As a side note ... I really expected a tie in to the title by the time I was halfway through the book. But it really kept me guessing how it was going to happen and when. By about halfway through the book, I thought that maybe it should have been re-titled to The Doors or something. Anything having to do with the doors actually because that is what the story centered around for so long. 

All of that being said, I did really like the conversations that the characters had ... I know that sounds weird but hear me out ... they went back and forth like a ping pong match and it was amusing to read. You can definitely envision actual conversations with this one, nothing seemed awkward or forced in that aspect. 

I also liked the concept of doors leading to a new land or time. That was pretty interesting and I found myself wondering what they would encounter next. Each time I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued. 

This isn't a BAD book but it's just not one of my favorites. I would probably try and read it again sometime. I mean, it really touched on all of the magical/fantasy/mythical creatures/beings and the like. I don't know if one more could have been

Oh, and Felinacious is an awesome name for a cat. Sounds pretentious, regal and lazy all at the same time.