2011 Cybils: Demonglass, Rachel Hawkins

Another fun and confusing aspect of being the lone SFF Cybils panelist in the UK means finding books which have varying titles. I picked this book up when I was grabbing a bunch of other actual Cybils books, because it was by Rachel Hawkins, and I thought, "Sheesh, how does she manage to write other Hex Hall related novels in the middle of the series!?" Um. She doesn't. She just has publishers who manage to rename them to confuse my slow self. I kind of hate the cover (you should have seen the first one - oy!) and am pretty "meh" on the title of the UK one, but the words inside are thankfully the same.

Reader Gut Reaction: I enjoyed the first book in this series, and to avoid spoilers I will not basically recap anything much, except, Sophie Mercer is not who she thought she was. This is a basic premise for so many great novels, and this series is no exception. As Sophie discovers who she is -- and what's important to her -- she has to balance her own personal desires against what appears to be the needs and desires of the larger community...

Concerning Character: It was bad enough finding out that there was this whole Other World going on, and that Sophie was a part of it, as a witch. But now... she's found out that witchiness is NOT the problem. Sophie's time at Hex Hall - the school for those who are both monsters and rejects - has come to an end. She's spending time in England, - getting to know her father, who is supposed to teach her all she knows about being a demon. After all, they're the only two in the world... except, they aren't. Someone else is raising demons, and it's going to take an all-out war to stop them.

Recommended for Fans Of...: Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series, Thirteen to Life, by Shannon Delaney, and any other school stories of girls trying to deal while the world goes to bits around them.


Cover Chatter: I've whined about the cover before, but the UK one is a tiny bit egregious to me, because it shows a girl with purple markings on her face. That's what happens to a person when they've gone through Removal - when their powers have been sucked out of them. As it hasn't happened to Sophie in Book 2, the cover showing a girl with those lines on her face is somewhat disingenuous.

And what is with the glint-y eyes?

In my opinion, the American cover of this novel hits closer to the mark in reflecting the story behind it.

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With whichever cover, you can find DEMONGLASS - or RAISING DEMONS at an independent bookstore near you!