‘I mean that you are Hell’s last hope. That you, Philip Engel-‘ the Devil raised a finger and pointed towards Philip’s thumping heart, ‘will be my successor.’
p. 58
G’day there friends! Today I am honoured to bring to you my review for TheWriteReads Blog Tour for The Devil’s Apprentice by Kenneth B. Anderson. This tour has been incredible and I highly you recommend read the other reviews on the blog tour stops because WOW.
Like most of my reviews, before I begin the review aspect of this post, I will place the synopsis of the novel from Goodreads below:
Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devilโs heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but thereโs 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 underworldโbut who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?
The Devil’s Apprentice is the first volume in a 6 book (three volumned) series called The Great Devil War. I read this 350ish paged book within a day because it kept me engaged and on the edge of my seat throughout its entirety. I won’t summarise the novel, I’ll just get straight into my ‘analysis’, so to speak.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I found that the premise of the story to be incredibly refreshing as well as fun. It took the Christian mythos of heaven and hell and turned it slightly on its head. It brought the mythology of the Devil, demons, of hell and heaven itself and brought forward characters and creatures that I have not seen portrayed in a novel before. I especially enjoyed learning the different levels of ‘devils’ and of demonic creatures with their own roles and responsibilities – it was incredibly interesting and I do wish we were given slightly more in terms of exploring that aspect of the world. What I also enjoyed was the systems of punishments in Hell; I thought it was incredibly entertaining especially when historical figures were mentioned alongside their ‘punishment’ (which gave me a good little giggle) but more importantly, it was a system that made sense. Essentially, the world-building was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Hell within the The Devil’s Apprentice.
The first thing he saw was the fire. It raged everywhere. Shot up from cracks in the dry earth as if the entire place had been built upon a gigantic, erupting volcano. Some flames were as tiny as the flicker of a candle, others were as high as the columns on a Greek temple.
p. 36
The writing overall was easy to read and flowed incredibly well. As the reader, you felt Hell’s fire – the writing beautifully crafted the atmosphere of the world and it was fantastic. When a book immerses me into the story to the point that I felt as if I was there, as if I was a spectator to the characters’ journey, it’s a winner for me. Not many authors are able to incite such a reaction.
As well as the characters, I really loved Grumblebeard because I found him to be a precious demonic figure of Hell and I would absolutely love to have a cup of tea with him. I also enjoyed Satan’s character, I found him quite hilarious but I felt disconnected from him as well as the main character, Philip. For me, the only reason why I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars was because I did not feel any sort of connection with the characters. It was more of a superficial type of feeling towards them, more of an interest in how Philip’s journey would end at the conclusion of this book. Because I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book, I really wanted to connect with the characters, but it just didn’t quite reach that level for me.
Will I read the rest of the series, though? Hell yes. I’m intrigued. And this book is the first book in a 6 book series, so it makes sense that this book is more focused on the world-building, on the building of the plot than a fully in depth exploration of each character.
Overall, I REALLY ENJOYED this book and I honestly, recommend it. It was not only hilarious, but engaging, intriguing and incredibly refreshing with a unique take on Hell and Heaven, Death and the Devil. Read it.
Also, make sure to check out the rest of the tour stops on this Blog Tour!
Until next time, happy reading!
All the love,
Allie
xx
About the Author:
Kenneth B. Andersen (1976) is an award-winning Danish writer. He has published more than forty books for children and young adults, including both fantasy, horror, and science fiction. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages and his hit-series about the superhero
Antboy has been turned into three movies. A musical adaptation of The Devil’s Apprentice, the first book in The Great Devil War series, opened in the fall 2018 and film rights for the series have been optioned. Kenneth lives in Copenhagen with his wife, two boys, a dog named Milo, and spiders in the basement.
โจ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ซ๐ป๐ช๐ป๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ป๐ช โจ 
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