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Publication Date: June 2, 2009 Publisher: Margaret K McElderry Author: · Sarah Rees Brennan Related Sites: · More from Simon and Schuster · Sarah Rees Brennan site Grade: C

The Demon's Lexicon is the story of two brothers, Nick and Alan, who slay demons. Nick is the brawn; Alan is the brains. When Alan gets himself marked by a demon while he's helping some local teens, Nick is furious. Nick doesn't believe in helping people. He only cares about himself and Alan. Everyone else, including tiny kittens and his own mother, can burn in hell as far as he's concerned. Of course despite what many might see as a major personality flaw, all the girls in the book still want Nick. This is because Nick is hot, and apparently teenage girls will overlook the bad behavior of sociopaths if they have flyaway emo hair and brooding brown eyes.

When Alan insists upon helping Jamie, the town nerd, get his demon marks removed, Nick reluctantly tags along. Removal of the demon marks requires the killing of two magicians. Coincidentally, a whole gaggle of magicians are tracking the brothers in order for the head magician, Black Arthur, to retrieve something Nick's mother took from him many years ago. Somewhere in the midst of battle preparations, Nick learns that Alan has been lying to him his whole life. Finally, a major twist is revealed at the ultimate battle between the magicians and the demon slayers, and Nick is forced to reconsider where his loyalties lay.

Despite the ridiculously pouty-lipped pretty boy on the cover, I wanted to like this book. I like urban fantasy. I like novels from across the Pond. I enjoyed the Mortal Instruments trilogy written by Cassandra Clare, a writer friend of Sarah Rees Brennan.

Why then, did I keep hurling this book at the wall? Well, for one, the first 280 pages of The Demon's Lexicon are entirely too much like Cassandra Clare's City of Ashes. Note: I am not accusing anyone of plagiarism. The two writers are friends and probably spent a lot of time bouncing story ideas and demon mythology off one another. I am simply saying everything I read felt like it had already been done.

Both books have an angsty, angry, attractive demon slayer paired with a more responsible and studious brother. Both books have a geeky human with a penchant for making flippant comments in the face of danger. Both books have multiple "who's the daddy?" twists. Both books have a demon-slayer's mom being sought after by the head villain. I'll stop (but I could go on.)

And even though The Demon's Lexicon is fraught with conflict and confrontation, I didn't find myself emotionally invested because I didn't care about any of the characters. Main character Nick is the poster-boy for antisocial personality disorder. Brother Alan is nineteen but comes across as middle-aged. He's half goody-two-shoes and half whipped puppy, with giant lapses in judgment whenever his crush is around. Mae is an annoyingly spunky pink-haired trollop who manipulates Alan's feelings for her while hitting on Nick. And then there's Jamie, Mae's brother, who is always either turning pale and cowering in the corner or making inane comments at the worst times. I know he's supposed to be a humorous character but after about twenty pages he was so irritating I kept hoping he'd just hurry up and die already.

With the exception of Jamie's constant commentary and about five thousand too many reminders that Nick is a cold-hearted killer incapable of human emotion (something's not right with the dude -- we get it already!), the writing isn't bad. It's fast paced and funny in places, and the Brit-speak manages to add to the story without being distracting. Unfortunately, it isn't enough. Even the twist, admittedly genius, is foreshadowed so heavily that I suspected it early on and figured it out for sure by the middle of the book. Apparently this is going to be a trilogy and a second book called The Demon's Covenant is in the works. Here's hoping Brennan will use her formidable writing talent to craft a compelling story with at least one likable character next time.