_Desolation Hill_ (Demon Road book 2) by Derek Landy 4 of 5 stars

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

_Desolation Hill_ (Demon Road book 2) by Derek Landy 4 of 5 stars

I remember I have talked up Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant books here,
but can't recall if I reviewed the first book of his "Demon Road"
series, _Demon Road_. Suffice it to say, in book one, Florida
teenager Amber Lamont discovers that her entire life has been a lie,
that her parents are demons, and the only reason she exists at all
is so they can eat her when she comes into her power. This precipitates
a series of events that leave her on the run with only a semi-reformed
serial killer for company.

One of the conceits of this series is that once you become involved with
the supernatural, especially the dark side (to be fair, there is no indication
that there is a light side..) you are on the "Demon Road", and no matter
where you go you will run into supernatural danger, often criss-crossing
with the same characters. You are also more liable to find yourself in
small, almost off the map, towns with horrible problems, but even if you
are in New York, it will be more "Gotham" than "Metropolis"..

As _Desolation Hill_ starts, Amber & Milo are on the run, Amber having
tricked the "Shining Demon" who gave her parents their powers, and he
having unleashed the hounds of hell (manifesting as a motorcycle gang)
to track her down. Having learned that there is just one place on
the continent from which the Shining Demon and his minions are barred,
they set out for Desolation Hill, Alaska.

It would be too much, of course, to expect that there would be a *good*
reason for the eldritch barrier around the town, and once Amber & Milo
arrive, events quickly turn deadly. Told at their hotel that they can't
stay since the town "festival" is reserved for residents, and being unable
to leave with the hounds parked at the town limits, the two go to ground,
hunted by new enemies and acquiring new allies including a retired 70s
action hero, and a suspiciously familar van full of meddling kids.
Along the way, Amber learns something interesting about her hithertofore
nonexistent love-live, runs into her parents at the worst possible time,
and makes a choice that will shape her life, and probably not in a good way.

As I think I mentioned in my post on Skulduggery Pleasant, Landy is different
from many writers in that he has his characters do things from which there
is no coming back, and then they come back. Whereas normally you would
expect the only out for a character who has done something Landyesque
would be to achieve some measure of redemption by dying heroically, in
Landy's world, they just go on and try to deal with it as best they can
(and these are the good guys, mind you..).

I dinged the book one star because despite the supporting premise that
the same characters will often find themselves once they start down the
Demon Road, the re-apparance of a tragic character from book one was
rather random, both times, and because I expected a little more payoff
on the nature of the meddling kids. (Which still may come, I'm sure
they'll be back).

I'm not sure why Landy seet this series in the US -- (He's Irish). It
may be because the Skulduggery Pleasant books were very Irish, and they
never caught on here as much as they should have. In general, the setting
works pretty well, but there is a bit of a risable episode where a key
bit depends on an American teen knowing the method Henry VIII used to
kill his wives. I doubt many American teens have any knowledge of
Henry VIII at all beyond Herman's Hermits (if that nowdays..). Unfortunately
if the setting was a concious push for the US market, it seems not to have
worked. The book is out in the Commonwealth, but has yet to be issued
here, and I had to tell Amazon a white lie to get the ebook. Still,
both Demon Road books are well worth your time: Funny, horrifying and
compellingly page turnable.
--
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Arrgh! Despite proofing it several times, I got the title
wrong. It's just _Desolation_ (though the town *is* "Desolation Hill").

[Brian M. Scott]

On 24 Apr 2016 17:09:43 GMT, "Ted Nolan <tednolan>"
<t...@loft.tnolan.com> wrote
in<news:do4cun...@mid.individual.net> in
rec.arts.sf.written:

> Arrgh! Despite proofing it several times, I got the
> title wrong. It's just _Desolation_ (though the town
> *is* "Desolation Hill").

I wasn’t going to say anything, but given this note, I’ll
mention that it’s <risible>, not <risable>.

Brian
--
It was the neap tide, when the baga venture out of their
holes to root for sandtatties. The waves whispered
rhythmically over the packed sand: haggisss, haggisss,
haggisss.

[Robert Carnegie]

On Sunday, 24 April 2016 16:50:34 UTC+1, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> ... Having learned that there is just one place on

> the continent from which the Shining Demon and his minions
> are barred, they set out for Desolation Hill, Alaska.

Promising!

(But the GPS whispering may be a bad sign.)

Oh: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived?

I wonder if <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tudors>
(on TV 2007-2010) is relevant to the conception.

Described as "historical fiction", I seem to recall that
it was such as to be of interest to an audience not allowed
to see shows with sex in unless they're educational.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 4/24/2016 12:09 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> Arrgh! Despite proofing it several times, I got the title
> wrong. It's just _Desolation_ (though the town *is* "Desolation Hill").

This is why I add a Amazon URL to my book reviews so that people can click through if I screw up the report.

Lynn

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Not a bad idea.

[Robert Carnegie]

On Monday, 25 April 2016 15:02:55 UTC+1, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Sunday, 24 April 2016 16:50:34 UTC+1, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> > ... Having learned that there is just one place on
> > the continent from which the Shining Demon and his minions
> > are barred, they set out for Desolation Hill, Alaska.
>
> Promising!
>
> (But the GPS whispering may be a bad sign.)

Huh. I meant to type "whimpering". That /is/ spooky.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

In article <360c4b7b-5568-4103...@googlegroups.com>,

Well, even if you are on The Demon Road, Desolation Hill is hard to find,
and *bad* to find, so it's exactly like something a GPS would do if it
were in Milo's car (and for godssake don't turn on the radio!)

[Gene Wirchenko]

On 24 Apr 2016 17:09:43 GMT, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan

<tednolan>) wrote:

>Arrgh! Despite proofing it several times, I got the title
>wrong. It's just _Desolation_ (though the town *is* "Desolation Hill").

Beat yourself up over it. If you recover from your error, you
will be over the "Hill".

Those small typos are like small dogs.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko