The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan

From the Publisher

Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick's mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again.

Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon's mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is desperate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long.

Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.

Alan Review

Nick and his older brother Alan are demon slayers; they use swords and magic to fight evil and protect their mother, a witch driven mad by magicians. The three of them are constantly on the move as they hunt and are hunted by demons and magicians. Though troubled by his feelings toward his mother, Nick has no doubt about the love and loyalty he feels toward his brother Alan. A brother and sister arrive needing protection from a demon, and Nick and Alan are forced to make difficult and dangerous choices in order to protect them. As they search for the demon attacking the brother and sister, Nick finds out that his beloved brother has been lying to him about their family's past. The circle of magicians closes in on the two sets of siblings, the danger intensifies, and Nick uncovers a secret that could cost them all their lives. Reviewer: Melanie Hundley

Children's Literature

Nick, his brother Alan, and their recluse mother have been on the run from the magicians for years, ever since their father died saving them from those same magicians. Now, Alan has been marked by a demon and the only way to remove it and save Alan is to seek out the very magicians that they have been hiding from for so long. Along the way they meet Mae and Jamie, two fellow teens also hunted by the magicians and the demons that they control. The four friends' journey is full of twists and turns as they travel from a small English village, to the secretive torch lit Goblin Market, to the streets of London, in search of answers. Emotions run high as they struggle to survive in a world where the difference between good and evil is increasingly blurred, intentions are not always pure, and the discovery of dark secrets threaten to tear apart siblings and budding romances as they prepare to face the biggest danger of their life. Action packed fight sequences featuring magic as well as sword and gunplay draw the reader in and the supernatural world full of charms, dancing, and demon summoning keep the reader hooked in this modern urban fantasy. Reviewer: Jamie Hain

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up–In this riveting debut novel, 16-year-old Nick and his older brother, Alan, are accustomed to life on the run. Since their father was murdered, the boys have been forced to slay demons set on them by magicians seeking the powerful charm stolen by the boys’ mother. Nick is furious when Alan receives a “first-tier” demon mark while saving a neighborhood boy. While seeking to remove it, Nick begins to suspect that his brother is lying to him about the reason for the magicians’ attempts to kill them and about why their mother screams whenever Nick touches her. Fans of the Supernatural television series will be hooked from the novel’s opening lines (“The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink.”). Even teens who don’t consider themselves genre buffs will appreciate the solid writing, fast-paced plot, and sense of authenticity that Brennan gives to the shadowy world between ordinary, modern-day London and the otherworld of demons and magicians. Though Nick and Alan’s story is mostly resolved with Nick discovering the truth behind his father’s death and his mother’s fear of him, readers will no doubt clamor for the next book in this planned urban fantasy trilogy.–Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD

Kirkus Reviews

A fresh voice dancing between wicked humor and crepuscular sumptuousness invigorates this urban fantasy. Askew of everyday England there lies a darker world, where power-hungry magicians sacrifice innocents to demons and their victims peddle protection with like ruthlessness. Nick Ryves has spent all of his 16 years therein, perpetually on the run, his father murdered, his mother driven mad, his crippled older brother the only person he can trust. When two desperate teens seek out their aid, he will find the last few certainties of his life stripped away. Nick is an astonishing protagonist: vicious, deadly, callous, nearly feral, all but consumed with rage, yet rendered irresistibly attractive by his mordant wit, his clear-eyed recognition of his flaws and his terrified bafflement at his own fleeting moments of tenderness. Every character hides secrets, every conversation hints at double and triple meanings. From the pitch-perfect opening paragraph to the heartbreaking final pages, the narrative peels back layers of revelation, deftly ratcheting up the tension and horror to a series of shattering climaxes. The conclusion, while utterly satisfying, also leaves room for the story to continue. Delicious. (Fantasy. YA)

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