Almost Demon (The Sigil Cycle #1) by A.J. Salem

 

The last thing Gemma Pope expects to study in the after-school book club is demon etiquette but that is exactly what she has to do to succeed as a summoner and save her hometown.

Since taking the blame for the car accident that claimed the lives of her twin brother and two of her best friends, she s been seeing things. Dark shadows, opaque, menacing, multiplying.

The clock starts ticking when the local mild-mannered librarian suffers a psychotic break and pulls a gun on her reading circle. People are dying in disasters and wars all over the world. Gemma s dad is getting weird, her classmates are becoming violent, and the darkness surrounding Harrisport is getting thicker.

Does she trust hot English Lit teacher Mr. Flynn or Ian, the mysterious new kid in town, who has knowledge beyond his years and access to other dimensions?

It is only when the gates to hell are opened, that Gemma learns who her real friends are.

Discover what lies just beyond the veil of humanity in the sleepy town of Harrisport.

My Opinion:

Almost Demon was an engaging read, and I found it very easy to just let myself sit and flow from chapter to chapter. It was a really good mix of demons, angels, spells and gates to hell with a touch of not happy ever after. Whether demon, angel, human, or otherwise, each character has his or her own distinct personality that isn’t necessarily what one would expect (like - an angel with a tattered robe and a nail-biting habit who blithely refuses to help rid the town of aggressive spirits, a beady-eyed, overweight demon in a mustard-colored suit and purple shirt trying to kick a smoking habit who likes to call Gemma “chicky.”) Gemma herself had a snarky sense of humor that makes her fun to read.

The plot:

Gemma has finally returned to school after the accident – the accident in which her twin brother and her two best friends died. An integral element in this story - everyone blames Gemma for her brother and her best friends’ death, even her own father. By following Gemma, we ventured into a rather dark story populated by strange creatures who take possession of bodies and bring a lot of disasters. This is an action-adventure fantasy that establishes a quick pace right from the start. In the first fifty pages, Gemma is attacked by her brother’s possessed former girlfriend, meets the hot new boy in school who shows her a portal to other dimensions, survives the local librarian going postal in the middle of story time, and finds herself the only member of a mysterious new teacher’s “book club,” in which she studies an ancient book of magic and practices summoning demons.

After introducing to Thom and Ian she learn about attraction and desire and... manipulation. Most of the time she is very busy learning to communicate with demons,in purpose to bring order to her school,to her city and especially to her life. Her relationship with her father (the overworked scientist) is weird - he oscillate between Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide and she never now she is going to meet, Until she discovered the secrets that surrounding her birth ...

I love the idea of summoning angels and demons and the tattoos they leave behind. I love the idea of channeling their powers and creating debts and favors and working to discover exactly which angel or demon you need for each job.