Roy Gill - The Daemon Parallel - Book Review - Published by Kelpies

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• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Kelpies (22 Mar 2012)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 0863158692
• AGE: 10+

As I write this review over coffee and biscuits, I have to confess that I judged this book by its striking cover a little while ago. The initial attraction was the fantastic snarling Wolf on the front cover which was illustrated by Paul Mudie (I think!). Actually, there is no accreditation inside the book but I am sure I'm correct in saying that he is the illustrator. 

The title is good and punchy - one that fits particularly well with the story. Roy was involved in writing a guest post for us, back in March, about this book and himself. To be honest, after reading this, it rocketed my expectation levels to greater heights - the question on my lips was could he deliver? Regular readers of this blog know that I'll always speak the truth and, to be honest Roy my boy, it was a poor show! What were you THINKING of with only 310 pages? I wanted so much more; I was stunned when I turned to the final page and yet very pleased to find that this book was definitely up to my expectations. In fact I'm going to go a step further by saying that this book is absolutely brilliant. 

I was actually so immersed in the story that I found myself in both worlds, both the Humanian and the Parallel, with each of the characters. It's like watching the adventure first hand, as if you were a fly on the wall, so to speak. It's one of those books that when it ends you feel a great sense of loss.

There are so many things that I loved about this book such as the setting of Edinburgh. I love this place and was able to relate to the landmarks and the different places in the story. Having visited many of these places before it really gave a realistic edge to the story. I really enjoyed reading about and engaging with the varied characters from the normal to the down right wacky character of Mrs Ferguson (a Daemon with an amazing bad eating habits and the penchant for hugging curtains). We go from the normal everyday life stuff to fighting Daemons of an ingenious nature. There is also a sprinkling of dark magic with undertones of a horror nature. These aren't really too graphic, but are amazingly spine-tingling which makes it absolutely purrfect for me. This book has everything from quick fire humour, which really make you chuckle, to some fantastic action sequences, which are really well written.

There are many twists and turns, thrills and spills which are all delivered with a wee hint of Scottishness for full flavour. You can tell that this is a story that has been nurtured for some time and to me it has totally been worth the effort. However, I did find myself being able to predict some of the story towards the end, but this was the only slight flaw. Nevertheless this is a great debut book and one that will fly high into my top five reads of this year, so far. 

Many congratulations Roy (my boy); what have you got planned next?