Title: Prosper’s Demon
Author: KJ Parker
Page Count: 112 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★
Publisher: Tor.com
Release Date: September 28, 2020
Buy It: Chapters Indigo
SYNOPSIS
In the pitch dark, witty fantasy novella Prosper’s Demon, K. J. Parker deftly creates a world with vivid, unbending rules, seething with demons, broken faith, and worse men.
In a botched demonic extraction, they say the demon feels it ten times worse than the man. But they don’t die, and we do. Equilibrium.
The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out—he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person.
Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed.
MY THOUGHTS
Usually I’m not a fan of books that have exorcism in them. Really, not a fan at all. But for some reason, probably that cool cover let’s be honest, pulled me in to read Prosper’s Demon. Overall I enjoyed this quirky strange read and really connected with the bizzare narrator.
Prosper of Schanz is a gifted musician, scholar, painter, etc but he’s got a problem. He’s posessed by a demon. This is where our narrator comes in. A pessimistic exorcist whose only goal is to get the demon out – without a care as to what happens to the erm, body, the demon has possessed.
Top features of this story include the following:
A strange narrator who is funny, albeit the humour is quite dry and dark.
The world building kept building until we reached a crescendo and trust me you want to see what this point is all about.
