My covenant with The Demon's Covenant

I’ve just finished The Demon’s Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan, and I’m feeling a pain in my chest, almost as if the book has marked me with some sort of third-tier demon mark and now the book can possess me and control me whenever it likes. If you are not familiar with the Demon’s Lexicon trilogy, then what I just said probably sounds like nonsense to you. But if you are one of the initiated, then you know how devastating Rees Brennan’s combination of breathless action, simmering passion, and cutting wit can be.

Warning! Spoilers ahead if you have never read book 1, The Demon’s Lexicon.



The Demon’s Covenant, book 2 of the Demon’s Lexicon trilogy moves its focus from Nick, the demon in a human body, to pink-haired Mae, the clever and brave girl whose hair “is the color of flamingos.” At the start of the book, Mae is still haunted by the magician she killed to save her brother Jaime, a magician who had been marked by a demon. She is trying to get back to her normal life, but when she finds out that her brother has been spending time with one of the evil magicians who tried to kill him, she calls Nick and his brother Alan to help her.

With Mae as the main character, Rees Brennan really gets a chance to flex her funny muscles, and anyone who has heard her read or seen her speak will be able to clearly hear her voice coming from Mae’s mouth, especially during Mae’s irreverent and loving interactions with Jamie. At a recent reading at Books of Wonder (18th Street between 5th and 6th, NY, NY), Rees Brennan said that her editor had introduced her to something called “The Twilight clause” in an effort to get her to add more romance and sexy scenes to her manuscript. And there is plenty of that here; at one point it seems that Mae is caught between the affections of three “gentleman callers.” But Rees Brennan is too clever to allow her book to fall into familiar tropes, and she takes any opportunity she can to undercut the love triangle cliché. Her romantic scenes flare up from the page, but despite their heat, they never distract attention from Mae’s true purpose, which is to save her brother and to become the dynamic woman she wants to be.

The Demon’s Covenant is a thrilling breathless book, the kind with a plot that makes you want to rush through the pages to find out what happens but with words that make you want to slow down and savor the love that flows between the characters. And this third-tier demon's mark on my collarbone is telling me that I must not rest until I can procure and read book 3, The Demon’s Surrender.

Hmmmm. I've just found out that Kate Linnea Welsh is having a contest on her blog and giving away copies of any Sarah Rees Brennan book to the winners! Must....procure......Demon's....Surrender.....any......means......necessary......