Review: #674
Title: American Monsters
Series: The Demon Road Trilogy - 3rd and final book
Author: Derek Landy
Read Before: no
Comments: Serving as the conclusion to The Demon Road Trilogy, American Monsters follows Amber as she finds a way to not only kill both her parents but also backstab the Shining Demon Astaroth in her bid for freedom. It makes for a blast to read but despite that, American Monsters feels unguided for a large portion of the novel. A lot of the events that happen feels tacked onto the last without some sort of clear objection like the original book so readers can be left wondering how is what is currently happening relevant. From the demon representation from Demoriel chasing down Amber and Milo that appears and disappears frequently to Amber and Milo getting onto a detour to stop an undead clown to meeting a random girl at a motel, while fun to read and learn about, doesn’t feel essential to what is effectively a simple revenge plot. Nevertheless, the anticipation is high once you get to the climax and Amber plays her hand to finally resolve everything. The revelation works perfectly although the ending feels a bit forced in how Astaroth was finally defeated, and also a bit of a shame on what happened to the characters. There are several minor unresolved plot points, including a few introduced in this novel alone, it felt that the author had run out of amazing ideas and settled for just your good ones instead. Overall, American Monsters is a satisfying conclusion to the series but doesn’t quite live up to the original Demon Road.
Rating:
7/10