Our demon—Lord Malgon, aka Mal—and our “hero”—Sir Reginald P. Asstradle, aka Reg—are magically bound thanks to a rare loophole in the demon-hero contract structure. Malgon is the first demon to appear in the town of Widdershins in more than 500 years. The contract rules dictate that the demon must assist the hero in achieving something “good,” which usually amounts to a glorified fetch quest. The demon then gets to do something commensurately bad. In this case, Malgon and Reginald are literally bound together and can’t be more than a few yards away from each other without being violently (and painfully) hurled back together. What’s more, the reason for their dilemma is a broken stone they were supposed to return to some dryads. The pair decides to venture to the city of Seven, where they hope powerful wizards can repair the stone and break their bond.
The plot is simple enough, and Kincaid portrays it with a dash of self-awareness and humor. Reg and Mal know their quest is sort of ridiculous, but they trudge onward anyway. The pair encounters travelers, slow-talking giants, mischievous faeries, and a menagerie of other fantasy beings. “Two reluctant companions on a whimsical road trip” is a fun elevator pitch for this breezy story.
As for the characters, I enjoyed them with one relatively major issue. Mal narrates the story in first person. He’s sharp, quick-witted, and short-fused. He’s easy to understand as a grumpy demon upset with his lot. Reg is a bumbling oaf who took up heroship to make something of himself, and he vomits at even the most minor sign of stress. When I started the book, I had trouble discerning who was talking before I realized it was all Mal all the time. Kincaid falls into a good rhythm as the story moves, so this issue fades. Still, it may be a hurdle for new readers who don’t know whether we will eventually switch perspectives. Know going in that Mal is our storyteller, and you’re good to go.
The Demon, The Hero, And The City Of Seven occupies a diverse fantasy world. The creatures and beings within will be familiar to most fantasy readers, but each carries its own twist. A stone giant traps Mal and Reg because he just wants a friend. A cabal of faeries needs help with an eight-limbed “monster” that isn’t quite what they think. Kincaid does a fine and dandy job of populating Widdershins, Seven, and the roads in between with interesting figures.
All of the above is good stuff, and I encourage anyone who’s intrigued by the review thus far to pick up a copy of the book. That said, I have one quibble to address, and it’s the pacing. Rather than moving forward consistently, Demon moves in big lurches. Some chapters read as quirky side quests while others propel the story into a completely new place. None of these happenings are boring or bad, per se, but they’re jarring. The first half of the book is a jaunty stroll through the lands between Widdershins and Seven. Each chapter more or less features a self-contained snippet. Mal and Reg encounter a problem, plan a solution, and somehow get out of the pickle hilariously.
They arrive at Seven, and it feels like a major shift. Their relationship starts to wane thanks to the introduction of a new place and novel characters. The original mission—once a distant goal—now plops right into the foreground and must be dealt with. In a vacuum, I don’t mind any of this. I wish instead that Kincaid had more gradually worked in some of the plot elements throughout the first half. It would make the latter half feel more at ease within the context of Mal and Reg’s initial journey.
From start to finish, The Demon, The Hero, And The City Of Seven made me smile. A few speckled issues and some pacing problems didn’t deter me from enjoying this quirky novel, and I’m intrigued enough to continue the series.
Rating: The Demon, The Hero, And The City Of Seven – 7.0/10
-Cole
