REVIEW: Demonic Dora (The Demon Diaries, Book 1) by Claire Chilton

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My Rating: 4 out of 10 stars

Dora thought summoning a demon lord would be the answer to her prayers, helping her escape the wrath of her evangelical preacher father, and equally uptight mother. But things never quite work out the they should....

I had a difficult time getting into this book, and very nearly didn't finish it. However, since it's a NetGalley review book, I wanted to at least try. So I told myself I'd read the first 25% and if I still couldn't stand it, then I'd stop.

Fortunately, it was right around that 25% point, with Dora's arrival in Hell, that things started to get a little more interesting. It was still stupid, but at least it was a bit more silly stupid now, and the writing seemed not as juvenile as it had starting out--though I still thought it sounded like that of a 14 year old girl. So if you can put up with all the teenage angst and stupidly cliched behavior of the first 9 chapters, you may actually get a giggle or two out of the remainder of the book.

I didn't find myself particularly drawn to either of the main characters however. Dora was entirely too whiny and always putting herself down. How can you like a character who doesn't even like herself?? Is this what teenage mentality has come to these days... hating on oneself 24/7? Though it was a recurring theme throughout the book, it was lessened somewhat in the latter half as other more interesting events began to take place. I could've cared less about Kieron as well. The one character I did like was Pooey, the brown, scraggly-furred demon with the squashed face that Dora won at the carnival. He was a hoot!