Review: The Demon's Covenant

Title: The Demon's Covenant
Author: Sarah Rees Brennan
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 440
Series: Demon's Lexicon trilogy #2
Rating: 4.5 stars
**Warning** Review may contain SPOILERS from previous book.
From the book jacket: 
Mae always thought she was in control, but in the past few weeks, control has turned into chaos. She's learned that her brother, Jamie, has magical powers, and that Gerald, the new leader of the Obsidian Circle, is trying to persuade Jamie to join the magicians. The same magicians who tried to kill Mae and Jamie last month in London. The magicians who get their power by feeding people to demons.

Mae turns to brothers Nick and Alan to help her rescue Jamie, but they are in danger themselves. Every magician in England now knows what Nick really is -- and they all want him dead.

Nick's new power has also caused a rift between the brothers. In the weeks they were gone something terrible happened, something that haunts them both. With Nick as unreadable as ever and Alan making secret bargains with a demon, Mae finds herself attracted to both brothers -- though she knows she can't trust either of them. The magicians are closing in on one side, and the dangerous, seductive Goblin Market is tempting her on the other, and Mae has to form her own plan to save them all. She's going to find that the price she must pay is more than she ever imagined.

The covenant is binding. There is no escape.

Okay, so, I'm not really sure where to start with this book. I can't decide whether to rant and rave about the plot, the characters, or the actual writing. I guess I can go in that order. The plot was fantastic, it just kept me reading and reading (I went to bed at 3:30 a.m. last night - this morning? - because I was reading this book). The Demon's Covenant picks up about a month after the conclusion to The Demon's Lexicon, only this one is told from Mae's perspective rather than Nick's. Jamie's a magician, and suddenly he's hanging out with Gerald - the leader of the magicians who tried to kill them just a month ago. Mae calls Nick and Alan for help, and they set out to determine what exactly Gerald wants. Then there's the fact that something is clearly wrong between Nick and Alan, and although Mae doesn't know what, it's clear that she's going to have to save them both. And the Goblin Market has a huge role to play, although no one is quite sure what. There's also the fact that she's deeply attracted to both of them. That was really my only problem with the book - I got tired of Mae's attractions toward Nick and Alan and the tall-dark-and-handsome Seb from school. Even so, it was worked in really well and the book would not have been the same without it. Everything about the plot just kept me turning the pages, wanting to find out what happened next.

And the characters. I love the characters so much. It was really cool getting inside Mae's head instead of Nick's this time - I think they're both such dynamic characters that it's awesome to get to see both of them that way. Mae's struggles with her own emotions and with her relationship with her brother are very engaging, and Nick's development as he's trying to figure out what it means to be human and whether he can ever be that is just amazing to watch(/read about). I do wish we'd seen more of Jamie, he's one of my favorites, and his role in this book is also spectacular. I am glad that we got to see more of Sin in this one, and it's really neat watching her character come to life too.

Then there's the writing. It's the perfect blend of seriousness and lightness. There were bits that had me laughing out loud (I'd quote them, but there are a lot), and the characters' dialogue is so full of sarcasm and dark humor, and it was just fantastic; then there were the parts where everything was incredibly serious, and reading it you can just feel the atmosphere that the characters are in.

So, long story short: awesome, awesome book. If you haven't read The Demon's Lexicon, go pick that one up and read it right now. If you have, and you haven't read The Demon's Covenant yet, I dunno why you're still reading this, because you should be reading this book instead.

Links: 
Sarah Rees Brennan's website
Sarah Rees Brennan's blog