Book Review: Prosper's Demon by KJ Parker

A short and sweet review for a short and sweet novella! First of all, thank you so much to @torbooks for sending me a free copy! I dug the hell out of this one. This is not a horror book, by any stretch of the imagination - although a few parts are somewhat gory - it’s more of a fresh take on demonic possession.

“And belief, like love and sleep, is something you can’t do anything about. You can’t make it come if you want it, and you can’t make it go if you don’t.”

Our morally questionable narrator is capable of exorcising demons from those who are possessed. His methods are effective and he really doesn’t care about the mess he leaves behind whilst doing so. He encounters Prosper of Schanz, who is a man of science aiming to raise the first philosopher-king - it’s just a shame Prosper is possessed.

The writing alone blew me away. The prose is absolutely beautiful, yet manages to be both witty and satirical. The narrator’s dry humour simply had me cackling out loud at times! I would say it’s quite an intellectual read as well, it leaves with you lots to ponder and consider.

It’s so incredibly short, clocking in at just under 100 pages, but so much is packed in here. There’s impressive world-building and an intriguing storyline, it’s truly impressive when an author can be this effective within so few pages!

The less said the better! This is one to sit and binge in a couple of hours. Look out for it early 2020. It was a lot of fun! 4.5 stars.

Johann

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