The first Demon Road book was an absolute hidden gem from an author I’ve loved from the Skulduggery Series. It was one of those adventures that stick with you, even though so much happened, you still get flashbacks of certain events and think wow that happened. This book however, though it still had many of the awesome elements, when trying to look back at my favourite parts it all feels like a bit of a blur.

Maybe it was a bit of an overload as we were thrown straight into the action from the first chapter and every following chapter there was always some sort of violent conflict or a new twist in the plan. Also the fact that it’s mostly all set in the single town rather than travelling around and discovering new places. But that’s forgivable because the town and it’s hidden dark mystery is intriguing and awesome to uncover.

The largest problem for me and I see many other reviewers think likewise is the new characters that are introduced. There’s more than I can count and to be fair they weren’t all that bad, the old guys had an interesting dynamic and the young gang of Scooby Doo monster-hunters could make for an interesting book of their own. They did add to the story in their own way and It would have all been perfectly fine had I wanted to care about new characters. Problem is I didn’t! Amber and Milo’s journey is all that I was really interested in but we had to follow these other guys around for multiple chapters in between.

The ‘romance’ between Amber and Kelly has also got plenty enough stick on here from reviewers so I daren’t go into it. Ultimately I just found it all a bit awkward as though the author didn’t feel comfortable or knowledgable enough as a fellow dude when delving into that type of dynamic. It’s not his forte.

Also it’s easy to brush over, but Glenn? What’s up dawg? I hope everything gets explained and resolved with him in the next book because we can’t just have him popping up to help here and there and then disappearing with no real explanation!

Now despite the criticisms, don’t get it mistaken, this book will still have you on the edge of your seat. It was an epic book, but like many sequels it’s just not as good as the first. I do however look forward to the final book in the trilogy as the reviews are very good for it and as a character I look forward to seeing Amber mature even more as she faces her new challenges.