In den Bergen der südlichen Appalachen im US-Bundesstaat Virginia: In einem Trailer wird Demon Copperhead, eigentlich Damon Fields, geboren. Sein Vater ist bei seiner Geburt schon tot, seine Mutter zu diesem Zeitpunkt erst 18 Jahre alt und auf Entzug. Armut, Sucht und Verluste werden auch das weitere Leben von Demon prägen…

„Demon Copperhead“ ist ein Roman von Barbara Kingsolver, der mit dem Pulitzer-Preis für Literatur im Jahr 2023 ausgezeichnet worden ist.

Meine Meinung:

Der Roman setzt sich aus 64 Kapiteln zusammen. Erzählt wird in der Ich-Perspektive aus der Sicht von Demon, überwiegend chronologisch. Die Handlung deckt eine breite Zeitspanne ab: die komplette Kindheit und Jugend des Protagonisten bis ins Erwachsenenalter.

Der Schreibstil ist sehr anschaulich und leichtfüßig. Die saloppe, direkte Erzählstimme mit ihrer bisweilen recht vulgären Sprache wirkt authentisch. Sie sorgt dafür, dass die Atmosphäre trotz der sehr ernsten Themen nicht zu düster wird.

Es handelt sich um eine Neuerzählung von „David Copperfield“ aus der Feder von Charles Dickens, die jedoch auch ohne Vorkenntnisse des Klassikers funktioniert. Dabei steht der titelgebende Demon klar im Vordergrund der Geschichte. Sein Innenleben ist sehr gut nachvollziehbar. Auch die übrigen Figuren sind interessant ausgestaltet, wenn auch manche etwas schablonenhaft erscheinen.

Inhaltlich gibt es mehrere Hauptthemen: die Opioidepidemie, institutionelle Armut und Perspektivlosigkeit im ländlichen Herzen der USA. Leid und Gewalt in unterschiedlichen Formen tauchen immer wieder auf. Wie die literarische Vorlage von Dickens übt der Roman Gesellschaftskritik und regt zum Nachdenken an.

Mit seinen mehr als 800 Seiten ist der Roman keineswegs eine kurze Lektüre. Dennoch beinhaltet die unterhaltsame, mitreißende Geschichte erstaunlich wenige Längen und hat trotz des großen Umfangs mein Leseinteresse aufrechterhalten können.

Das deutsche Cover ist leider recht nichtssagend und unspektakulär. Der knappe, aber treffende Titel wurde erfreulicherweise wortgetreu aus dem amerikanischen Original übernommen.

Mein Fazit:

Mit „Demon Copperhead“ ist Barbara Kingsolver ein Roman gelungen, der verdientermaßen viel Anerkennung bekommen hat. Eine definitiv empfehlenswerte Lektüre.

A thrilling return to the #1 New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series, continuing Rachel Morgan’s story.

RACHEL MORGAN IS BACK–AND THE HOLLOWS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.

What happens after you’ve saved the world? Well, if you’re Rachel Mariana Morgan, witch-born demon, you quickly discover that something might have gone just a little bit wrong. That the very same acts you and your friends took to forge new powers may have released something bound by the old. With a rash of zombies, some strange new murders, and an exceedingly mysterious new demon in town, it will take everything Rachel has to counter this new threat to the world–and it may demand the sacrifice of what she holds most dear.

The hollows series always has a spot in my heart. It was the series that got my passion for reading back. That being said, I was super excited to go back to the hollows and see Rachel, Jenks, Trent, Al and hell even Ivy again.  I was curious to see how she would start it up again after the epilogue we got in The Witch With No Name, It was okay …. Even a bit of a cop out in my opinion, but I can overlook it.

The books start shortly where The Witch With No Name ended and it was so nice to see them all again. Though the first few chapters it felt like she made a point to mention everyone who was someone in the series. I still enjoyed it, for the most part, revisiting the people, places and see how and what everyone is doing. Mostly the demons, what are they up to now topside and how are they handling it.

Some things were kind of funny,  soon though we get thrown into the plot and it still okay even if a bit strange and odd … even for the hollows.

So one of the main parts I was looking forward to was seeing Rachel and Trent, them working together, being together and all the couple things, I was a bit disappointed when once again Rachel STILL doubted her relationship with Trent and why he loved her and so on. There was a reason for it ( of sorts) but still we worked so many books to get them together and he more than showed that he is with her all the way, we should be over this by now. Whatever the reason.

In other ways it also felt like typical Rachel, taking one step forward and three back.

I soon became a bit bored with her and stuff. I started to skim the book except the parts with AL, Trent or Jenks.

Overall I thought it was okay, I LOVED that we got to go back to the hollows, Rachel ugh … Oh and the Elisabeth being a fan of Rachel was just weird even for me.

Something just felt of and I’m not even sure what but maybe I just outgrew the series. I don’t know or maybe we just need a new voice, I think this could have been from Trent’s POV .

It would have been the same great people, world and series, just a fresh voice to it that we already know and love.

Speaking of Trent I think he was the best and I just like him more and more and I think out of all of them him and Al both grew the most in the series,

I also loved AL of course, while he had some issues, he is still the same ole Ale we know and love.

Overall, I think it was okay, bit boring but like I said maybe I just outgrew the series or I just can’t handle Rachel’s self-manipulation anymore, she always has some issues and if not she creates them.

I rate 3★ I might continue the series at some point but I’m not sure yet when even if I miss the world and characters.

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The Director of Mission San Juan Capistrano has a serious problem, one he hopes medium Sam Firecloud and his partner, private investigator Lacey Fitzpatrick can solve. There’s an evil presence at the mission and it’s growing worse. Sam confirms it’s a Big Bad and he and Lacey set about finding a way to get rid of it. But this is no simple ghost, stuck on the Earthly plane. This is something else. And Sam and Lacey are going to need help unsticking this one.

I enjoy these stories so much. Sam and Lacey are great characters and their process is wonderful to watch. The read is quick and yet the story doesn’t lack because of the brevity. Crisp writing lays it all out and the evil in this one is…ugh! Not just a ghost this time around. This is something that has the ability to reach out and kill. Holy shit! I like how the story unfolded and how it was resolved. I look forward to the next Sam and Lacey case.

I finished! That nets me $3 in BLopoly, and now I get to roll again.

This book gets a big No from me. I liked the dog, and Lizzie was okay although way too forgiving. All the other characters suck. It would have served them all right if Lizzie had just ditched them.