If I ever find myself needing inspiration for a horror story, one of my go-to authors is Alexander Gordon Smith. His work is explosive, exciting, creepy, and absolutely thrilling Not to mention gory as hell. I loved his Escape from Furnace series (and if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?!), and he excels again with his new trilogy. The first book, The Devil's Engine: Hellraisers, is virtually nonstop action from start to finish, a wild, creative ride that leaves you breathless and desperate for more. Definitely a book to pick up if you haven't already. 

Badass cover where you can almost feel the evilness of the Engine.

When a sixteen-year-old troublemaker named Marlow Green is trapped in a surreal firefight against nightmarish creatures in the middle of his New York City neighborhood, he unwittingly finds himself amid a squad of secret soldiers dedicated to battling the legions of the devil himself.

Powering this army of young misfits is an ancient machine from the darkest parts of history. Known as the devil’s engine, it can make any wish come true-as long as you are willing to put your life on the line. Promised powers beyond belief, and facing monstrous apparitions straight out of the netherworld, Marlow must decide if he’s going to submit to a demonic deal with the infernal machine that will enable him to join the crusade-if it doesn’t kill him first.

From the author of the Escape from Furnace series, here is the opening salvo in an explosive new horror trilogy about an ordinary American kid caught up in an invisible war against the very worst enemy imaginable.

The book starts from two very different perspectives– the first being Marlow's, as he makes it clear that he's a troublemaker with no direction, too busy drawing "rockets" on his principal's car hood. I admit, that made me laugh pretty hard. The other perspective is from the a young woman named Pan the Hellraisers, a group of men and women who have supernatural abilities they use to fight demons. 

The abilities come from a messed up device called the Devil's Engine. I won't go into details about how it works, but suffice to say that the name should give you some hints. The rules, mythology, and world that have been created are exciting and unique. While it's not as deep as the Furnace series (yet anyway), the complexity is obvious. This is not a machine you tamper with lightly, and the consequences of doing so are alarmingly severe. I can't wait to learn more about the Engine in future novels.

The characters are fantastic. Marlow is a great lead, a young man whose identity struggles are realistic and understandable. He's not a stereotypical hero, but he's not a bad person. I genuinely enjoyed reading about his mistakes, and the lengths he went to make them right. He's not perfect, but who wants a Mary Sue? 

Speaking of characters who know no bounds at getting the job done, Pan is awesome. Stone cold bitch to be sure, but she's seriously kick-ass. Tough as nails, but alarmingly vulnerable as the weight of their duty becomes heavier and heavier.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. As mentioned before, one of the things I love about Alexander Gordon Smith's work is the level of violence and gore. He's a master at painting vivid, bloody pictures that made even me cringe. And if you think he's going to take it easy on you when he describes the demons and the monstrosity in the final battle? Think again! 

The Devil's Engine: Hellraisers is seriously badass. One of the wildest books I've read this year. I hated having to go to work and put it down. Once you start, you won't want to stop for anything. So pick it up and start reading it now. No contract with a machine from Hell required! 

Amy

Immediate Reaction After Finishing Book

Hellraisers drew me in because of its intriguing premise and while I loved the world building I never managed to fall in love with the book. There is definitely potential in the series and by the end of the book, I was hooked, I just wanted more from the book as a whole.

What I Liked

• World building. The idea of a machine that can grant any wish at a cost is so intriguing and the author totally did this idea justice. My favorite bits in the novel were when we got to learn more about the machine and it’s powers. I love the way it isn’t just a fantastical thing but that it becomes scientific in the way engineers and lawyers approach it,
• Lack of romance. If there had been a romance it would have been instalove and I am glad that it didn’t happen. It could but right now, all we have is an unrequited crush and that’s fun too because then we get to see a relationship develop as opposed to a romance that doesn’t make sense.

What could have been better (i.e. things that were just okay)

• The Characters. I had a really hard time relating to the main character, Marlow. I also didn’t like Pan, the other main character. Marlow was hard to relate to because he had no drive. This characteristic is essential to his character so I don’t know if my annoyance is a good thing or not, I do know that I wanted to shake him most of the time. It’s why his development doesn’t do much for me. Also he totally mistreated Charlie--his best friend--and it pissed me off. My problem with Pan was that she transitions too quickly from an ice-queen to someone who has too many feelings and it made her development almost unbelievable to me. It’s kind of hard to explain and I am doing a bad job at explaining anyway so I am going to stop.
• The pacing/plot. I didn’t like that it took half of the book for us to finally be introduced to the world of the engine. I did like the realisticness of Marlow’s reactions but I was so excited to just see the world of the engine (the lawyers, engineers, the actual engine, etc.) that his inability to believe started rubbing on me. This is mostly a ‘me’ thing since I am impatient and prefer when things move quickly (although not too quickly because if a book is rushed then that’s no fun at all.) The plot was also paced weirdly in that the first half of the book took forever and the second half seemed to fly by, almost too quickly. I also felt like there wasn’t a proper overarching plot? Like I had no real idea where the book was going until the end, not because there was some major twist that changed my entire perception of the novel but because there wasn’t always consistency throughout the novel.

The difference between the ‘What I liked’ and the ‘What Could Have Been Better’ might make you think I mostly didn’t like the book but that isn’t true. I liked it okay, it’s just that nothing about it really grabbed at me and made me go WOWZA, THIS IS AMAZEBALLS and that’s kind of what I expected given the novel's amazing blurb. The ending did really up the stakes though so I am going to continue with the series and see what awaits for these characters in the future novels.