Book Review: Demonglass (Hex Hall book 2)

Short book review first:

Review: Gone, by Michael Grant
At first glance, the idea of Gone seems to be refreshing enough.
It’s a fast paced page-turner, I actually enjoyed most of the book, until the ending part arrives.

Reading the book reminds me of The Lord of the Flies, I also see a bit of X-Men in it. Last but not least it also reminds me of the deeply disturbing Japanese horror manga series The Drifting Classroom by Japanese manga-ka Kazuo Umezu (Trust me, The Drifting Classroom gave me freaking nightmares and caused me to have difficulty eating for HALF A YEAR after I read the first two volumes. Yes, I was unable to bring myself to read further than vol. 2 even though I skipped to read the finale 10 years after I first read the first two volumes, but still OH MY POOR INNOCENT EYES AND MY OVERTURNING STOMACH!)

But the more I read Gone, the more I ran into troubles with the characters. First of all, I don’t like Sam. I mean, the bullies had basically been stepping on him for ¾ of the book and Sam just clenched his teeth and took it!? Even after a girl had been beat up badly and all Sam had done was to shelter the girl, but without doing something to let the bullies know it’s wrong to beat people up and they needed to back off?

In the end, Sam is unlikable as a supposed hero. But in the villain section, Caine also failed to gain my respect, unlike some other finely constructed villains, Caine doesn't work for me. Plus I hate the idea of talking wild animals. It's so messed up.

Plus, I tried to read the second book of the series, Hunger; but I GAVE UP when those evil WORMS ate that kid...


Now to the major part...

Book Review: Demonglass (Hex Hall #2), by Rachel Hawkins

Book Description from goodreads.com: That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

Demonglass, book 2 of the Hex Hall series is less cliched than the first book, it continues to be funny at some parts, but as a whole I still fail to enjoy the book. I blame it on the book's lack of depth and characters' development.  

We moves with Sophie from Hex Hall to England during summer, in order to meet her mysterious Dad and get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the Eye and stuff. First I'm actually glad that we no longer need to be trapped in the boarding school. Boarding school is so overused a background for YA supernatural novels, ever since Harry Potter (plus, Miss Hawkins' boarding school isn't inspiring, not at all). I'm glad to find Miss Hawkins was willing to move away from her boarding school setting and wrote something new instead.

Sophie's daddy and Jenna, her best friends are more or less the only characters I like. I don't hate Sophie but she's becoming increasingly annoying in Demonglass and her witty remarks are getting old, really old. Witty remarks are nice, but if they were spoon-fed to us in almost every single page, I have to say 'enough is enough'.

As to the love triangle among Sophie, Archer and Cal, DON'T EVER GET ME STARTED WITH IT. JUST DON'T. Cal is okay as a character but I see no legitimate reason for him to be attracted to Sophie. The hints of Cal/Sophie as a whole look too much of a 'every guy loves the heroine!' Mary Sue trapping to me.

On the other hand, Sophie's romance with Archer does nothing to me, plus her sneaking behind everyone's back to meet Archer strikes me as inconsiderate and stupid. I mean, Archer is an agent of the Eye, so why would Sophie believe him wouldn't hurt her or her friends? Why doesn't Sophie seem to worry about the circumstance of misjudging Archer at all? That looks very airhead to me.

Some might argue that Sophie is only a teenage girl so it's okay for her to act according to her feeling instead of common sense. But hey! The whole thing about Archer and the Eye isn't just about Sophie's feeling! Her friends are also at risk due to her choice! Being in love isn't an excuse!

By the way, did I mention that Sophie's self proclaim 'deep love' toward Archer looks like nothing but obsessiveness and infatuation to me?

Okay, I know I'd made myself sound like I hate Sophie, I don't. I guess I don't like her because I got tired of her witty remarks and attitude very quickly. From time to time, her attempts to be humorous just don't sit well with the serious situations faced by she and her friends, in many cases, Sophie's witty remarks makes she look like she isn't being serious instead of showing her sense of humor; and this bothers me, a lot. And some of the things she does in book 2 make me just roll my eyes in disbelief. It's not a good sign.

The rest of the book isn't bad, the ending is actually quite intensive, I admit it's a nice plot twist there, but once again the ending leaves too big of a "READ THE SEQUEL!!!" sign behind. I don't quite enjoy it. But I think I'll still read the next book ONLY WHEN I CAN READ IT FOR FREE. I simply refuse to spend any money on this series.

Then I found out that Rachel Hawkins had made some nasty remarks about Goodreads.com and reviews which shows quite an amount of Bad Author Behaviors: (cuddlebuggery.com/blog/2012/01…) And it does nothing to boost my opinion on Miss Hawkins.