Review: Prosper's Demon by K.J. Parker

Prosper's Demon by K.J. Parker
Tor.com

Publication Date: January 28th, 2020

Paperback. 112 pages

About Prosper's Demon:

"In a botched demonic extraction, they say the demon feels it ten times worse than the man. But they don’t die, and we do. Equilibrium.

The unnamed and morally questionable narrator is an exorcist with great follow-through and few doubts. His methods aren’t delicate but they’re undeniably effective: he’ll get the demon out—he just doesn’t particularly care what happens to the person. 

Prosper of Schanz is a man of science, determined to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, reared according to the purest principles. Too bad he’s demonically possessed."

This is going to be a very short review solely because this book is only a little over a hundred pages and there's only so much I can say without giving things away because this book was so fun to explore.

K.J. Parker is truly a master of creating distinct, sharp narrative voices. Our unnamed narrator is, as the synopsis mentions, a delightfully morally questionable man who exorcises demons from those who happen to find themselves possessed by a demon. I loved listening to the narrator's personality and his opinions and takes on what he does and the world around him.

I also actually really liked the the concept of the demons as well as the methods in which they both possess people and can be exorcised. It was a really unique and somewhat fun take on an idea (demon possession) that's been around for centuries. It's clever and inventive and really made me wish that this novella could be turned into a full length novel. Although the plot of this book was interesting, I was really much more interested in the concepts and the narrative style than a lot of the main story points, which is the main area where this works better as a novella.

My favorite part of this novella remains the incredible and witty prose. It's beautiful in a very specific way and had me laughing out loud more than a few times. Parker truly has wonderful writing skills and I'm so impressed by the sheer cleverness and writing style of each book I've read by him, including Prosper's Demon.

Overall, it's 4.25 stars for me! This was such a delight in a morbid way and I had a great time reading it. Highly recommended to anyone who loves a unique narrative voice.

*I received a copy of Prosper's Demon courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has no effect on my rating of the novel.*

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