Rating: 8.5/10

Thanks to the publisher and author for an advance reading copy of Prosper’s Demon in exchange for an honest review. Receiving this eARC did not influence my thoughts or opinions on the novella.

Prosper’s Demon is a darkly humorous take on demonic extractions, written with exquisite prose and featuring a protagonist that I absolutely loved and loathed. Only Parker (aka Tom Holt) has the chops to write something so profound and complete in such a short work.

I have an idea you aren’t going to like me very much.
That may prove to be the only thing we’ll have in common, so let’s make the most of it.
I do terrible things.

When you have a morally ambiguous narrator, one who remains nameless throughout the story, that is an expert in their craft but could give less of a rip about his clientele, you are sort of left wondering by the end of the tale whether or not they were good to begin with. Sure, they do good work, what with exorcising demons and whatnot, but when it potentially costs the life of the client, aren’t they really just a murderer with a knack?

I actually fell in love with the narrator. So much so that I want more in this world from Parker. There is something about a protagonist that you love to hate, like Jorg in Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire trilogy. I also felt that the setting was just so perfect for this story. We’ve seen modern-day possession stories in urban settings, and I for one am good with taking a pass on another for the time being. Lastly, the narrator’s dialogue with the demons themselves is something to behold. They are spoken to more like nuisances than the horrifying spirits we take them for, and the narrator tends to toy with and threaten them more than anything.

It is sort of difficult to talk about this novella without revealing spoilers. With it being so short, even the slightest hint can lead you down a path that I’d rather you find for yourself.

This wasn’t my first shot at Parker’s works, considering I read An Orc on the Wild Side in 2019, but it gives me even more incentive to tear into his backlog as I have heard so many great things about his fantasy worlds. I highly recommend this novella as it is one of my favorites to come out of Tor.com publishing.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for the arc!

4.5/5 stars

This was a really fun and dark read!

Being only about 100 pages it was very easy to read and I found myself engaged with the story the whole time. The unnamed narrator is sarcastic, edgy and morally grey and I loved it so much. Keep in mind that this is a bit of horror story so it's not for the faint of heart.

Anyway, I am going to read something with a theme of good vs. evil you should know that I would choose Prosper's Demon over your typical stuffy book any day. I'm honestly amazed how much was accomplished in such little pages.

Doesn't quite fit the collection for the HS library, but I will definitely considering acquiring this novella for my personal library.

The nitty-gritty: A twisty, clever and irreverent story about demonic possession.

So apparently K.J. Parker is a pseudonym for author Tom Holt, and this has been common knowledge for the past five years. I just got that memo, lol, but even if I didn’t know this, it wouldn’t change my opinion of Prosper’s Demon at all. I loved this short novella to pieces! This is my first time reading either Parker or Holt, so I’m going into this story with completely fresh and unbiased eyes. 

Told by an unnamed narrator who can “see” demons in people and expel them, Prosper’s Demon tells the story of a brilliant artist and scientist named Prosper of Schanz who has taken on two seemingly impossible challenges: first, he has been granted permission to oversee the social and educational development of the newly born Prince of Essen, imagining a future “philosopher king” who will be a perfect human specimen. And second, he wants to engineer and build a gigantic bronze horse to display in the palace, which will be the largest and most complex bronze statue ever built.

Unbeknownst to Prosper, his artistic ability and ingenuity are due to an uninvited demon living inside him, a demon the narrator refers to as “She.” Our narrator, chasing after a different demon who so recently forced him to murder a young woman, gains access to the Palace and befriends Prosper, convinced he'll be able to easily expel the demon inside him. But Prosper's demon is one he's never met before, and it doesn't take long for our narrator to get caught up in the demon's scheme. She confides that She’s been working on a project She calls the “grand design” for hundreds of years, and that Prosper will bring her plan even closer to fruition. So what does our narrator do with that interesting information? That is for you to find out when you read this book!

This idea has the potential for a much longer book, and yet Parker tells this unusual story in just 112 pages. I’m always amazed when authors can condense a story into such a small package and still succeed at plot, pacing and characterization, but that’s just what Parker has done here.

My favorite part of the book is definitely the voice of the narrator whose wry humor was a perfect backdrop for his unorthodox occupation. He starts the story by admitting “I have an idea you aren’t going to like me very much,” and goes on to inform us that there are precisely 72,936 demons in existence, and that in his jurisdiction he’s responsible for monitoring 109 of those. Because of that, he keeps running into the same demons over and over, including a demon who’s given him plenty of grief over the years. He can “smell” demons and communicate with them telepathically. He simply has to order them “out” of the body, and they must comply. However, there are risks with expelling demons, and Parker gleefully goes into the sometimes gory details of these exorcisms.

The story also dips back into the narrator’s past as he tells us how he discovered he had the ability to see and expel demons as a child and some of what he’s learned over the years. This is where the author added some nice emotional moments, and again, I thought this was so well done, considering how short this story is. 

And if you’ve ever wondered how bronze statues are made, then pay attention! Prosper’s Demon goes into fascinating (and at times, excruciating) detail about the process. I personally was fascinated. The ending did wrap up rather too quickly, but it was the only stumble I can think of in an otherwise stellar novella.

Laugh out loud funny, endlessly fascinating and filled with wickedly gruesome moments, Prosper’s Demon is a dark and entertaining treat.

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.

I love me a good sarcastic narrator. Our nameless narrator in this very short demon possession story clearly knows better, but choose the more uncouth option every option. I really enjoyed the use of pronouns here, especially because Parker establishes early on that you can see the effects of demons, but never the demons themselves. The two primary demons, He and She, have such different energies, especially Her. She is the titular Prosper’s demon and, wow, is there a symbiotic relationship. It looks rad on page and I can’t say anymore, given the brevity of the read.

A quick read for those who enjoy demons and asshats.

PUBLISHER NOTE: Review will be posted 1/27/20 on my blog, Goodreads, Twitter, and Reddit. Links to be updated at that time.

Prosper’s Demon is an absolutely stellar example of KJ Parker's signature wit. As always, Parker's protagonist is more than a bit of an asshole, but you have to love the wry, humorous prose he's couched in. This would be a great entry point for someone new to Parker's short fiction, given how thoroughly it epitomizes the tone and characters he's known for. Although this novella shares a universe with My Beautiful Life, they are both stand-alone and independent of one another.

Parker has a penchant for nameless narrators, and Prosper’s Demon continues that trend. It’s an interesting stylistic choice, especially since it’s hardly noticeable up until you begin writing about the book in question. You start to write a sentence saying that <narrator> did such and such, and then you backtrack - wait, what’s his name? DID he have a name? Oh, huh, he didn’t have a name. Parker manages to draw you into the head of his characters so thoroughly that you never stop to consider the fact that you don’t even have a word to call them. It’s the purest of first person stream-of-consciousness style narrations, eliminating all the chaff. The reader is meant to BECOME the main character, to insert themselves into the novella, and to experience what it would be like to be such a complete and utter asshole themselves. It’s fascinating. 

The novella opens on, well, a murder scene. And I do mean opens on it - the very first sentence describes the corpse lying on the bed. It’s established quite quickly that our anonymous narrator is not the best person out there, given that he’s the murderer. Sure, a demon made him do it - but he also chose to put himself in a position that gave the demon and opening to sneak into him while he was asleep. But, regardless, it’s up to the reader whether or not the good he does balances out the bad, so off goes the body down a nice deep crevasse. Thus does Parker set the stage for this little demon hunting tale. 

I WOKE TO FIND her lying next to me, quite dead, with her throat torn out. The pillow was shiny and sodden with blood, like low-lying pasture after a week of heavy rain. The taste in my mouth was familiar, revolting, and unmistakable. I spat into my cupped hand; bright red. Oh, for crying out loud, I thought. Here we go again.

Really, though, our dear narrator is less of a hunter and more of a shepherd. The demons can’t die, but they can be shuffled along and weakened. He was born with the ability to see and interact with demons, which is quite rare in this world. He first encountered a demon all the way back when he was in his mother’s womb, when a demon attempted to hide in her and recover after having suffered a grievous injury. This did not go very well for the demon, and likely contributed quite a bit to the somewhat skewed moral compass our narrator now possesses. 

The narrator’s semi-lucrative demon-shepherding trade is sanctioned by the Church, though the demons are working on discrediting the whole institution altogether with mixed success. Sometimes he’s welcomed into villages, and other times he’s given the cold shoulder. On the whole, people are usually glad to see him when they need him but would very much prefer he not wear out his welcome after the demons have been exorcised. Largely, this is due to the fact that exorcisms are messy at best. It is not a clean process to extract a demon. They latch on to their host’s minds, and pulling them out tends to do quite a bit of damage. On the flip side, however, the demons aren’t a huge fan of the exorcism process either - it’s painful in a way that we mere mortals could never understand. Thus, sometimes the best option is to bargain with them and convince them that leaving on their own is in their best interests. 

Give me five minutes, It said. At which point, you have to make a decision. You consider the amount of damage It’s already done—in this case, a broken leg, because I’d heard it break, and almost certainly a rib or two, high chance of internal bleeding, the little bastards never can resist playing—and then you weigh the harm It’ll do if you leave It in there a moment longer against the havoc It could cause if you have to yank It out. Factor against all that the pain and trauma It’ll feel being extracted, of which It’s so very, very scared; and then you ask yourself, is It really so tired and hungry that It’ll risk being manhandled, or is It simply trying it on, the way They all do, 999 times in 1,000? 

This way of life is all well and good for dear Narrator, right up until he finds a demon inhabiting the premier scholar of their kingdom: the good Master Prosper. It’s quite a subtle little thing, and rather more aesthetically pleasing compared to the ones he’s used to (by which I mean that it looks like a very attractive young woman rather than the nasty crabby-gooey things he typically sees). He’s set to be the mentor for the Duchess’ as yet unborn child. Naturally, the unborn child also has a demon inside of it. All around, this is not a great situation for anyone - and so, he bargains. 

Fine, It said as It saw me scowling in at It through some poor devil’s eyes. I give up. I’ll go quietly. No, you won’t, I said. I’ve got a job for you. You what? You’re going to do something for me, I said. Or I’ll hurt you so badly you’ll remember the pain every day for the rest of your everlasting life. Two pale eyes gazed at me. If I’d been capable of pity, I’d have felt it. You’re serious, aren’t you? About the job, yes. And the pain. Completely stunned. Tens of thousands of years of existence, you think you’ve heard it all, but apparently not. You want me to help you? I nodded. Collaboration, I told It. It’s the next big thing.

In exchange for helping Prosper’s titular demon out with Prosper’s art project, the demon agrees to do a bit less harm in the short term. Sure, our narrator will be assisting with their long game plan, but at least the people in his own generation will feel a bit less pain for it. Tit for tat, after all. As mentioned above: Collaboration is the next big thing. And so, they embark on a quest of artistic vision: to create the large bronze statue in the world. It will be magnificent, glorious, a monument to mankind. It might even be worth the cost. There’s only one way to find out. 

It’s damned impressive how much fun Parker makes reading about asshole main characters. You love to hate them. They murder, they make horrible decisions, they lie and cheat and steal. But the prose is light, wry, and witty. His plotting makes it clear contextually that the main character is horrible, and so it never feels apologetic. If anything, it wallows in it, joyfully. Parker makes no attempt whatsoever to truly justify the actions of his characters, and it makes for an entertaining and hilarious read about awful human beings. It almost reminds me of a Quentin Tarantino film, if Tarantino wasn’t a foot fetishist and was actually witty. 

Anyway, the real takeaway here: I thoroughly enjoyed this novella, and you should read it too if you like witty assholes who shepherd around demons.

Prosper’s Demon is the first story I’ve read by K.J. Parker. I’ve had my eye on several of his books for a while—just try telling me that a fantasy series centered around an engineer out for revenge doesn’t sound like the most amazing thing ever. But for some reason, I’d never read a book by K.J. Parker before now.

So what changed?

For one thing, the cover art captured my imagination. Who is this fellow with black smoke for a head, wearing rich silk clothing and generally looking like an aristocratic demon? Then I read the back cover copy, and couldn’t resist the idea of a morally questionable exorcist who’s just out to do the job and doesn’t care about the consequences. I was sold, and started reading the novella almost immediately.

The concept of demons and exorcists is far from a new one. Prosper’s Demon shines in its uniquely irreverent approach to the subject. Demons are immortal and cannot die, but They can suffer. The main character feels this is a fair trade, and hunts Them without care for what happens to their hosts.

As a man lacking in scruples, our friendly neighborhood exorcist treats his job almost like a game. Sure, there are serious consequences to his war against demons, but it’s not like it’s his fault if there’s collateral damage. This callous attitude turns what could be an emotionally devastating fight against inhuman horrors into a battle of wits.

Then there’s Prosper of Schanz, the foremost thinker, innovator, and philosopher of the age. When he’s entrusted to raise the world’s first philosopher-king, it seems as if a Golden Age is nigh. I’m sure nothing could possibly go wrong with immortal body-jumping demons thrown into the mix.

All of this makes for a fascinating setup. But where the story truly excels is in the balance of wit and black humor that makes up Parker’s compelling voice. Parker’s beautiful cynicism cuts through the comfortable lies we tell ourselves to the rotten core within. Bleak nihilism mixes with hope for a better future.

There’s an incredible scene in the novellas that takes place on two levels. On the surface, we get to see the narrator engage in a philosophical debate with the renowned Prosper of Schanz. But something seems a little off. Once the conversation concludes, we get to rewind and see the real conversation that was going on. It recontextualizes the entire scene, and to put it eloquently, is really frickin’ cool.

My only real critique is that it felt like the story ended too abruptly. We’re introduced to an incredible world full of morally grey characters, given an intriguing story full of philosophical snark, and then it just… ends. I felt that this was not a primarily plot-driven story, so the sudden conclusion didn’t affect my overall enjoyment, but I can easily see this breaking the immersion for some readers.

So yes, this was my first experience with K.J. Parker’s work. I loved every moment of Prosper’s Demon, and the end left me wanting more. I will absolutely be picking up more of his stories soon, and if the one is an indicator of their quality, I’m in for one hell of a ride.

Clocking in at just around a hundred pages, Prosper’s Demon is a darkly funny and thought provoking exchange of wits between a morally questionable exorcist and the powerful demon he’s been at odds with his entire life. While at times I felt like the world building left a lot to be desired, the tight focus and beautiful prose made this a delightful read, and a great novella to recommend to anyone looking for a fresh take on demonic possession.

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.

An unnamed narrator has a special gift. The ability to extract demons from people, to violently pull the being out of the host… There are only certain number (72,936) of demons in the entire world and they are immortal. And it is in the odds that our main character will run into a couple of them several times throughout his life. This sets up a fun ongoing relationship that we will see in the novella. After a couple of opening purifications, we find ourselves amongst royalty and the “smartest man on the face of the Earth,” Prosper of Schanz. He has set himself the goal of instructed the newborn philosopher-king. But when you have a demon possessing the master, it will be a curious education indeed.

I’m going with a list on this review.

What I liked:

The glorious descriptions of the extractions… “tendrils” that have found themselves anchored in the host.
The banter between the narrator and the demons. There’s wit and threats… and a bit of pleading. But in the end…
The atmosphere. Castles and clergy. Dark laws and broken men. It’s a fun world to explore.
What was puzzling:

Just one thing. There’s meat on the bone, but just not enough at times. At just over 100 pages, I was left wanting more. More of the narrator, maybe a bit more his backstory, and I just wanted more of this world.
4 out of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, Tor Publishing, and the author for an advanced copy for review.

Thank you to Tor.com for providing me with a copy of Prosper's Demon via Netgalley in exchange for my open and honest review.

Prosper's demon, written by author K.J. Parker is a ride through sarcasm, nihilism, and philosophical morality. Even though the ending made the reading of the rest of the story worth it, this book is not for everyone. It employs time jumps, a stream of conscious writing style, and an unreliable narrator.

All is not what it seems with this story.

The story starts with a person named Prosper of Schanz. He is a scholar, artist, visionary, and thinker - ultimate creator. He is also currently populated by a demon. Demons exist; they live inside of people; they do damage, and have machinations. Because they cannot die and have been alive for possibly billions of years, they play the long game. Their ideas and schemes can be thwarted, but much like a river, they find other avenues to flow down. They find different ways of achieving their goals. Removing the demon can cause damage that can cause irreparable harm to the human. It is very Sisyphean.

Enter our unreliable narrator. He is an anonymous exorcist who can see these demons and pluck them from the souls and bodies of those they inhabit. He is an entirely unlikeable, and unempathetic. He has this gift that he has cultivated over his comparably short lifetime that allows him to interact with a demon. But for him, it is always the end's justify the means. If the human is damaged or die from having a demon removed, that is on the demon, not the exorcist. It is a morally bankrupt position to take, but that lack of care representative of the type of character the exorcist is.

Prosper's demon and the anonymous exorcist have a battle of wits through the course of the novel. Or at least that is what I think the author intended to portray. It is more like a battle of wits on the part of Prosper, and someone who is utterly uninterested on the part of the exorcist. The conversations between the two of them are confusing and banal.

This story is a short one clocking in at 100 pages. At 50%, I could not figure out who was talking, anything much about the characters or their intentions, and anything about the environment. The dialog is written in a stream of conscious style that made it difficult to figure out who is speaking. In the last 50% of this book, it got easier to figure out what was going on, but at this point, I didn't care about any of the characters and frankly just wanted to be done.

I wanted to like this book, and I gave it a higher star rating at three stars because I know that for some readers, this kind of storytelling is fantastic, and Prosper's Demon was done very well if you enjoy these types of narratives. But it wasn't for me.

If you would like to read more of my reviews or various other bookish things, please come by my blog at https://beforewegoblog.com/

"Sometimes I wonder if it's more that I hate Them than that I love my fellow humans. But nobody pays me to think that, so I don't do it often."

Prosper's Demon was my first descent into the mind of K.J. Parker, and what a curious and entertaining introduction it has been. Upon turning the final page, I immediately questioned why I've waited so long to finally dive into the works of such an incredible author, and truly regretted not doing so sooner. This story is told with such beautiful and sophisticated prose just dripping with wit and sarcasm, making this an engaging narrative posing many philosophical questions that continue to linger. It's a strange one, one that I haven't read the likes of before, and one that I enjoyed immensely.

We're delivered to a historical Renaissance-reminiscent setting during an age of enlightenment that feels remarkably realistic and familiar. The most beloved figures are those that contribute to the intellectual and technological advancement of society. Allow me introduce Prosper of Schanz, renowned and highly sought after genius of the arts and sciences. Oh, and he's possessed by a demon. Yes, this world is populated by a finite number of demons; ones that can hurt, but cannot die. Instead they attach themselves to unfortunate and unsuspecting souls to survive and thrive. The final stand against this scourge is a sanctioned order of demon hunters.

Enter our anonymous and unreliable narrator, who's determined to consistently break the fourth wall to tell us his tale as a charming rhetorical conversationalist. Let's rewind – what I meant to say was a callous and sardonic man capable of seeing, interacting with, and exorcising the demons that plague the world. While proficient in his craft, his hatred for Them has caused him to lose touch with his humanity, and his ultimate goal is to win…no matter the cost. I absolutely loved this character, even though he himself told me otherwise. And I suggest you take everything he says with a grain of salt.

As for the story itself, I don't want to give too much away, as this is a short novella that clocks in at about 100 pages. The narrator injects the main plot with tiny insights into his past that aid in evolving our understanding of not only the world built around us, but his motivations, as well. The depth Parker is able to achieve with such a small amount of real estate is just astonishing. I will, however, tell you that the ending completely blindsided me, and it was just absolute perfection.

There's really nothing more to say other than you need to read this book. I made my way through this in just a couple hours, and I was left wholly satisfied. If you're one that enjoys duplicitous tales with characters that fall into that lovely morally gray area, infused with some dark humor and the fantastical, then look no further, Prosper's Demon is the one for you. I highly recommend.

At long last, I’ve gotten my hands on a work by K. J. Parker, an author very well regarded in the wider fantasy community. Judging by the quality of Prosper’s Demon, I have to wonder – what the hell took me so long?
Written in the first person, this novella tells of the trials and tribulations of an unnamed exorcist in a world very like our own during the early Renaissance. Our protagonist is not a nice guy. He is devious, cunning and unscrupulous, a man who shows no qualms when it comes to inflicting pain to his fellow human beings. A vile man, written excellently and with an undercurrent of gallows humour that colours everything in the world around him - this worked very well for me.

The world this exorcist inhabits is one filled with cruelty, pain and Them, an awful lot of Them, demons who possess humans and seem capable of inducing in them extreme states – these creatures can only be seen by a chosen few born with the ability to recognize them, and this ability is as much a gift as a curse…as the protagonist will prove to you, reader.

You have to learn to think like Them, they told me when I was just starting out in the business; only, don’t get too good at it. They say that to all the students, and none of us really understand what it means at the time.
In and out of each other’s heads, like neighbors in a small, friendly village, which is exactly what we aren’t. Or to put it another way, it doesn’t do to get too familiar.

The reason Prosper’s Demon won me over, though, has to do with it not being your average exorcist/demon game of cat and mouse. Rather, it’s the structure of the story, the fact that a lot of it is built around conversations between the protagonist and the eponymous Prosper, a Leonardo da Vinci-esque genius of unparalleled scientific intellect. A lot is done right in those dialogues, obfuscating the truth, confusing the reader and making the outcome of the story questionable at all times.

Some of it, too, has to do with bronzeworking and the casting of statues – and I was struck by how well researched these sections were, by the veracity of complex processes as they were described.
If, like me, you’ve never before read the work of K. J. Parker, Prosper’s Demon is an excellent place to start, short but none the poorer in ideas for it. My score? 5/5!

Oh, and the cover? Gorgeous, sets up just the right tone for this strange tale.

I thought that most of this novella was excellent. I thought that the book did a good job of capturing the relentlessness of the unnamed narrator’s job, the constant ‘war’ against the demons that plague the world. I was expecting to really hate the narrator as a result - I don’t always get on with reading miserable perspectives - but there’s a certain give and take that managed to keep things feeling fairly light and not too intense.

I also enjoyed the dialogue between the narrator and the other characters, most notably the demons, which injects and an element of humour into the story that I wasn’t expecting. It’s probably one of the strongest elements to the story, the cynicism and the wit comes through best in the patches of dialogue.

My biggest criticism with this novella was the ending, it’s a common difficulty I have with short stories and novellas in particular, where the story has to have an ending and that ending sometimes comes out of nowhere. In this case it was incredibly sudden and very jarring, contrasting with some of the best short stories and novellas I have read which tend to favour a more open conclusion to the book. In a book that spends a huge amount of time going into the minutiae of bronze statue casting I did feel a little cheated by that conclusion. 

Overall, I think the writing is wonderful and the story is fascinating, the characters rich and worth a read - I just wish there had been a slightly different ending. 

My rating: 4/5 stars

I received a digital advanced review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Prosper's Demon is based on an old concept - demons inhabiting human bodies - but gives it a twist: what if the most respected intellectual and artistic person in the world is possessed?

This is a quick read, and it's pretty light - especially for something with an occasional conversation about (a) the meaning of art, (b) good versus evil, and (c) engineering? But it's interesting for a light read!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This will be available on January 28th.

This novella is…odd. I mean, really, really odd. I was originally drawn to this book by the amazing cover (okay, okay, I know: don’t judge a book by its cover. But I did, so there). The premise is intriguing: an exorcist who has an encounter with Prosper, a self-proclaimed genius and close friend of the king, who also happens to be possessed by a very tricky demon.

The exorcist, who narrates the story, is morally bankrupt, and extremely unlikable. Of course, he warns the reader of that right away. I liked that he was an unreliable narrator with a cynical streak. It wasn’t enough to endear me to the character or the story, however. There were too many problems.

The first problem is the length. Being that it’s very short, it needed to get going sooner than it did. The first scene was interesting, but afterward things slowed way down. I kept getting distracted from what was happening because it was moving so slowly.

Another issue I had was the fact that we never learn the identity of the narrator. That’s something that either works for you, or it doesn’t. I tend to dislike never knowing a narrator’s identity. I’m totally fine waiting until the epilogue to learn who the storyteller is, but I like to know at some point. It’s never revealed.

In many ways, the story felt incomplete. The idea was cool, and the writing had serious potential but, probably due to the shortness of the novella, it wasn’t fully realized. I would have liked this better if it was longer.

Prosper’s Demon is the latest novella from the mind of K.J. Parker, and it is a beautifully twisted mess of horror and superstition. This is a world in which demons and a select few mortals face off, again and again.
Demons are real. And they can do all of the things whispered about in horror stories. And yet there are few – very few – humans with the ability to see them. Better yet, they have the ability to eject these demons from their unwilling human hosts - at a cost.

“I have an idea you aren’t going to like me very much. That may prove to be the only thing we’ll have in common, so let’s make the most of it.”

Prosper’s Demon was a chilling experience, and well worth the read. This disturbing tale is full of demons and terrors, alongside the best and worst that humanity has to offer. The juxtaposition was alarming at times, but done in the cleverest of ways.
There was a lot to love about this novella. First, there’s the narrator – who is never actually given a name. The lack of name adds to his unreliability, as well as further distancing him from humanity itself. Such a clever and elegant trick. But one that took the writing so far.
The complex relationship between demons and the humans that can see them is fascinating. It’s also disturbing, in ways that send off those internal alarm bells. You know exactly what I mean by that – those people that you just instinctively know never to trust.
Prosper’s Demon was beautifully written, full of lush detail and character development, all the while showing a twisted war played out by a broken mind. It’s chilling and captivating all at once. And I very much wish that I could have kept on reading. But that is the price we pay for reading novellas, isn’t it? If so, then it was well worth the price.

Prosper's Demon is a darkly funny novella about an exorcist.

The story is well told, through the snarky, sarcastic voice of the narrator. Even though the tone is funny, the writing is absolutely beautifully crafted, There were stunningly vivid descriptive phrases that really caught my eye.

"The pillow was shiny and sodden with blood, like low-lying pasture after a week of heavy rain."

The plot itself is pretty fast-paced, there's not much space for unnecessary details. Parker does a really good job of explaining the world-building and developing the main character. I might have liked to learn a bit more about the world and how the demons fit in, but it was a solid enough base for the story to set itself. The ending was really clever and surprised me.

The main issue I had with Prosper's Demon was just that I wanted it to be more. Not in terms of length, the story is told perfectly within the shorter word count and I think the author made the right chose to fit it to a novella instead of a novel. However, because of the summary, the cover and the first few paragraphs, I thought the story would be darker, maybe even more disturbing.

A darkly funny, quick novella that's sharp and unusual enough to be surprising. A deeply memorable read.

I've found the best way to enjoy a book is going in with no expectations, and that' exactly what I did with Prosper's Demon. This witty, wicked little book was exactly what I didn't know I needed, offering up a serving of snarky commentary on a world that could almost be our own if it weren't for the fact that demons abound. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Our narrator, as the synopsis says, is both lacking in name and an exorcist of demons. He's not always the most reliable voice and his choices are often on the questionable side but he's almost a good person. It depends on the day. This ambiguous moral compass is exactly what sucked me into the story because you're in his head. You're experiencing the world as he does when he does, the decisions to be made, the tough choices where there are no good choices, only the lesser of two evils.

There were sort of two stories going on despite the short length of the novella. We have the narrator, the exorcist, traveling around and evicting demons from human hosts who is faced with the choice of defeating evil now to hinder the Greater Plan marginally in the future. And then there's his relationship/vendetta against one demon in particular. Somehow both stories combine into this overarching examination of belief vs science, good vs evil, and reality vs art. 

To be honest, I expected Prosper's Demon to be... darker. After all, we're dealing with demons and exorcism and just look at the cover! Doesn't it suggest something less light and fluffy? But turns out looks are deceiving because though there are darker undertones to the commentary as a whole, the actual story presentation is lighter. Conversational. 

Even the narrator, who makes the claim that we as the reader won't be a fan of him, is intriguing. Yes, he does some questionable things and blurs the line between good and evil to the point that it no longer exists, but there was that little bit of goodness. He thinks about doing the right thing even when that's not always what happens, and it's enough of a redemption to hook me as a reader. 

I don't have much else to say about Prosper's Demon. If you like your protagonists with a twisted sense of humor and demons who aren't your typical demons, and some backhanded commentary on greater world questions, I think you're really going to enjoy this short book. I couldn't get enough and almost wish it was longer (though that would likely take away from its charm).

Make sure to have Prosper's Demon on your reading radar!

The protagonist makes it very clear right off the bat – he’s unlikable…and that’s by design. Of course, his self-deprecation, supposed misdeeds, and biting wit make him lovable, nonetheless. This is a short and sharp story that turns in several unexpected directions. For instance, I was not expecting the casting of a giant bronze horse statue to become such a central plot point! Ultimately, I enjoyed this novella for its brevity and its distinct voice.

So this one is everything I would expect from a Tordotcom novella: short, smart, weird, and an absolute blast (pun intended, but you'll have to read it to find out why). Our nameless narrator has such a brilliant colloquial tone as he describes his lifelong battle with an immortal enemy. There's also a very clever moral balancing act at play that we see in bits and pieces.

Obviously, the length is an important factor in a successful novella. That means picking and choosing what to leave out. Personally, I would have wanted more about the world and the other people like our narrator - if they all have similar origins, why they think he's weird/different. And there are a few things that end up feeling almost like an afterthought (like the narrator's sister).

I guess part of the problem comes with the sense of inevitability at the end. The way the whole story is set up, you're left with that dreaded sense of "what was the point?" And I guess the point was that it was a fun read. I'd definitely be interested in more books/stories/novellas by this author