A fig for all the devils is a macabre, yet heart warming look at how we deal with the trauma of loosing someone significant in our lives, and the bitterness, anger and frustration that builds up. We follow Sonny in the aftermath of his father's death, as he befriends the Grim Reaper, who likes peanut M&M's and video games, leading him fight jawless ghosts and himself. CS Fritz intersperses his novel with perfectly chose quotes from other novels, making the story even more poignant. Overall, CS Fritz has created a perfect modern gothic novel that manages to perfectly straddle the line between being overly depressing and too light-hearted for such a topic.
I would definitely recommend this book to almost everyone, however having read it around the time of my own grandma's passing, I feel as though it is particularly poignant for anyone going through a similar experience to Sonny.

A short book that explores grief and death with care. I enjoyed it and finished in one sitting. I'd like to thank C.S. Fritz, Albatross Book Co. and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A nice book which explored the themes of death and grief nicely. I do like how the author didn’t shy away from describing the nitty gritty ( bodies and fluids etc)

but the way the grime reaper was written…. I did not like.
Very immature for an 1000+ year old being

I felt like sometimes the writing didn’t flow aswell at some parts.

Not my most favourite read but still good

This has been out for many months and has many helpful reviews. I liked this even though horror is not my usual genre. Recommended to horror fans.

I really appreciate the free review copy for review!!

Thank you netgalley, the publisher and Fritz for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First off this book was SO good!! Fritz writes such relatable characters; Sonny was such a beautifully written character that I think anyone could easily see a piece of themselves in. This book was an amazing blend of dark (my favorite) with so comedic relief.
I wish we could have had more of an in-depth explanation of Sonny’s relationship with his mom, all we really get is that it’s not good. This book was really an easy read though, very fast paced. Just lacked Character depth outside of Sonny. Would definitely read another book written by this author though! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Sonny is a young grieving boy who recently lost his father and has given up on life. One day he has a unique encounter: the Grim Reaper itself. Death is looking for a suitable successor who would take the Reaper's place for the next century. By training the boy in the ways of death and dying, Reaper gives him Sonny he never intended: a reason to live.

A Fig for all the Devils reads almost like a fairytale, but it's a horror novel with creepy situations and lots of darkness. The story itself is great: there's mystery, grief, anger and pain. There's also love and hope. It's beautifully written and it's easy to follow the steps of our protagonist, Sonny, while he tries to process the changes of his relationship with his grieving mother, a new friendship with a girl who is also experiencing loss, and the sudden encounter with the Grim Reaper. It's dark, but it has its quirky and fun moments too, and I really enjoyed it.

Having said that, a part of me expected a different ending, a shocking one maybe? Not that this novel needs a twist to be great, but because it starts with a gruesome chapter, I hoped it would have ended with a similar note. Anyway, I really really enjoyed A Fig for all the Devils and, if I'm not mistaken, there's going to be a movie based on this book! That's so exciting, can't wait!
4 stars.

* I'd like to thank C.S. Fritz, Albatross Book Co. and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was SO interesting! Sonny is an incredibly relatable character -- full disclosure, my father died when I was a teen and things were rough for a while. Fritz writes with such empathy and tenderness, even when things are incredibly funny or bleak. Death, for all intents and purposes, grooms Sonny to take over the position of death and with this comes, as you can expect, some darker twists and turns than the average horror/comedy has. I think it's important to note that the humor in this is really well done - despite the supernatural aspects of this, it has such a true tone of grief and despair throughout. Really cannot recommend enough if you aren't easily turned off by horror or darker humor.

absolutely so good and interesting! i could not stop reading it!! i’m excited to see more from the author!

A really fantastic blend of dark humor and horror - two things I love. I didn't want this to end at all. I'm so glad I had the chance to read this and I can't wait to recommend it to everyone I know!

A Fig For All The Devils is a visceral (horror/fantasy) novel about loss, sorrow and how to navigate a path through that chaos.

The book tells the story of young Sonny, whose father unexpectedly dies, leaving him with his mother. Their relationship is precarious, and Sonny is left confused and angry at his situation. Shrouded by his distress, he meets the junk food, cigarette and poetry-loving Grim Reaper, who gives Sonny a chance to take on his role. At first, he agrees but as his initiation progresses, Sonny learns that his future is bound to life, not death.

This is a beautifully written, memorable read.

The novel beginnings with a QR code that takes you to a playlist created by the author - something I have never seen before but really appreciated! This along with the images and quotes utilised throughout the work made it that much more immersive.

The Grim Reaper is characterised as a quirky, easy going individual and his energy perfectly matched Sonny's youthful, sometimes snarky disposition - I really enjoyed the banter between the two. However, I would have loved to see more character development, especially for the two protagonists. In particular ...

1. A deeper dive into Sonny's relationship with his father but, especially his mother - what were they like as a family?
2. How does one exist as a Reaper? How does death work in this world?
3. Additionally, what is the more profound significance of the tasks that Sonny must carry out to become a Reaper himself?

Due to this, while I connected to the characters, I was drawn away from the overall plot. I felt like I was missing critical and important information, which took away some of the tension, especially at the end of the novel.

Overall, I really liked it! The author did a fantastic job handling the complex themes that weaved throughout the novel, along with the graphic violence depicted. The character's personalities and struggles kept me engaged, so I couldn't put down the book until I got to the resolution. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Albatross Book Co. for providing me with a copy of this book!

Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
An abused, grief-stricken, and impoverished Sonny has all but given up on life. That is, until he meets death, by way of the Grim Reaper. The Reaper, a junk food loving, poetry reading, cigarette-addicted entity, has no time to waste as he searches for a suitable successor who would become “Death” for the next millennium. By training the boy in the ways of death and dying, Reaper grooms his young apprentice and through suspenseful and horror-laced events, he unknowingly gives Sonny something he never intended: A reason to live.
Thoughts : I enjoy this book, I guess? It's highly disturbing so this book is not for everyone. Please do check the trigger warning first. Again, this is a horror book about Grim-Reaper and all other things. Thanks Netgalley and publisher for the ARC!

The premise of this book really appealed to me and the opening prologue was excellent and so thrilling. I would love to own a physical copy of this book as I would imagine it to be very quirky cover and book.
This is quite a short novel and so things happen perhaps too quickly in the book to make sense and feels a bit all over the place at times. The author deals with the themes of grief, suicide,abuse quite skillfully and creates realistic pictures of how varying characters deal with these situations.
I did not love the ending and was hoping Sonny's ending would have gone another way as would have seemed more fitting in the style of the book. I think the story could have benefitted from being longer to allowed for more character development and story expansion

I was sooo intrigued by the premise of this book, and the majority of the reviews/ratings are stellar! This, unfortunately, may have played into my slight disappointment in how the story played out.

There was a minor bit of animal cruelty, and that is one trigger I struggle to get past.

The attempt at horror and humor, which has proven to be very popular with some other reviewers, did not work for me. I really disliked all characterization of the Reaper.

Sonny has never had a good relationship with his mom, and when his father unexpectedly dies, it doesn’t get any better. Confused and angry as to why his dad died, Sonny has a difficult time wanting to continue living. But then he meets the Grim Reaper who has decided that Sonny must become the next Reaper. As they enjoy junk food and poetry together, the Reaper trains Sonny into taking his place as Death, but Sonny learns much more about himself along the way.

This was a unique read. The concept of the story was interesting and well done. There were quotes included between some chapters, from people ranging from Robert Frost to Van Morrison, and I enjoyed the classical depictions of death that were also scattered throughout. At the very beginning of the book, the author included a QR code to a custom playlist created to accompany the work – I’ve never run across this before, and it was a fun way to interact with the book. And the art of the characters at the end of the book was well done but unfortunately didn’t show up well on the Kindle.

I enjoyed certain aspects of how the author portrayed the Reaper – his love (and influence on) classical poetry was an interesting addition, but he talked like he was a surfer dude from Cali even though he’s been the Reaper for 1000 years. His quirkiness and characterization didn’t blend well with the rest of the work. This was off-putting for me. I also didn’t feel much depth or development to the characters in the story overall; they felt relatively simple, and it was hard to form a connection to any of them. This took away from any tension that I might have felt relating to their choices and the plot.

This work addresses some difficult themes such as abuse, loss, grief, suicide, and death. Overall, I think the author handled these discussions well. The different characters handled these situations in varying realistic ways, making it a good portrayal of these emotions. There were some scenes of graphic violence and gore that, while I understand why they were included, were much more detailed than I prefer. Completely opposite from this, the ending of the work felt like a Hallmark movie – it was cheesy and wasn’t a satisfying way to end this story.

There were quite a few errors throughout the work. A few examples include missing words, extra spaces between words and punctuation, and some incorrect punctuation use. This work would benefit from another round of editing.

I would still recommend this work to anyone who is interested in exploring the personification of Death and the feelings often associated with grief. I enjoyed it overall, but I think maybe it just wasn’t the book for me.

I received a complimentary copy of this work through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was well paced and filled with suspense. The book author tackles ‘heavy’ topics like grief, mourning, suicide and death in manner interspersed with humour. The key themes coming across were pertinent considering all that is going on globally, that is messages about resilience and appreciation of life and family. I give the book five stars – and it fits in with the young adult (YA) genre.

What a pleasant surprise of a book! I adore the works of Max Porter and this reminded me a lot of a "Lanny" + "Grief Is The Thing With Feathers" crossover, with a touch of humour which to me was like the final twist of lemon on your plate - subtle but makes everything pop.

I do wish the characterisation was slightly stronger, but at 250ish pages the book remains short and sweet leaving only fond memories of the story. Would highly recommend!

A very strong start which grabbed my attention immediately and is sustained for much of the book. It does take a detour or three along the way and I have to admit that I did not love the ending. I did like the personification of the Grim Reaper and some really really strong writing and characterisation but then at other stages, just glossing over the same character - I'm not sure the story holds up to full scrutiny.

Still mostly very enjoyable and well written, I would certainly be interested in reading more from C.S. Fritz.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishers for the E-ARC to read and review.

"A Fig For All The Devils" by: C.S. Fritz is an adult horror fantasy novel that follows a young boy named Sonny after the recent death of his father and his newfound friend a junk food-loving, cigarette smoking, pop culture knowing, and poetry appreciating incarnation of Death itself. While this story was a fun read it was also a profound look into what death means for different people and how grief takes on a different form for us all. 

C.S. Fritz is an incredible author and "A Fig For All The Devils" was beautifully written. I tabbed and highlighted my way through the entire novel as I could not get enough of the way such horrific things were told in such a beautiful manner. This novel does dive into some deep and at times hard things to confront but in the end, it is all of one beautifully told novel. 

Sonny is our main character, he is a young boy who within the first few pages of the novel loses his father and is faced with the reality of having to spend the rest of his life with only his mother who he does not have the best relationship with. Sonny encounters Death or Reaper as it is referred to at the very beginning when he is saying his final goodbyes to his father and then for the next few chapters the reaper hangs about like a cloud until he makes his grand entrance (and yes I do mean grand). 

C.S. Fritz did a phenomenal job of creating each of these unique characters within the pages of the novel and each of them had their own presence and made them unique and interesting; even the Reaper. It takes a true master of the pen to personify Death and make it into a character that I as a reader fell in love with. All of the characters are so well done and pull emotions from you whether it is love or hate (looking at you Eugene) and I was so invested in each of their individual journeys as well as the overall story. 

Please do not assume that "A Fig For All The Devils" is a fun romp with the Grim Reaper (even if at times it is exactly this) there are some very dark moments in this book that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Some horrific pictures were painted and done in such a way that you could see them in all of their gruesome glory right in front of you with each turn of the page. 

Once I began my journey of reading "A Fig For All The Devils" I could not rest until I had reached its conclusion, it is very much a novel that grabs you by the throat and pulls you in right away. There is a rather gruesome description of the spirit of a dead animal as well as an instance of animal abuse that turned my stomach to witness, so please be warned if that is something that upsets you. 

Overall "A Fig For All The Devils" is an outstanding book and will pull you in before you even know what is happening…a lot like Death itself.

quirky book, but ultimately unsatisfactory. I did not care for the personalization of Death and found the writing to be a little infantile, only my opinion.

A provocative and imaginative fable about death and grief, I would equate my experience reading A Fig For All The Devils to watching an R-rated Pixar animation directed by Tim Burton, it is wildly experimental, yet emotionally relatable and offers some very profound commentary on the rather macabre subject.

Readers expecting a mainstream, small town spooky tale about a teen's encounter with the Grim Reaper might be thrown off by its lyrical writing and philosophical tone, but I greatly appreciate C.S. Fritz's collection of obscure facts (I learned about 'brood parasite' through this... what a morbid behavior), and one-of-a-kind boundless imagination (from darkly humors to downright disturbing). If you enjoyed Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden, and works by Josh Malerman, you'll find a lot of enjoyment in this.

Also, LOVE the cover design!