Book Review: Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins
Release Date: March 1st, 2011
Publisher: Hyperion Books CH
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Recommended? Definitely, yes!
Buy the Book: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch. 

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? - Goodreads Page

 Warning: This review contains spoilers from Hex Hall. I do not suggest reading this review until you've read the first book. Unless, of course, you love spoilers!

Demonglass takes place a few weeks after Hex Hall ended, with Sophie still dreading what her powers can do and as a result, wanting to go through the Removal – the process that strips her of her powers, and that could potentially kill her. Of course, Sophie’s father isn’t about to let that happen. Padre – sorry! Ehem,  Sophie’s dad – persuades Sophie to take a trip to his home in England for the summer, to give her a chance to reconsider her options. Sophie agrees, and sets off for London, along with her good vampire friend Jenna and the handsome groundskeeper, Cal. Oh, and did I mention that she happens to be betrothed to the latter? ;)

The plot takes off quickly, with several major events happening throughout the novel. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that certain events lead Sophie right – quite literally – into the arms of a certain super-sexy Archer Cross. Remember him from the first book? Oh, I bet you do! More on him later.

As a reader, you can instantly see that Sophie has matured a lot after her run-in with her demonic great grandmother in Hex Hall. She has grown more confident with herself, and instead of just thinking snarky remarks towards her superiors, she actually goes ahead and says them. I love it!

Sophie also discovers that she’s betrothed to the brooding groundskeeper, Cal. Understandably, she’s rather annoyed about not being in on this. That said, she does seem to get over this rather quickly. I know if it was me then I’d be going on some sort of demonic rampage across the English countryside. Still, I’m not Sophie, am I?

Which brings me nicely onto Archer, the third point on this newly blossomed love triangle. Oh, how I’ve missed him! In this book Archer remains just as much of a mystery to us as he was in the first. However, we do learn some more on his back story. Which is lovely, but what I really wanted to see was some incredible Archer/Sophie romance scenes. Did we get them? I’ll neither confirm nor deny the rumours. You’ll have to see for yourself!

There’s a lot of mystery going on in this book. Everyone is trying to find out who these new demons (mentioned in the summary) are, and why they are actually demons to begin with. I had a lot of fun putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and I’m happy to announce that my Sherlock-ing record remains unscathed. Then again, I was suspicious of everyone, from Jenna to Cal to Archer and even Padre.

Demonglass was, for me, so much better than Hex Hall! It seems that Rachel Hawkins has really gotten used to writing her characters, as the dialogue is a million times better. The teenagers actually speak like real teens, not like something from The Tweenies. (UK Children’s TV reference, do ignore!)

I loved this book so so much, even the cliff-hanger ending! Bah, Humbug. Now I have to wait a long time for the final instalment in the trilogy! And wait I shall.

For those who have read Demonglass already, what did you think of it? Did you prefer it to Hex Hall? Are you guys worried about the people in the house at the end? I'm trying to stay spoiler-free here, but it's so hard with this ending! Let me know in the comments!