Book Review - The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan

The Demon's Surrender is the last book of the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy (reviewed here).  The trilogy follows the adventures of Nick and Alan Ryves, siblings Jamie and Mae, and Sin (Cynthia Davies) as they struggle with and against magicians and demons.  Each book has a different narrator, the first is Nick, second is Mea, and Sin is the narrator in The Demon's Surrender.

The whole trilogy emotionally focuses on family, especially siblings as each main character has at least on parent who has died or they're emotionally distant from.  This continues with Sin who is the main caregiver for her two younger siblings and partway through the book has to chose between staying with her sister or her place in the Goblin Market, of which she is the main demon dancer and presumed heir.

The content and reading level is still Young Adult, but The Demon's Surrender is a little bit more sexual then the previous books.  A lot of this comes from Sin having to use her beauty to attract clients.  Some also comes from Sin being mixed race and therefore having to deal with more street harassment and objectification then Mea.  I really liked how Rees Brennan addressed this in the book.  It's, realistically, a daily part of Sin's life, but her race is by no means her defining characteristic. 

This book also most closely addressed Alan's limp with Sin being more bothered by it (because of her career as a demon dancer) then Nick or Mea is.  It also is better about showing Alan's own relationship with his disability since he and Sin have several conversations about it.   

There are also two scenes of graphic violence that could easily be disturbing to readers.  Both involve torture and one includes self mutilation.  I think Rees Brennan handled them well, but they were a bit more intense then other scenes with violence in The Demon's Surrender or other books in the trilogy.   There is a bit more violence in the book over all as it has the final battle between the main characters and magicians, and Sin, like Alan and Nick, has basically grown up fighting.

Anyway, I completely loved this series and think it's a great book to introduce boys and girls to fantasy.  Also Sarah Rees Brennan has written several short stories in the Demon's Lexicon universe.  You can find them here.