SLAY

A demon-slaying boy band? How fun! Kim Curran’s new book follows Milly who has been transplanted to America by her opera singing mum. She isn’t allowed to listen to popular music but she still knows who SLAY are, how could she miss their adoring fans at school. When Milly’s mum is possessed by a demon, she gets a mysterious email offering help. The last thing she expected was a boy band to turn up at her door.

There was only one thing that came close to the high of performing onstage and that was dusting demons.

Milly joins the boys as they try to work out which demon they’re dealing with. She feels alone now but working with them helps distract her grieving mind. They’re like the Scooby gang but with more money and contacts, and no school to deal with.

JD isn’t keen on Milly joining the team. They usually just get Tom to charm and hypnotise people wo they forget all about demons. He’s worried he’ll disrupt his close-knit group, the only people he has left in the world. But Milly is also all alone now.

The truth was, Milly didn’t belong anywhere. Her mother was French, her dad British-Chinese, and she had never stayed anywhere long enough to be able to call it home.

It’s mostly a bit of fun but there is a little bit about making a family with the people around you even if they aren’t related. The band were introduced very quickly and it took me most of the book to be able to tell who was who. I think I would enjoy a second book more because it wouldn’t have so much work setting the scene. Short books shouldn’t have too many characters with an active role.

One of the band members is deaf and so was Milly’s father, so she is welcomed when she knows sign language. I felt it was a bit rude of some of them not to learn sign language, even just the basics. Their manager was permanently injured by demons and the ending has an inclusive message about disability.

I’m using it for the challenge prompts where I need to dislike the cover, not that it’s that bad, but it did put me off buying a paper copy (and I really don’t like reading books with terrible covers, call me shallow if you like, so this will have to do).

Science Fiction vs Fantasy Bingo: Demonic
Read Harder: A book with a cover you hate dislike
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: 38. A book with an ugly cover

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