Was able to get into the story but didn't like the ending. Felt like there should have a sequel or something so I know what happened to Sam after the story concluded. Also was left with a lot of questions including how long were they there.

I was very curious about this book when I first read the description. It felt like something fresh and new to the YA fantasy genre, which can often be overwhelmed with a fairly specific sort of fantasy story. This, featuring a teenage boy who travels to Hell to save his crush, felt very different from much of the current fare. However, while there were high points, I did struggle with the overall execution of this story.

It started off well, with a lot of good characterization for Sam. His family life was complicated and sure to speak to many teenagers' situations, and he seemed like a smart kid coming into his own as a burgeoning adult. However, once the plot picked up more and he found himself in Hell, he became harder to enjoy. There were many points where it felt like he stood back and simply allowed others to do the hard work for him. I guess you could say that this was building an arc for him where he comes more into his own towards the end of the story, but the entire experience wasn't necessarily a fun read. I also struggled to really care about many of the other characters and often found myself checking out from the book as a whole.

I thought much of the world-building was interesting, and I would be interested to read more in this world, but I think the author needs some polishing on the character front to really create a compelling story. I'd potentially recommend this for teenage boys looking for a YA fantasy novel as there really aren't many options for them currently, but I do wish this one had risen a bit higher than it managed.

No, no, no , no and absolutely not!!!!!!!


The book isn't bad, but it isn't the best either. It didn't capture me, but I didn't mind continuing on with it. I didn't love anything about the book, but again I didn't hate anything either. Some things did annoy me, but that was it. I guess to me the book was just okay. I probably won't read this again, but that's just me. I would definitely still recommend this book to other people. I'm just really critical, and don't "like" most of the books that I read

This book was interesting. I really enjoyed the story overall but it could have been better. I would definitely read something from this author in the future though.

I found the idea interesting and the beginning really catchy, I liked and devoured the first chapters in a sitting, but with so many names, so many places, different things, and twists, I felt overwhelmed and abandoned at the middle. I liked that Sam is a flawed, insecure, bullied guy, and I'm sure it works wonderfully with younger readers, but it wasn't the right book for me since I felt it was a darker, longer Narnia-inspired novel. I loved Lewis' saga, but had this same problem. 3 for a good style, ideas, and a great main character.

When I first read the synopsis of this book I was marveled by it! It sounded like a great story idea and who doesn't love a book about hell and demons?

The story follows Sam, a teenager boy that gets his best friend/one-sided crush, Harper, sent to hell by mistake and he makes it his quest to go to hell after her. In there he meets Thorlton a friendly demon that decides to help him and Hollinshead, a human girl.

Sam goes with the plan of bringing back to life Stolas a demon known to be a hero in order to ask him for his help and save Harper. However things don't go as he planned and maybe sometimes heroes are in reality villains.

My problem with this book started from the moment where Stolas appeared. I was quite enjoying the book until that point but from then on it felt like Sam kept making the wrong decisions and that there was something wrong with the pace of this book. I also wasn't a big fan of Moscow even though I think he's the type of character that you're supposed to like.
The only character that I found quite "cute" in a way and that actually had a personality was Thorlton, as for the rest of the cast they all felt very "empty" and I couldn't empathize with them.

The ending wasn't exactly what I had predicted but I liked it more like this. It made it more interesting and unpredictable.

What does one obsessed with legacy do when faced with the prospect of being forgotten? One writes their own book, of course.
Excerpt from the Truth About Stolas, Written by M.W.F.R.

You want a book that thrills you to your very core? That keeps you on your toes, and doesn’t let you leave until you’ve turned the very last page?

Search no more, for this is such a book!

One of my top ’20 reads, The Book of Sam is an amazing story about a young boy, who travels to Hell in order to find and bring back his best friend and crush. During this impossible, suicidal, and dangerous journey, he meets demons, bounty hunters, and even the hero of his dreams. But things are never as they seem – worse, in Hell, they’re even more lethal. And trust should be rarely given no matter the person and what you believe of them. In the words of uncle Bear, there’s no one perfectly good in any world. And peace, in Hell, was never an option…

Honestly I loved this book so much, I think I read it twice before putting it down just to take a breath. The characters and their complexity, the action, the suspense. The horror it gives off the pages, existing like a subtle but quite tangible being. I’m not one for horror, to be honest, but there are exceptions sometimes that just beg me to ignore that fact – this book was one of them.

Not only that, but it showed how much a person can hide behind their daily facade. A scrawny, abused kid can rock a sword, but chooses not to – if he did, those bullies may have thought twice before bothering him. A wild, hostile girl may be looking for a companion, a friend, some love and affection. An ugly demon may be the sweetest and most loyal creature you can meet, while a famous hero and his deeds may just be the front behind which a tyrant is lurking. One lone author can turn the world and its beliefs on their heads, using only ink and paper – the true power of the written word.

“A great storyteller can sell any story, Sam. They’re just words, but someone who feels wronged will find purpose in mere words.”

I went through so many emotion while reading Sam’s story. I laughed at Thorlton’s shenanigans. Cried near the end of the book for him and Moscow. Cheered for Sam during the siege, and screamed in outrage for the empire of lies Stolas had built. I’m still not a hundred percent sure Harper is the right choice for Sam, but that’s none of my business – honestly, I’d rather have him back, no matter which girl he’ll choose.

Speaking of that, I really want to see more of Sam and his journey to growing up. I imagine him turning into a warlord for Hell or taking the place of one of the fallen greater demons. One can only hope. Mr. Shapiro, I beg you, do not leave us hanging there!

***I was given an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The opinion stated in this review is solely mine, and no compensation was given or taken to alter it.***

Sam is picked on and treated badly at school. At home he is the one sibling that hasn't peaked as the others have and his father likes to remind him he is nothing. His uncle Bear and partner Raymond seem to be the only ones to have his back, except for the girl he is in love with, Harper.
Harper is headed to Paris for an exchange program and Sam finally finds the nerve to plan a "non-date" dinner and a movie so he can tell her he loves her. Everything is going well until she convinces him to open Uncle Bear's secret room and she accidentally lets out a demon, Moloch, who through a sequence of events steals her to Hell.

It is Sam's job to save her.

First he has to convince his Uncle Bear he can do it. Then he must find the demon Stolas, who once upon a time saved the demons of Hell. What Sam didn't know was the story was ended before Stolas was betrayed and sent to the Mines of Bephegor.

I was given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Have not had a chance to read this yet, but will keep it on my list for a rainy day! Appreciate being offered the reading copy!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I enjoyed this one more than I expected. Sam is our unchosen hero. He is honestly, quite inept at almost everything. He floats by in the background at school, and at home, and is repeatedly saved by his friend Harper. His only refuge is his uncle's shop full of items from his many adventures. Sam finds solace in a collection of books called The Books of Hell, especially in the Book of Stolas. To him Stolas is the ultimate underdog. Born a slave in Hell, Stolas rises above his masters to unify Hell, or so Sam believes. After a rather scathingly, embarrassing event at school he hides out at his uncle's shop. While planning a dinner for him and Harper, they stumble upon his uncle's hidden treasure room. A stranger comes and Harper gets sucked into Hell. Tired of waiting for a hero, Sam decides it's up to him to venture through Hell and rescue Harper.

Hell is unlike any version you are thinking of here. It is massively varied, and has a complex social structure, It is a safe haven for various demon species that have been kicked out of their homeland. There are also human slaves among them. I loved the way the author created this elaborate Hellscape. Some of the towns were very Wild West in their depictions. Along the way Sam falls in with Hollinshead, a human slave for Pazuzu, and Thurlton. Now, one would expect Sam to do some growing and develop a sense of heroics along the way. This, unfortunately doesn't really ever happen. He stumbles his way through Hell, and honestly doesn't do much except muck everything up, until the very end of course. At some point you get the sense of a looming love triangle in the making, and the building blocks are there, but it never really develops. The ending is fairly open ended with a set up for a sequel. It's a very quick, fun read overall. The setting is honestly one of the better aspects of this story, and really makes the book what it is. If there is a sequel I would be interested to see where it goes and hopefully see a bit more character development.

This book had the potential to be brilliant: the world of Hell was so intricately worked out and very vivid, and the basic story line – a bullied boy, with no self-confidence and a head full of fantasy books prepared to give up his life to save the only person who made his life worth living – almost guaranteed to be a winner.
But, the whole book felt a bit too rushed. I would just get used to one scene, one aspect of Hell, one new character, yet another demi-god (demi-daemon?) – and everything would change again. Trials and tribulations fell over each other to make Sam’s quest to find and rescue Harper impossible – yet each time there would be a miraculous twist and Sam would bounce back, somehow always knowing where to go next. I lost my way several times, trying to make sense of it all.
I really liked Sam, and his new companions, Hollingshead (human female) and Thorlton (incubus). Thorlton reminded me of Dobbie, from Harry Potter – just as cute (in an ugly sort of way) and as loyal and steadfast. Sam did evolve from a very sad and pathetic individual at the start of the book (thanks to his unfeeling parents and his bullying at school) into someone you could almost see as a genuine hero by the end.
I found the use of the terms succubus, incubus, banshee, cipher etc quite disconcerting, as the creatures in this version of Hell had nothing to do with the figures from normal fantasy folklore after whom they were named. I would have preferred that the author invented new names for the races of Hell denizens, so I didn’t have to consider whether or not Thorlton would suddenly try to seduce Hollingshead.
There was too much content in this book to work in 280 pages – it could have easily become an epic trilogy. Often padding in a book can be annoying, but this story suffered from there not being enough of it.
Over all, it was an enjoyable book, but not a great one. The author has an excellent imagination, and I hope he will write more.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book is set first in the U.S. and then in Hell, I really liked the blurb and I thought it was going to be great, however, unfortunately, this was not my cup of tea, but I pushed through and finished it to see if my thoughts would change.

I immediately had an issue with the setting of this book, the author's note at the start of the book makes you think it will be set in the 90s, but it isn't, and that note really didn't make sense to me, it still doesn't. The writing style and the actual setting wasn't bad though, I had an issue with the pacing and I really thought that a lot of things were too obvious, there wasn't enough suspense, I knew what was going to happen before it did, and it just generally didn't grab me.

I did enjoy Thorlton's character though, I think it was my favourite part of the book. However, Sam, Harpen, Hollinshead, Moscow and others just were not very good characters, they were boring, they didn't really have much going for them and I wasn't interested in them in the least.

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book, I pushed my way through, but it didn't get any better, I found it boring and it didn't feel like it was going anywhere. It seems like this story is not over, I would be inclined to read the second book if there is one, but I really don't fancy going through that again, so I'm probably going to give it a miss. It wasn't a bad book and I can see why others would really enjoy it, it just wasn't for me. It was fairly info-dumpy and at the same time badly lacking in character development, setting, plot and pacing. I gave it 2 stars.

Thank you to Dundurn Press for sending me an ARC via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
3/5 stars.
I liked the premise and concept of this book. This kid, Sam, who’s honestly pretty pathetic, goes on a quest into Hell to rescue Harper, his best friend and the girl he loves. While there, Sam often relies on other characters to take charge and fight. In the end, he did grow as a character by finally standing up for himself instead of hiding in the background. Unfortunately, I didn’t really like Sam. I didn’t connect with him at all. I felt like the author tried so hard to show that he was just a completely average person, that he made him unbelievable in the role of hero by the end.
I also didn’t really buy into the relationships in this book. Sam and Harper’s relationship struck me as a decent friendship, but I didn’t believe that either of them had real feelings of anything more for each other. I also didn’t think it was necessary for Sam to be declaring his love for Hollinshead by the end of the book. There was really nothing to their relationship and I had a hard time believing in it.
One thing I did like about the book was the vivid imagery that the author used. The descriptions of the different places in Hell were quite striking and they seemed well thought out.
I would have liked to see the same care taken with the descriptions of the setting put into enforcing the characters’ growth and relationships.

Look out for my review on my Bookstagram page (alli_the_bookaholic13) in the next couple of weeks!

'The Book of Sam' by Rob Shapiro is a "hell-bound fantasy starring demons, damsels, and an unlikely hero."

If you're anything like me, that simple tagline is more than enough to make you want to read the book. I jumped at the chance for a copy, but sadly.. it was a disappointment.

After finishing the book, as per usual.. I began to do a little research on it. Of course, I discovered it had been a Wattpad story. Had I known that, I would have probably looked long and hard at the decision to read it, but I try not to let too much in the way of preconceived beliefs get in my way. There certainly are exceptions to my personal rule of Wattpad, however.. about seventy percent of the books with Wattpad origins I've read, have been.. let's just say, not to my liking.

In this story, we follow sixteen-year-old Sam.. a kid who suffers abuse from most of his peers and suffers under the weight of his father, a man who sees greatness in Sam's siblings and nothing in him. Sam pretty much has one friend, a girl he crushes on named Harper.. that at some point in his miserable childhood just designated herself his faithful protector.

As a kid who seems to do everything wrong, Sam gets an idea from his Uncle to sweep Harper off her feet and confess his feelings for her. A toxic mixture of curiosity, fear, and the need to please lead to the kidnapping of the girl he loves, as she's dragged into Hell. Literally. But unwilling to let her go, he decides to go after her.

I know.. I know what you're thinking. It sounds like an exciting adventure fraught with danger, the opportunity for wildly creative hellscapes, fantastical elements of magic and demon lore, all in search of his best friend.

Certainly there is danger.. there are a couple of interesting world-building moments, though mostly even in the cases they're explained rather extensively, they're still not explained all that well. They read instead, like half-formed visual ideas and as with most of the book, I felt the author simply lacked the imagination and language to truly breathe life into them.

The dialogue is mostly terrible, which in hindsight.. knowing that the author is a TV writer that has dabbled in film, I'm unsurprised. Long have I lamented the weak dialogue work in these areas. There are barely more than a handful of popular TV and film writers who I feel understand how we interact well enough to convey it in dialogue, a few more probably who are lesser known, but this is an area that strong authors have always done well with. It's almost like novelists.. good novelists.. just have an extra muscle somewhere everyone else is missing.

Though Sam's backstory is in theory, meant to be sad.. and some of the characters we meet along the way even have what should be tragic backstories, the author presented them in a way that meant little to me. He failed to make me care even a little if any of the main characters would succeed in their goals.

Yet, Shapiro isn't unable to convey those feelings entirely. He just fails to apply them to those who should matter most in the story. I cared very much about how things would turn out for a little incubus named Thorlton and even a little for a bigger one named Moscow.

I'm a big fan of stories told in this kind of world, so there was a lot of potential for me to love this book. The execution just wasn't there. I feel like if the author could shake the mindset of images he can show us on screen and learn to flex some muscle with words, he could maybe reach another level with his writing.. but that's purely conjecture on my part. Maybe this is all he's got.

From a technical standpoint, it's fine.. though, I've never seen so many 'and' sentences back to back in a book. That felt odd and a lot like the way the kids wrote in my grade school, but whatever. It's not a book filled with glaring errors in novel writing or anything. It just falls very flat for me. Maybe you'll be more forgiving.

The book of Sam was solidly mediocre.

It wasn't a bad book but there wasn't anything special about it. The conflicts were predictable and frequent and yet it still felt like the plot wasn't well developed at all.

The writing style felt more suited for books aimed at a younger audience (similar to Percy Jackson) and had it had a younger narrator, I think it would've been more fitting.

I was also not a fan of the main character, Sam at all. He was just so naive.

Sam is a bullied kid who ends up going to Hell to save his best friend Harper. This book was an okay read. The characters fell a little flat to me but the storyline kept it interesting. I would be interested in reading another book by this author because I enjoyed the writing style but I wouldn't want to read another book in this series.

One hell of a thrill ride and everything I needed!!!
Full of thrills, and chills; complex storyline, and even more complex characterizations. Everything about this novel screamed my name, but i liked it more than i thought i could have!!
Amazing writing, fluid and easy to follow. Series of events flowed together perfectly!!
An amazing edition to every readers shelf!!

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. The blurb intrigued me, which is why I wanted to read it but as much as I hate to do it, it was a DNF at around 20%. Therefore I am not able to give the book a proper rating or review. I would suggest you give the book a chance and decide for yourself.

Unfortunately I did not get on with this book and got to 20% before deciding to DNF.

Therefore I can not give a proper review or rating, many thanks for giving me the opportunity to try this title.

The Book of Sam is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride through a uniquely fantastical Hell. This is not the religious underworld you think it is. A cross-section between multiple worlds, Shapiro's Hell delivers a complex kingdom filled with diverse creatures of every moral shade. The vivid descriptions give the world a sense of realness while still being blanketed in obscure images like red-tinged skies and ash-covered streets.

Compared to this dark, exciting world, our "hero" Sam is a bit underwhelming, albeit purposefully so. Described numerous times as a failure who is "not really good at stuff", this book becomes a journey of both courage and heart. The classic hope-conquers-fear mantra is alive and well here. Aided by an unruly (far more interesting) cast of characters, Sam manages to completely botch several "missions" needing near constant rescue himself. The secondary characters are so intriguing and well developed that I often wished one of them were the protagonist, but Sam won me over by the end of the book.

The pacing of this book is brisk to say the least, which can be very exciting particularly in YA. Unfortunately, this book reads a bit like a road trip full of little pit-stop adventures. I would have liked to see more depth and detail to tease out the story and make it fuller. Additionally, for a book this short, there are a lot of named characters. Many of these characters exist for only a page or two and could simply have been "a beggar" or "her daughter". The blunt writing here lends itself more to Middle Grade fiction and I think this could have been much more successful (with a younger protagonist) in that level.

Fair warning: this book has a cliffhanger ending. I was not aware that this is a planned series upon my initial request of this book. However, I am intrigued enough by the world building and characters to read the next book.