Once I added this book to my TBR, I couldn't help but count down the days until spooky season was officially upon us. This was my first read of the season, and I don't regret it.

A Fig for All the Devils follows Sonny, a teenage boy who's recently lost a father to suicide and is being uprooted to a small town in Oregon. Soon he finds himself meeting the Grim Reaper and decides to take on an apprenticeship to become the next symbol of death. The Grim Reaper is poetic, a chain-smoker, and strangely talks like a modern teenage boy. Weirdly, the symbol of death offers comedic relief in a deep story that explore grief and the meaning of life.

Looking back, I feel like I found the book enjoyable. I was always finding an excuse to pick up my Kindle to read it. It was a quick, quirky read that some may even get done in one sitting. The style was meant to be fun, and though some may find the Grim Reaper slightly annoying, I didn't mind his colloquialisms. The characters were decently developed, the quotations and artwork scattered throughout the story were amusing, the writing style was fluid and witty, and it was a total page turner. All good things!

An issue I had with this book was that I just do not understand the intended audience. It almost reads like YA, but then has some gruesome scenes that would make me feel uncomfortable recommending it to actual young adults. In the end, I found that I really, really enjoyed the idea of the story, but I don't know if I loved how the story actually came together. It started with a bang, and then becomes a bit predictable and maybe a bit too heartfelt for a spooky season read.

Thank you NetGalley and Albatross Book Co. for the advance reading copy. Another solid 3 star read!

My thanks for a Read Now copy of "A Fig for All the Devils" by C. S. Fritz from NetGalley.
A genre bled of horror/ atempt at humor/ YA anghst, or to quote Shakespeare "much ado about nothing".
A book with Death as a main character sounded so intreaguing, but was devoid of depth most of the times.
There were some delicate themes like suicide, abuse and violence that were not treated seriousley. Some of these episodes lack insight. It made me question "why?", "what is the purpose or the message?".
There was even an atempt at humour that did not work for me.
I will try to end with a positive and say there were beautiful ilustrations in the book.

Death wants to die, but for that he needs a successor.

The idea behind 'A Fig For All the Devils' is an intriguing one. The story takes a while to progress, and not everything has a meaningful purpose, but it doesn't always have to. There's humor in small things: Death's image or representation depends on the person he is with. There are several symbolisms being played with, and the fact that Death is not as posh or formal as might be considered made it all the better.

It's simple while dealing with hard topics such as abuse and death. It's an enjoyable book and while defined as horror (I don't take to very well to it) I only felt a couple of scenes were squirmish which was a plus. To contrast, while it could have gone a million other ways, the ending was maybe too sweet? I would have maybe preferred a more thought-provoking ending than the clean cut one.

A Fig For All the Devils was a great read. I enjoyed the subtle horror as I'm not actually a big horror fan. The concept was very intriguing and the narrator voice was very well executed: we got to experience his pains and sorrows. It's a great take on Death, the Afterlife and how we spend our time alive.

I loved everything about this book; such delicate subject matters told with verve and incredibly beautiful writing. It is the story of Sonny - young teenager who has just lost lost father. His loss and grief over his dad dying - his unstable relationship with his mother, and how she handles her grief. Sonny's relationship with death itself... Shows us all that grief is not a linear process, and even death/the reaper still has lessons to learn. A true gem of a book, with just the right amount of horror thrown in, you won't be leaping for the light switch but you might be watching your wardrobe door!

I absolutely am a sucker for good thriller/horror reads, but this was on another level. I won’t say too much because I don’t want to give ANYTHING away- just make sure you get your hands on this!

3 stars!

A Fig for all the Devils follows the personification of death - the Grim Reaper - as he finds Sonny, who he decides should be the successor of Death for the next millennium. Reaper starts teaching Sonny how to be a grim reaper, but as he learns about death, Sonny decides he may actually want to live,

I thought this was a fun concept and definitely had humorous moments, but overall not my style of humor. I did like the artistry and writing of the book and it definitely did have some deep discussions on life, death, and grief, but unfortunately not my type of horror.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I didn't really know what to expected going into this but it was a fun read. I love books from the pov of death so definitely hit my taste.

Beautiful writing and the short chapters are super easy to read. A Fig for All Devils was written with the perfect mix of horror and emotion

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

A Fig For All The Devils follows 13 year old Sonny, who after his father dies finds himself in training to become the new grim reaper.

I originally picked this one up because the blurb reminded me of Mort by Terry Pratchett—a young teenage boy finds himself becoming death's apprentice—it's hard for my Discworld loving brain not to make that connection! And there certainly are some similarities but if I had to relate it to another book I’d probably pick A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness.

I have to say though what I like in Mort I wasn't really a fan of in A Fig For All The Devils.
I thought the grim reaper came across as quite jarring in tone when he's constantly flipping between Shakespeare-like monologues and self-deprecating gen z like humour. Now don't get me wrong I quite like humour in horror but sadly it didn't work for me in this one. I think I would've preferred it if the author had kept it dark and ominous.

This is a shame because see when it really *went there* it was fantastic! The prologue for instance is one of the best I've read in a long time. When typing up this review I've found myself pausing at certain quotes I've bookmarked just to let them wash over me again. If the book focused more on the weird, almost folk horror style elements it would have been a winner for me. This leads me to my main gripe. I wanted this to be longer! I ADORE character-driven horror, especially when grief comes into play but I need the time to actually connect with said characters before shit hits the fan…

There were so many cool concepts in this one, the trials to become death, Sonny and Reaper’s almost father-son relationship, and the idea that everything is cyclical grief included, I just wish the author had written a 500 page book so he had more time to expand on them!

That being said if you like the sound of it definitely pick it up. I know a lot of people will enjoy it and although this was a like and not a love for me it won't stop me from checking out whatever C S Fritz writes next!

Very interesting premise. Well written! I hope to see more unique ideas like this coming out
#netgalley

A unique and deeply felt work of grief and meaning. Loved the cover art. Quite expected this from the perspective of Death but the protagonist turns out to be a boy. Enjoyable illustrations throughout. A good choice for a Halloween gift to young readers.

It turns out that this book came out in 2021, I'm not sure how I missed that when ordering the ARC or why it is still up to request. Instead of finishing this ARC on my phone, I have ordered the paper back so I can annotate it. So far I am enjoying the writing style, and looking forward to reading it in full.

I have very mixed feelings on this book....

I thought the writing style was beautiful, I loved the few horror elements that were sprinkled throughout the book, and, the portrayal of grief was heartbreaking. However, I did find the book to be to short in order to completely flush out the complexity of the emotions, characters and situations that were occurring.

This lead me to feel quite disconnected from the characters and wishing to spend more time with them, I especially think it would have been worth while to have a few chapters throughout the book from the point of view of the Grim Reaper (Death).

The ending did make me shed a tear but it was also very out of place considering the overall tone of the book.

This book gave me the same feelings as 'A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness' but just for adults and instead of a scary tree we had a sassy grim reaper.

Spooky in all the right places! However, I thought the ending felt a bit abrupt but overall I'd recommend this if you love horror books involving edgy reapers.

Let's start by saying that the cover is just stunning! This book was extremely raw and at some points hard to read, but again, I just could not put it down. The author is great capturing the loneliness of grief and the need to get out of that space. It has everything, philosophical depth, suspense, a little dark humor and trauma. The other good thing is that is not a long book, so you are in for a treat. This is more a psychological thriller with supernatural and a little bit of ancient history, very powerful stuff. Would definitely recommend!

A Fig For All The Devils is certainly one of the most unique books I've read this year! I''m conflicted on how to rate this as there was disturbing/disgusting (in the best way) imagery where I would almost classify this as extreme horror, but the main character is a young teen, and some of the dialogue sounded very YA. The graphic design is A+ and the chapter titles were amusing. I'd recommend as a great entry into horror.

This book was a slow and steady read with a powerful message about death. A very good story. I'm probably going to read more of this author's other work.

One of the very few books that had me physically react. I felt my heart being torn apart during the vulnerable moments of both Sonny and Reaper.

The writing was real and vivid. I enjoyed the almost carelessness of Reaper.

It was an almost complete win, but the end gave me cold feet. I hoped a stronger ending. I hoped to shed some tears, but I didn't in the end.

But great read anyhow!

2.5 stars.
A Fig for All the Devils was an interesting concept that just fell flat for me. I like the idea of trying to portray Death as a personified character, but at the end of the book I still don't feel like he's a full person, just an amalgamation of cigarettes and pop culture references. I thought the strongest part of the book were the various trials Sonny has to go through to become the new grim reaper, but that plot line started too late in the story and was overshadowed by other aspects of this story. This felt like a strong draft of a story that came out of an intensive writing workshop weekend, but not like a finished fleshed out novel.