REVIEW: ⅕ stars

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ebook before the official release date in exchange for my honest review.

I DNF’d this book at 41%.

Content Warnings: brief mentions of kidnappings, domestic violence, drinking, dismemberment/decapitation, strangulation by magic and minor swearing (single use of the word dick)

‘The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency’ follows two criminals, Bart and Spencer as they attempt to leave their old life behind and start again with a legitimate job- demon hunting. They struggle through the dangers of fighting demons and the looming threat of a fate worse than death from their old employer as they try to survive in Victorian London.

Things I liked:
This book was a very quick and easy read, with plenty of imagery and an exciting premise. It begins with a woman walking alone, worrying about a group of people called the ‘Tappers’, who have been kidnapping people lately. She gives some exposition and talks about how the demons came to London and have been causing havoc ever since. Her shoes tap on the cobbles of the empty street. Her anxiety grows. Then, she turns to see something behind her and screams. End of Chapter 1.
I like this as it builds tension and intrigue. The audience is introduced to some minor worldbuilding, gets a glimpse of a possible antagonist and has a taste of the author’s writing style. Unfortunately, this is the best it gets.

(That being said, there were a few humorous moments with Bart and Spencer, the main protagonists, and each chapter is very short.)

Things I did not like:

Structure
Characters
Dialogue

Structure:
Chapter 2 is probably the most confusing chapter (out of the 12 I read) as it uses three separate viewpoints in a short period of time. I don't understand why the author didn't just make them three different chapters, to reduce confusion. First, we are introduced to Dicky. Dicky is not a main character. He is accosted by actual main characters Bart and Spencer on his way to open up shop, he makes fun of them and leaves.
There is a quick jump to Tessie, who is at her parent’s funeral with her husband. Next, Bart and Spencer. I often struggled to tell whose POV their chapters were told from as I felt it wasn't that clear, but since they are very rarely apart and are basically two parts of the same character, I don't think it mattered too much.

The general structure of the book was: Bart and Spencer chapter, where they have a stupid plan that they fail at and are either randomly commended or fall deeper into trouble, and paragraph or two from the perspective of some unimportant side character, incredibly short Tessie chapter, where she does nothing, continue to the end.
With essentially only two POV characters (more on that later) it can feel quite repetitive and unvaried whilst reading. To make this better, I would suggest either adding more POV characters, having a more varied chapter length or rearranging the story to be told from one POV.

Also, in chapter 1, there were a few sentences of Spencer reminiscing on his childhood as a street rat. This felt incredibly shoe-horned in and didn't have the emotional impact I assume it was supposed to have. Introducing a character’s backstory moments after meeting them for no real reason except for an excuse for them to make a dumb decision undermines the tension and interest the reader is supposed to have in it.

The foreshadowing was incredibly obvious and, without having finished the book, I can most likely correctly predict the ending.

Characters:
Main characters Bart and Spencer are the stereotypical sidekicks of a supervillain given their own book. Bart is the idiot, only good for his muscle and intimidation skills and Spencer is the smarter of the two and does most of the scheming. They could essentially be one character with how bland and uninteresting they are. This story would be a lot more interesting if they were combined to be a strong, conniving thief with no more criminal contacts, struggling to overcome his past mistakes with associating with demons.
The characterisation of Bart also felt like it was hammered over my head multiple times in the same chapter. Yes, I know he’s dumb. I have witnessed him saying stupid things at inopportune moments several times in this one conversation. I get it. Please give him some other character traits as well.

Tessie, the only female character to have a POV, is flat and boring. She reads like a stereotype of a woman with very few interesting qualities. From the little time spent with her, I was able to summarize that she was:
-A woman
-Scared of her husband
-An atheist
-Emotional
She has no motivations or wants and the story just happens around her. Tessie is passive and only thinks about maybe doing things whilst she sits and speaks to people. At multiple points she gets wildly upset about people being slightly mean to her and runs off crying, or dramatically throws herself on her bed crying. The only character progression she got was not crying at her parents funeral to crying about everything a few chapters later.
She also falls into the trap of ‘not-like-other-girls’, which is insufferable. There is a scene where she hates playing the part of a dutiful housewife (which is all she ever seems to do) and gets frustrated at her terrible embroidery. Looking around the room, filled with other rich housewives, she thinks that herself and her friend are ‘’more independent-minded than most other women in their social circle’’ and that she is too scientific to be imaginative. Not a paragraph later, she imagines faeries granting her wishes.
One of the problems with this book, at least up to chapter 12, is that there are very few female characters, and the ones that exist are often targets of implied sexualisation. There is a prostitute called Bessie and Tessie usually feels uncomfortable with the way all the men interact with her, describing their ‘hungry’ stares. Margret is the only woman mentioned multiple times to not experience this.

Another thing I hated about the way that these characters were treated was that [SPOILERS AHEAD] when Bart and Spencer attempted to deter the first demon, they were beaten into the dirt and Bessie was the one who scared it off by throwing stones at it. She then thanked them and did a full 180 from hating Spencer to offering to have sex with him as a thank you for ‘saving her life.’ A chapter later, Spencer also says that they ‘saved’ her from the demon, when they really did nothing.
It was really infuriating to read this part.
Quite a few characters have inconsistent characterisation, with Spencer not being afraid to demand more money after messing up a heist to being a subservient and fearful mess and the coffee shop owner being adamant that he wouldn't pay them to cowering and paying double after a single threat. I think this just stems from the book being written like a YA (despite being shelved as Adult) and plot convenience.

Dialogue:
Almost all of the dialogue was cringy and didn’t feel impactful. Here are a few examples:
“...But remember: you are being watched. All. The. Time.”
“My mother always told me to never judge a book by its cover.”
“It’s so boring when people just give us what we want. It's a lot more fun when we have to rip it out of their cold, dead hands. Literally.”
“What exactly is to come?” … “Power. More power than you could ever imagine.”

Despite all this, I will admit that there were a few good, action packed scenes that I enjoyed, and I did have high hopes for this book when I started reading it.

The book starts slow, too slow for my liking. I was asking myself the whole time, why the author is telling me this. I read until 35 %, then I stopped.
It's fun to read about a side character who's a bit thick between their ears, but to read this with two main characters, it was too taxing for me. The same is true for the female main character; I couldn't stand how helpless she was. Adding to how stupid the males were, I didn't want to read further, this isn't the kind of book I enjoy. If the story changes over time and the characters become head of their game, then it was too late in the book.

However, the writing was excellent! It keept me reading so far. The author brought me into different times, into the different social classes of London, into the sophisticated and simple minds of the characters with such ease, it was delightful. I noticed some typos, but nothing mayor.

This was a fun book!

Takes place in 19th century London, but an alternate history in which demons exist and inhabit parts of the city. Spencer and Bart are two low-level crooks trying to go straight. So they start a demon hunting agency even though they really don't know the first thing about demons. They stumble into their first couple of clients and somehow manage to kind of do what they were hired to do. But then they get involved in something much bigger. Can two men who have really just always looked after themselves (and each other) make a difference? And do they want to?

I enjoyed seeing these characters in action and would happily continue with the series.

This was so good. Victorian time period supernatural adventure. I thought it was good I read it very quickly and really cared about the characters.
I just reviewed The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency by Peter Oxley. #TheGreatBigDemonHuntingAgency #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Fast paced read that I suggest is tailored to YA audience. Demons in Victorian England. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick, funny and interesting read. A great mix of funny, gothic fantasy fiction. The two main characters, Spencer and Bart, gave me Del and Rodney vibes with their banter/bickering which I loved. A fast paced story and it all tied together nicely at the end.

A thoroughly enjoyable first read of the year!

Thanks to netgalley, Peter Oxley, and Burning Chair for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.8/5⭐️ I got this book as an ARC. I thought it was so funny! Burt and Spencer reminded me so much of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Hamlet. The world building was shaky and definitely needed more explanation. The whole thing with Tessie needed to be hinted out earlier in the book. I liked the development of Burt and Spencer and their business. I want more details about the demons (and the whole situation of the world) so again world building. It is totally set up for a sequel so here’s hoping.

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This books absolutely shocked me in a great way this was such a fun read. The dialogue was a lot of fun, and the concept was fun as well as different. I thought the setting was set up very well and the way in an describe this book is Agatha Christie meets Jack Sparrow meets demons. This books was so much fun to read and would be a great spooky but lighter book to read during the fall season!

The Great Demon Hunting Agency
By Peter Oxley

Based in an alternate Victorian age, there are demons that somehow are loose upon the world physically. Two guys that never had a legitimate job before has only one option left and that's to go straight! No killing, robbing, or cracking heads. They are best friends and do everything together so they decide to start a Demon Hunting business. This is where everything starts to go really wrong! They are too good at their job!

Tessie is married to an ultimate jerk and treated like a prisoner. Her husband has a friend that comes around that is frightening just with his dark stare. She knows her husband and this scary man has bad intentions for her, but what? She hires the Demon Hunters to investigate because she doesn't know anyone else. Things were wrong before, now they get a lot worse!

The characters are wonderfully good or evil. The narration is perfect. The world building is so terrific I wanted to wash my hands in a few parts when they were in the filthy streets. This book is delightfully fun, exciting, with suspense, magic, paranormal, monsters, evil, and hearts of gold found in the filth of Victorian London!

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me enjoy this fabulous book! This is such a fantastic book!

Spencer and Bart are two low-level criminals just trying to get by in 1860s London. This isn't easy, due to the fact that quite a large proportion of anything they manage to "earn" has to be turned over to Milton, the crime boss who runs the underworld with an iron fist. There is also the small matter of all the demons running around London since they escaped from the "aether" a few years previously. Spencer and Bart hit upon the brilliant idea of forming The Grate (they aren't the best spellers) Big Demon Hunting Agency, to rid businesses of their demon problems. While advertising their new business, they are overheard by a woman who hires them to figure out what her husband is up to. Lord Marchant seems to be up to something, and his wife Tessie has begun to think her life might be in danger. When Spencer and Bart finally trail Marchant to a building that proclaims itself to be The Thaumaturgical Society, they have to figure out what is going on to save their own (and Tessie's) lives.

The book was funny and had plenty of action to keep me interested. I was a bit wary at first, with the references to the "aether" and the demons, but the story was easy to follow and you can't help but root for the hapless duo of Spencer and Bart.

This book is one of those cases where, as an adult fiction, I have to give it two stars. However, if it had been a junior fiction, I would have given it four. The concept is a lot of fun, as are the two main characters, however I was expecting slightly more comedy, and I found the slapstick contrast with the much darker plot points to be a little jarring. The humour felt much more consistent with junior fiction to me, and I could very easily see how it could be edited to fit that age range.

What a delightful romp The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency by Peter Oxley is! I thought, from the cover and the title, that it would be a fun read, but it absolutely exceeded all of my expectations.
The leading characters of Spencer and Bart are the epitome of anti-heroes, and yet it's almost as though they were the first to claim the title. They are inept as crooks and as inept as heroes, and yet they pull off earning their hero status with humour and a humanity that is endearing and fun to read.
The setting of 1868 London, England is gritty and engaging, as are the descriptions of the evil besetting the city. The book is well-written and the book is a definite page turner.
I feel fortunate to have received a copy of #TheGreatBigDemonHuntingAgency from #NetGalley and highly recommend this book!

I received this eARC from Netgalley & Burning Chair publications. This in no way impacts my honest review.

Pros:
Quick read - ~200 pages so I was able to finish it in one day
The concept of the storyline was interesting to me [2 criminals trying to "go straight" by opening up a Demon Hunting Agency in [supposedly] Demon-infested Victorian London.
It was fairly lighthearted & while I didn't find it humorous I can see how many others would.

Cons:
The two main characters maintained the stereotypical duo relationship [smaller/weaker cunning one & the big oaf strong one] which made it very difficult for me to like them. They felt like they had 0 depth.
The "oaf" character instantly falls in love with the female character, for zero reason & this is used to move the story along.
The use of the slur for Romani people as a way to describe how someone looked. This is a huge one for me & the reason for my rating because no book using a slur for the sake of using it will get above a 1 star rating from me. There were other words & ways to describe what they were describing without using this slur.

I read through this surprisingly quickly, and really enjoyed the light hearted take on demon hunting.
This was a fantastic introduction to the protagonists, Spencer & Bart - two questionably capable crooks who have decided to "go straight". Obviously it couldn't be as easy as that, and the following chaos was genuinely funny.
I'd recommend this to YA readers, and anyone who wanted a light, easy read with gentle fantasy/magical realism.

This book was a whole lot of fun and I enjoyed every moment of it!

Starting off, we're given these two characters, Spencer and Bart, who aren't good particularly good people by any means, but you end up rooting for them the entire time. They're messy, they're selfish, they're criminals, and yet I found myself waiting to see what they would do next, intrigued by their characters' developments.

I adore books that mix gothic and horror elements with humor to create a fast-paced, entertaining novel that never leaves you bored. Having these two crooks fight demons is such a fascinating concept, and the length of the story makes it well executed. Short and to the point.

The writing style is simple and easy to follow, though that is why I didn't give it 5 stars. I think there was room for more description, but it doesn't take anything away from the story being told.

I would definitely recommend this book to others, and the way this book ended makes me excited for more Spencer and Bart!

Thanks to NetGalley for access to this novel.

The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency follows two petty criminals, Spencer and Bart, as they attempt to go legit by starting a demon hunting agency. Well, kind of. It's another con, sort of, and the two end up involved in a rather serious demon-related imbroglio.

The book is obviously intended to be the first in a series and, as such, has a lot of work to do setting up future installments. There's a lot of plot, some world-building, and some foreshadowing thrown in, but the pacing is uneven and some of the decisions the characters make only really work because the plot needs them to.

Still, the book is a quick read and the writing is adroit enough. There's nothing new here, but what's done is done competently.

This book was such a light-hearted way for starting off this new year!

The main characters are two thugs (the typical "one is the brain, the other the arm" couple) who somehow always end up involved in bigger stuff that they can handle... like becoming the owners and only employers of The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency.

Already from the cover is obvious that one of the main elements of this book is comedy, and the interactions between Spencer and Bart (the two thugs) and their enemies are pretty hilarious, making this story a quick and enjoyable read.

Although the plot is fairly linear and a bit predictable it still remains entertaining, probably even more for younger readers. It has comedy, demons and the right amount of action, with characters that might not be extremely complex but are definitely likeable.

#TheGreatBigDemonHuntingAgency #NetGalley

'London, 1868. The streets are haunted by thieves, murderers. and demons from beyond the Aether.'..

I picked up this entirely on a whim but it turned out to be an enjoyable, easy and quick read. Although this wasn't typical of what i would usually read I found it to be a lighthearted and occasionally funny, with enough detail and character development without getting bogged down.

I could see this being perfect for the Y/A audience above anything else. Overall a good fast paced mystery adventure.

Part of my goal going into 2023 is to read more books by male authors. And what better time to start this goal than New Year’s Eve?

Yesterday, I requested an ARC of The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency by Peter Oxley. How did my first step towards my goal go down? Let’s find out!

What I liked about the book:
1. This was such a quick read! It was humorous and adventurous enough that I wanted to see what happened next and didn’t want to put it down.

2. The characters were overall enjoyable.

Spencer and Bart: I loved how morally grey Spencer and Bart were; they were crooks after all, but had never done anything SUPER bad and were the ultimate good guys with consciences in the end. I also liked how even though they tried to pigeonhole themselves into their roles (Spencer is usually the brains and Bart is usually the muscle), they showed a lot of other, I would say equally important, traits. Like Bart with his heart of gold and Spencer with allowing his emotions to win over his brain at several points.

Tessie was fine. I liked the idea brought forth that she was an outcast as a kid and she was the creative type rather than the social etiquette type. I also enjoyed the moments when she let herself speak her mind, especially to her husband. I feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of Tessie’s character, and I have a feeling she will just continue to bloom beautifully into a rich character as the series goes on.

Thaddeus. Thaddeus. Thaddeus. The bad boy with magic powers who “doesn’t work for anyone”. Oh, I already know I’m going to fall hard for you. Probably the most morally grey of them all, Thaddeus was only in bits and pieces of this, but I have a feeling he will be involved with a lot of the shenanigans going forward. Not necessarily as a main character, but as the character that always shows up to help out at the last minute.

3. This book does a great job of setting us up for future events. We definitely weren’t left on a cliffhanger, but not everything was fully resolved, if that makes sense. This one also set a lot of foundation for future books to be able to just dive in, so I anticipate I will enjoy those even more going forward.

4. I love that cover! It’s fun and vibrant, yet dark and enticing. It reminds me of Daughter of the Pirate King meets The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

What could have been better:
1. Based on the reviews both on Goodreads and NetGalley, I anticipated this book to be more humorous than it was. I was expecting a lot of bumbling, slapstick antics reminiscent of The Three Stooges, which it wasn’t. It was still humorous, don’t get me wrong; it was just more “hmmmms” of appreciation than outright laughter from me.

2. Similar to item 1, the action/adventure was not as actiony or adventury as I thought it would be. I was looking for Goonies meets Ghostbusters, and this fell a bit flat. There were several scenes where they were fighting demons, but none of them really stand out to me looking back. Fun enough to read in the moment, but nothing super memorable.

3. There were two pairs of names that I constantly got mixed up when they were near each other:

– the only women really in this book were named Bessie and Tessie. Did we really need them to rhyme? This was a bit confusing to me at first and had me thinking the author had a typo for part of it. Until our second encounter with Bessie where her appearance was described a bit more, I assumed they were the same person.

– Also, Seth and Spencer. While they may not have rhymed, the first real introduction to Spencer and Bart having Seth thrown in the mix definitely messed with me the entire scene and from there on out whenever Spencer and Seth were together. I constantly found myself saying, “Now, which one is this?”

Final Thoughts:
This was a fun little read that was great to end 2022 on. I’m looking forward to the next one!

Final Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to the publisher Burning Chair, Peter Oxley, and NetGalley for the free copy of this book. The opinions expressed above are voluntary and my own.

My final review of the year and what a book to go out on. This was a fun, fast paced mystery read that was highly enjoyable.

The settings of London 1868 were gothic and easy to visualise, giving off a Sweeney Todd vibe, which was perfect.

Spencer and Bart were quite the bumbling, comedic duo weren't they and I can't wait to read more about their next venture.

The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency is a lighthearted, quick easy read to lose yourself in for a few hours.

Many thanks to Netgalley for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐