Those who have been following my blog for the past half a year or so might have noticed that I keep blogging about this book series called The Great Devil War, or as I sometimes call them, “The Devil’s Apprentice etc” (can’t blame me – The Devil’s Apprentice is the first book!) If you haven’t read the reviews for the other ones, it’s a very interesting, one of a kind series that starts off a semi-soft middle grade, but strays into the darker side quite soon. Here are the reviews for books one, two and three – and today I’m reviewing book four – The Angel of Evil by Kenneth B. Andersen for @TheWriteReads blog tours. Here we go!

People who haven’t read the first books – beware of mild spoilers in the blurb!

The Angel of Evil, or book 4, takes off right where book 3 ended – in a way, to me they felt like two chapters from the same story – there is no gap between what happens next, as there was in other books.

Satina has been kidnapped by the evil Aziel, and he’s clearly preparing a war against the rest of Hell. More and more demons flee to join the other side. Philip is devastated, angry, sad – all of those things, and yet everyone is trying to shut him in and protect him, rendering him helpless to actually do anything for Satina.

But Philip won’t have it be that way. He’s got ideas on how to fix this, and although it won’t be pretty, he must do it, otherwise everything may go to… Hell.

The showdown involves trickery and conspiracy, pain and torture, and genuine evil. Will Philip see it all through, and will he remain the same afterwards?

As more and more demons join the evil side, what will Philip do to save Hell and his girl? Book 4 of the Great Devil War, The Angel of Evil continues the story: Click To Tweet

The Angel Of Evil Is Much Darker Than The Previous Books

This book seems very different from the others in the series. Right from the end of book 3, it’s been clear that the story would take a darker, more mature turn – and it did.

Philip is now riddled with guilt at losing some of the closest people (well, demons) he’s ever had. He thinks it’s all his fault, and he also thinks that his being kind in the past was the same as his being weak. Philip swears to never be weak again. What he doesn’t realize is that he is punishing himself with his anger – and even the demons can see that.

This is where the seriousness of the book comes through – where it was playful before, now even demons say, you shouldn’t have such a dark outlook at the world. Even they think Philip’s become too much like a demon – more so even than real demons. Because they know it’s simply their job, their nature – but for Philip, he lets it consume him – his hate becomes everything. And that is terrifying to see.

Book 4 of the Great Devil War series, The Angel of Evil, is a lot darker than the previous ones. Characters will struggle between good and evil, guilt and righteousness: Click To Tweet

So Philip struggles a lot with the good and evil in his heart. It’s a tough choice, especially when you’re in hell and there are all these motivations to just be bad, because it’s what they do here. But Philip is tortured by dreams and regrets. I liked one part in particular – where Philip does something bad to someone, and is then haunted by dreams, seeing himself do the same thing – but not to the other, rather to himself. It’s a message of the fact that ultimately, when we are hurting someone, we are really destroying ourselves, hurting ourselves.

I liked one message from The Angel of Evil – that when we hurt someone else, we are truly hurting ourselves. Full review: Click To Tweet

Philip’s Story Arc Really Gets Developed

It’s hard for me to tell you more about this book without giving away major spoilers, because everything is related to the story before, and things change quite rapidly. In a way, it’s like all the four books up to this point were just episodes in a mini series – it’s very tied-in.

So instead I’d rather talk about the series as a whole, as opposed to just this one book.

What an adventure! I particularly enjoyed how the books start out very innocently, but start to go darker, as if they’re maturing along with their reader. I also loved how it seemed the story was simplistic at first, but with each book it got more and more convoluted, and it seemed the author had secret things planned right from the start – but you were just too naive to notice. I really like the way the whole story was executed.

I loved it how this book builds everything up both in the story arc of Hell, as well as Philip’s arc. Things wrap up – the war is finally waged, and Philip also ends up learning some things about himself, realizing some goals, making serious decisions.

The Angel of Evil brings Philip's story arc to a close – he learns more about himself, and about making the kinds of choices he wants to make. Click To Tweet

What I’m most curious about right now is what will happen in book 5? Because even without it, the story could wrap up quite nicely. I can’t wait to read it to find out!

The Angel of Evil is a lot more mature and darker than the first three books, and it revolves around some really adult themes of guilt and justice. And in a way, it seems like it wraps up the story, so I’m super curious to find out what comes in book 5!

Fantastic Wars In The Realms Of Hell: The Angel of Evil by Kenneth B. Andersen, ★★★✬☆ 3.5 stars Click To Tweet

Triggers

A lot of the characters get tortured. Some people, as well as innocent people, get killed – some of them graphically. Hell, even Philip does some torturing. Hell actually becomes Hell, and all the stories up to this point seem to just have been child’s play. This book is a lot gorier and darker.

I thank the author and The Write Reads tours for giving me a free copy in exchange to an honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

More About The Author

Kenneth B. Andersen (1976) is an award-winning Danish writer. He has published more than forty books for children and young adults, including both fantasy, horror, and science fiction.

His books have been translated into more than 15 languages and his hit-series about the superhero Antboy has been turned into three movies. A musical adaptation of The Devil’s Apprentice, the first book in The Great Devil War series, opened in the fall 2018 and film rights for the series have been optioned.

Kenneth lives in Copenhagen with his wife, two boys, a dog named Milo, and spiders in the basement.

www.kennethbandersen.com

I like series that grow with the reader – just like this one that started out soft, but came out much darker towards the end.
Do you enjoy series like that?