The Long Game

This is my first book by this author and it wasn't even on my radar until I saw it on netgalley. I just thought the premise looked interesting and wanted to give it a try.

I'm not sure I knew what was happening here for quite a while after I started reading. The writing style of the unnamed narrator talking to us was unique; the tone of the writing was quite humorous but it also felt like the author was trying too hard sometimes or being a bit condescending. There was also too much infordumping happening and I couldn't grasp a lot of the information because it's too short of a novella to understand everything.

What I did end up liking was the kind of friendship that had developed between the narrator and the demon over the years and how they both keep trying to help each other but put up a pretense that they are reluctant to do so. I also thought the whole discussion about “The Long Game” was fascinating - how is a war between good and evil, even if there are no true winners and losers, everyone is obligated to keep the fight going because that's how it's supposed to be. I feel like I'm not explaining it well but it was a cool discussion towards the end of the book and that's what made me close this novella with not too much of a disappointment.

In conclusion, I don't know what I was expecting from this book but it just wasn't my kind of story or narration. Maybe if you've read the author's previous works and liked the style, or just enjoy flippant and tongue-in-cheek kind of writing, this might be your cup of tea. So while I did end up feeling ok about it and it left me thinking a bit, there were also a couple of moments where I felt uncomfortable and I'm not sure how to articulate that. Overall, it just wasn't for me and I probably won't find it too memorable.