PANDAEMONIUM

Two teenagers mount a hellacious rescue in Eldridge’s urban fantasy series starter.

High schooler Nathan Walker’s mother is in Hell; at least, that where she told him she’d be, if she ever disappeared. He feels responsible, because he’s been cursed with an unusual ability: Whenever he draws someone, they vanish. He drew his mother, so he’s determined to get her back. He travels from New York to New Orleans to hire a witch who can send people to Hell for a fee. With the help of a mysterious tattooed teen girl named Morgan McCallister, Nathan manages to acquire the money he needs, and after a bit of hocus-pocus, the pair find themselves in a very dark place: “Yes, my boy, this is Hell,” their spirit guide, the poet John Milton, reassures them, “or Hades, or the land of the dead: Miclan, Duat, Naraka, or Diyu depending on what you believed while you were living.” With Milton’s help, they hope to get to Pandæmonium, the castle at the center of Hell where the Devil is holding Nathan’s mother hostage. As they make their way past fearsome and frightening beasts from religion and mythology, Nathan starts to uncover the source of his strange power and also finds out about his important destiny. Over the course of this novel, Eldridge writes with energy and imagination, as when the gang encounter Behemoth, a massive, disembodied head with an unusual method of attack:“They had no hope of hiding; no hope of running; and Morgan was in its line of vision….The sound of a vacuum came from the giant, and Morgan was picked up and pulled into the mouth of the monster.” However, the characters lack complexity and feel somewhat underdeveloped, and, similarly, many of the ideas that drive the plot feel slightly undercooked, as well. Still, the novel may please fantasy fans as a sort of angst-y teen reimagining of Dante’s Inferno—although they’ll have to decide for themselves whether they find it engaging enough to return for two planned sequels.

An uneven, allusion-filled fantasy with lively prose but a familiar plot.