Most people who write stories involving demons, tell heroic tales of their main characters killing them. Well, not Michael J. Seidlinger, he tells the tale of what happened when a demon tried to posses his main character.
Falter Kingdom is a novel about a place by the same name, an abandoned tunnel, where it is rumoured that if you run along it, you will attract a demon, who will attach themself to you and begin to haunt you. So naturally, this becomes a dare. The main character Hunter, who is out by Falter Kingdom with friends getting drunk. Surprise, surprise, he gets so drunk that he ends up running the tunnel. So guess what, he acquires a demon. The story follows how the demon haunts him, how having a demon is seen as cool at his school and the reaction it creates in his school friends, how it effects his friendships and relationships and what he experiences as the demon possesses him.
Probably the most intriguing aspect of the story, is the fact that the demon isn’t exactly the bad guy. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to divide Seidlinger’s characters in to goodies and baddies, because the lines are so blurred. It’s certainly interesting, to get a demon’s perspective on posession, which is exactly what happens when this demon tries to communicate with Hunter.
Another interesting aspect of this novel, is Hunter’s very distinct voice. He is very literally having a conversation with you. The amount of times he uses the word yeah is crazy.
As far as characters go, I’m saying my favourite was probably Blaire, the girl amongst his friends, who isn’t a very distinct character, but is the one who’s always there in the background, looking out for him when no one else really cares.
However, I think what annoyed me most about this book, is Hunter himself. I had a seriously hard time relating to him. I’m guessing that’s because he’s the sort of guy who doesn’t really care about stuff, gets someone else to do his homework, likes to spend all night watching videos, is quite obsessed with being popular, just hangs around with people he doesn’t really like because he can’t seem to be bothered to make proper friends and spends his social time partying and getting drunk. Let’s be fair, he’s exactly the sort of guy who if I knew in real life, I’d avoid. So I can’t exactly say I enjoyed being stuck in his head. He may have had a quirky way of saying stuff, which is cool, but at times he just lost my engagement. I didn’t really care about him.
Another thing that annoyed me about this novel, is that it was quite predictable. Hunter gets popular for having a demon so this really popular girl offers to go out with him, so he goes out with her, despite being in a relationship already and having been in that same relationship for three and a half years. So guess what, she’s not sincere in her supposed love for him, she’s just curious about the demon.
Not much happens, really. There weren’t that many plot lines. When it wasn’t predictable, it was mainly because there just wasn’t much going on to predict.
I’m saying this was probably more of a book for guys, not because it follows a guy and was written by one too, but because of some of the themes it deals with such as, videos, sports, popularity, gangsters, what male friendships are based on and romantic relationships from the male side of the picture. I think some people would relate to Hunter more than I do. I guess this book has its audience, probably a limited one, yet it does have its audience of people who will be like, yeah, this is a cool book. But I personally do not fit that audience.
If you fancy reading Falter Kingdom, it is set to come out in August 2016. This is not Michael J. Seidlinger’s first book either, so he’s probably got a fan base out there that are looking forward to a summer read.
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