Reviews

The Devil's Only Friend, by Dan Wells

nathlynn's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

chidzi's review against another edition

5.0

Oh my gosh, what was that?!!
I had always wondered what ever happened to my lovable little sociopath John Cleaver after [b:I Don't Want to Kill You|8872180|I Don't Want to Kill You (John Cleaver, #3)|Dan Wells|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1426788501s/8872180.jpg|13747781], and now I have a very satisfying conclusion (?). I was hooked for the whole ride. And when I say "ride" it's an understatement.

Spoiler

The conclusion did seem a bit haphazard to say the least. To quote John:

I was used to violence, to death and pain and terror, but this was too much, and too random.

All the deaths made John's team seem expendable. If the goal was to have John by himself by the end of the book, why give us so many characters to get attached to. I really think Diana deserved a better death.

All in all, this was an incredible, gripping story; 5/5.

mairio's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed the first half but due to stressful real life, it was a bit hard to get through the second half.

stacey332's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I had to suspend my disbelief a little bit on this one due the team that John Cleaver is a part of now and their lack of protocols or dealing with fallout of certain moments but overall I had a really good time reading this installment and am looking forward to getting to the next one.

katzilla99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

raylawler's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this one. Dan Wells does well at keeping things dark without feeling too dark. I don’t tend to love horror as a genre, but I think of these as more of a fantasy murder mystery series.

rawiecasualreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

konphuzed3330's review against another edition

5.0

Tia's Takeaways

○ we cant run from our problems and expect them not to catch up eventually

○ our choices define who we are and who we can become

○ John has a heart and it drives him nuts figuring out how to deal

○ looking forward to the ongoing battle between humans and the Withered

○ if a sociopathic teen can learn and grow to become a better person to achieve the impossible what the hell am is stopping me?

mitsumizushima's review against another edition

4.0

3.5☆

confused_hamburger's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Unfortunately this is probably the weakest book in the series so far for me. John Cleaver just doesn't work as well when he's with a team, and the conversion to a more spy-like genre didn't feel right for this series. I had a very hard time trying to get used to the various changes made, and missed the setting of the other three books. John Cleaver's character is still pretty enjoyable here, but he's lost a lot of the sociopathic tendencies that made him so interesting. Can sociopaths love? I don't know, I'm not a psychologist, but they probably can't, right? However, despite these flaws, it's still a pretty enjoyable time, with some interesting new villains.