A review by albatrossonhalfpointe
Demons and Druids by Adam Sadler, James Patterson

2.0

This was my first Patterson. An odd choice for a first, I suppose, but it was another ARC Don brought home, so I read it. Initially I wasn't sure what a good demographic for it would be. It's listed as being for ages 8-12, and the content and length of it are suitable for that age range, but the writing itself just seemed geared rather lower. Then an endorsement on it mentioned that it was written "with the purpose of interesting boys in reading," which reminded me that many boys in that age range are not strong readers. Then I was willing to be a bit more forgiving of the writing style, but it still wasn't for me. By the time I was ready to read a book of this sort, I would have wanted it to be better written, and I certainly wanted it to be at this point. And I guess that's kind of what it all comes down to for me. Would it be a good book for pre-teen boys? Maybe? Probably? Never been one, so it's hard to say. According to the endorsements, the other books in this series seem to be, so I expect this one would be too. What it's not, though, is a kids' book with particularly broad appeal. I don't see a lot of teens or adults reading this book, and I don't see a lot of really strong readers being that enamoured with it. So as both an adult and a strong reader, it wasn't really for me. And now I'm repeating myself and talking in circles, so I think I'll just leave it at that.

I was driven a little nuts, though, by the ridiculously short chapters. I know that short chapters are good for kids, because you feel like you've accomplished something by finishing a chapter, and they make good, bite-sized portions of a book to tackle at one time, but this was seriously ridiculous. At 83 chapters for a 243-page book, that averages to about 3 pages per chapter. Less, when you take into account the fact that the chapter headers take up half a page. And that's just too much, if you ask me.