Review: The Devil's Apprentice

'' ''Or, to put it another way, my boy: If Hell was shut down, the world would go to hell.'' ''

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

From Goodreads:
Philip is a good boy, a really good boy, who accidentally gets sent to Hell to become the Devil’s heir. The Devil, Lucifer, is dying and desperately in need of a successor, but there’s been a mistake and Philip is the wrong boy. Philip is terrible at being bad, but Lucifer has no other choice than to begin the difficult task of training him in the ways of evil. Philip gets both friends and enemies in this odd, gloomy underworld—but who can he trust, when he discovers an evil-minded plot against the dark throne?

Philip has never told a lie in his life before. He is the epitome of a good boy, teacher's pet, an angel if you will. Then a fatal accident leads Philip down the stairs to Hell and to Lucifer's very own castle. Bringing Philip down wasn't the Devil's intention, he had another boy in mind who wouldn't need to be trained as thoroughly as Philip. But when you make a wrong decision you just need to deal with the consequences.

Based on the synopsis and the cover one could expect a little more serious book than what is inside the covers. The Devil's Apprentice is full of colourful characters and devilish humour. The residents of Hell are just regular demons making a living by torturing the condemned. The plot takes the reader on a journey of realisation that there's a dark side to all of us. If you coax it enough it will emerge. 

Philip Engel is determinate to hold on to his goodness while training to be the Devil's successor. At first, he is the naive little boy he was before his descent to Hell, then bit by bit he succumbs to the darkness. His new best friend, Satina, tries to help Philip in his training and solving the mystery of Lucifer's illness. Then there's Aziel, Satina's ex-boyfriend, which finally makes Philip break out of his good habits. Jealousy is a powerful force which is often underestimated.

What made me like the book was the way the line was drawn between the good and bad people, or actually, the lack of it. There were no good or bad, there were people who had done much good and little bad and the other way around. Anyone could end down in Hell and there's nothing they can do about it.

The Devil's Apprentice didn't lack action. Between the mystery of Lucifer's illness and Philip's transformation, there's not much time to rest. Entertainment from page one to the end, where the reader is left wonder what happens next.