Book Review: Demon Healer Naberius

click the pic to buy the book

Y’all remember when I used to do book reviews on my blog? Yeah, me too… Good times.

While the little blog I run here isn’t much of a platform, I still like to use it to highlight some of my fellow indie authors. When you go far far down the pecking order of authors you’ll find that even one or two book sales is a big deal. I know, because that’s where I’m at as an author.

Today, we’ll be looking at the light novel Demon Healer Naberius. Now, to the uninitiated, a ‘light novel’ is a broad category of books who feature simpler narratives and shorter reading times. Your typical light novel weighs in about ¾th the length of a typical novel. This category is books has been popularized in Japan, where they are the written-equivalent to comic books, and they’re typically a bit silly.

I love silly books.

Characters:

I’ll say it as many times as I need to, but the most important part of a book for me is the characters. This story revolves around the eponymous demon Naberius. She is a denizen of hell, has horns, and had fiery red eyes, but other than her odd legs, she’s more or less human. Early on there is a little conceit that she isn’t the type of demon who concerns herself with punishing or hurting mortals. No, rather she is a type of mid-list nobility in hell who exists to be summoned. Whilst being summoned, her duty is to impart some manner of skill or lesson to the summoner, presumably in exchange for a part of their soul. I don’t know really, the story is somewhat vague about Naberius as a demon.

Therein lies the core issue I find with the character of Naberius, she’s touted as a demon, but has little to show as a demon. The story struggle to define what a demon is in it’s setting, and instead borrows some of the judeo-christian stereotypes.

As far her personality, Naberius is about the most wholesome and empathetic person you can imagine. Gullible, too. She gushes with an earnest enthusiasm for pursuing her dream you can’t help but cheer for her success. But, she’s otherwise a rather tepid character, and only towards the end of the story does she gain a good chunk of her depth and background. I feel it was a missed opportunity to have her backstory and motivations at the end of the book rather than the front as the reader would have a better connection to her during her struggles.

Naberius’ counterpart, in almost every way, is Lilibosa (known as bosa). Where our eponymous heroine is shy, kind, and self-effacing; Lilibosa is brash, mean, and selfish. When these two characters are next to one another it serves as an study in contrasts. But, despite Bosa’s abrasive personality, she is a compelling character; even more than Naberius for most of the novel.

There is a tendency to have main character be nice and happy for most of the book, and reserve the meaner personalities for villains. By having Bosa be a source of of social abrasion, she’s a rather refreshing character. The author treads a difficult line in justifying Bosa’s sour perspective to make her still endearing without being too annoying. Baring some of her more promiscuous moments, I ate up all of her interactions.

Plot:

Unfortunately, the plot is rather thin on this story. Or rather, it accomplishes what I believe the author intended without much complication. This novel sits firmly in the ‘slice of life’ category, which means the story is centered on showing a vignette of Naberius’ life. While her struggle to achieve her desire to be recognized as a healer, and have enough money to buy food is the primary plot, there are a few minor plot threads woven into the tale. I believe that the uncomplicated plot was a deliberate decision by the author, since he planted his flag in the light novel camp for this story.

Ultimately, I don’t view the simple plot as detrimental, but know what you’re getting yourself into before you read. In other words, there’s nothing wrong with a hamburger or slice of pizza, but don’t expect a simple hamburger to fulfill the same hankering as boeuf bourguignon.

Setting:

The story takes place in a parallel world that is very similar to our own, but with monsters (which are materialized mana that exists without a soul) and monstrous people like elves, orcs, demons, etc (which do have souls). Other than that caveat, the setting is remarkably similar the real-world. There are cars, the internet, police, fast-food, the gig economy, and so on.

To me, this choice is a difficult double-edged blade. While it drastically simplifies having to explain to the reader how the world works, it also misses a huge opportunity to add texture to the world. It struck me as supremely odd that cars are common in a world that has no roads linking major cities due to monsters, and Christianity is similar to our world in setting where angels and demons can be summoned fairly simply. There is a huge opportunity to explore how society would be different in contrast to ours when you add in something like dwarves or octopus-people and provokes my curiosity.

In future books in this series, I hope the author add some more granular details to the world’s trappings because I’m dying to know how all the pieces fit together in this odd amalgam of a setting.

There is, however, one distinct advantage of using a setting that is similar to ours; parody. There are numerous points in the story where the author pokes fun at modern society with parodies of social media, the gig economy, and fast-food which elicited a good chuckle from me. The levity these little moments provide the story is invaluable and one of the highlights of the book.

Recommended for: if you’re looking for a quick, light read with a new take on modern-fantasy then give this a look. It’s cheap, fun, and worth the read.

Avoid if: you’re looking for a highly textured, detailed setting with intricate plot and a large cast of characters.