Feathered Quill Book Reviews

#Bookreview of The Demon: Book 2 in the Spirit Saga

By: Brian Thompson

Publication Date: October 1, 2025

ISBN: 979-8349540509

Reviewed by: Lily Andrews

Review Date: September 9, 2025

The Demon: Book 2 in the Spirit Saga by Brian Thompson follows Stephen, a spirit who has become a Demon and his internal battles, shifting alliances, and moral conflicts as he navigates the power struggles of spirits and Demons.

From the prologue onward, Stephen frames himself through anger. He says: “I am angry. It’s part of my curse. I am always angry.” That line sets the tone. In his world, Demons are defined by fury and can’t just let go of betrayal or injustice. For Stephen, it’s not just an emotion but his fuel and identity. But it’s also a chain. When he feels fleeting happiness, he realizes he can’t hold onto it because the anger always creeps back. That paradox — craving peace but being cursed to rage — is the tragedy of his character.

In life, Stephen thought he had a loving wife (Heather) and a loyal best friend (Nick). He also believed the boy he raised was his son. After death however, he learns the truth: Heather was unfaithful, Nick was the real father of the child, and eventually Heather killed Stephen herself. These betrayals are what made him a Demon. He can’t forgive them but instead relives the treachery and uses it to justify his cruelty. His revenge is gruesome but to his shock, he realizes that even after all that, he feels no release and instead of closure, the cycle of betrayal and anger just digs him deeper into hate. His entire afterlife is haunted by this sense of stolen love, insecurity and humiliation.

In the story, several themes stand out from his attempts to form and carry out dangerous plans. They include power and corruption where the reader is shown how ambition, when rooted in anger, corrupts rather than empowers, manipulation and betrayal where Demons are shown to thrive on breaking trust and betrayal as a survival strategy, isolation vs. alliance where his plotting show tension between wanting allies (for strength) and being unable to truly trust anyone- a paradox that isolates him further and cycles of vengeance where every plan he makes is fueled by anger from past betrayals, showing how revenge perpetuates suffering instead of ending it.

We also see themes from his fraught relationship with Rebekkah, which explore the push-pull of sibling ties. Their dynamic highlights the choice to either let anger define you or do your best to rise above it, with Rebekkah embodying what Stephen could become if he controlled himself.

The structure of The Demon jumps between Stephen’s ugly backstory and his current fights, with memories bleeding into the action so you never forget why he’s so angry all the time. The prose itself is raw and a bit messy in places, like Stephen’s own anger leaking into the writing — sometimes too detailed, sometimes almost ranting — but that actually makes it feel more like you’re inside a Demon’s head. The characters aren’t clean-cut heroes either; they’re bitter, jealous, insecure, and that messiness makes their clashes hit harder. The world-building is this strange mix of the cosmic (Gods, Elders, spirits battling on Mars) and the intimate (betrayals in marriages, dead children, broken trust), and even if it’s not perfectly smooth, it gives the sense of a big spiritual playground where human flaws just keep getting magnified.

Quill says: The Demon comes across like a revenge fantasy wrapped inside a spiritual war. The pacing can be uneven and the emotions often spill over the top, but that chaotic rhythm actually suits a story built on anger and payback. The world-building swings big, jumping from broken marriages to battles on Mars to schemes with ancient Elders, and even when it feels overwhelming, it gives the sense that Stephen’s personal rage is just one thread in a much larger, messy universe. Readers who like dark, character-driven fantasy with a lot of moral grayness, flawed characters and messy, intense storytelling will not want to miss this one.

For more information about The Demon, please visit the author's website at: brianthompsonwrites.com