The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency | ARC Review

Thank you to Netgalley and Burning Chair for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway.

Book: The Great Big Demon Hunting Angency by Peter Oxley
Release Date: March 2nd 2023
Tags: Adult | Historical Fantasy | Demons | Gangs | 1800s
Trigger/Content Warnings: Gang Threats | Violence | Kidnapping | Mentioned Torture

London, 1868. The streets are haunted by thieves, murderers… and demons from beyond the Aether.

Spencer and Bart are the city’s most incompetent crooks, and they are in deep trouble. Hunted by both police and their fellow criminals, they are forced to consider the unthinkable —going straight.

Forming The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency, they thought their troubles were behind them, but they soon find themselves caught up in a web far more dangerous than they could ever imagine, pitched against demons, criminals and evil magicians.

Why are there so many demons roaming the London streets, and can Spencer and Bart stop them before it’s too late?

Who are the mysterious Tappers, and what are they doing with the women they abduct from the streets?

Can Spencer and Bart change the habits of a lifetime and not only stay on the right side of the law, but also save the day?

The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency is the new novel from Peter Oxley, the author of the Infernal Aether series. If you like dark gothic adventures with a light-hearted twist, then you’ll love The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency.

When I saw the cover of The Great Big Demon Hunting Agency I knew I had to give it a go. Because I am always all in for incompetent crooks who start an agency. Always ready for the underdog.

Unfortunately this book didn’t live up to my expectations at all. I rated this book 3 stars because it was entertaining for what it was. And entertaining can be great but there was so much more that could have been achieved here with the ideas.

For one our two main characters are fairly flat. Bart and Spencer are incompetent. And not even in a funny way or because they actually have a good heart. It is just sad. Even the upstart of their business is sad. They are cardboard boxes of fun and inspiring characters. Not being able to spell right could have been done something with but it was just used by the side characters to make fun of them with.

And it just never really moves away from that. Our damsel in distress that reaches out to our two characters is not exactly better. She becomes some sort of main character but one without much of a personality.

The plot was okay but because not a lot was being done with the setting, it didn’t really come very far. Demons came out and now live amongst them. You would think that would take a lot of changes to day to day life and that they have a bigger role to play then be somewhere in the shadows. Yet that is where they seem to be.

Having said that, there was a good pace and it was entertaining enough not to put down right away but to sit down for an afternoon. But if you have a large stack of books waiting for you I can’t imagine you’d want to spend too much time with this.