The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding, Book 1

• Author: Alexandra Bracken
• Published: September 5th, 2017
• Publisher: Disney – Hyperion
• Rating: 5/5

Book synopsis:

“I would say it’s a pleasure to meet thee, Prosperity Oceanus Redding, but truly, I only anticipate the delights of destroying thy happiness…”

Prosper si the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history – that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him.  Turns out Proper’s great-great-great-great-great something grandfather made-and then broke- a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude.  And weirdly enough, eight-hundred-year-old Alastor isn’t exactly the forgiving type.

The fiend has reawakened with one purpose-to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him.  With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract.  Yeah, Prosper will take his afterlife without a side of eternal servitude, thanks.  But with the help of his long-lost uncle, Barnabas, and his daughter Nell, a witch in training, it seems like Prosper has at least a fighting chance of ridding himself of Alastor before the demon escapes and wreaks havoc on his family.

My thoughts

I will start by saying I wholeheartedly loved this book from beginning to end! This book was so atmospheric and it gave me the right Fall/Autumn vibes is just the perfect read.

This story was spooky and a bit creepy for me even though is a middle grade read it still gave me the creepy vibes and I loved it for it.  We get witches, demons and all sorts of things in this book so if you are a big Halloween person you would enjoy this read.

The story follows Prosper a 12 year old boy that feels he doesn’t fit in with his very wealthy family.  In the story he gets to meet his uncle Barnabas and cousin Nell a witch in training.  I really loved all the side characters even the cat-bat the bat cat or whatever the thing is.  I even enjoy Alastor the antagonist demon that possessed Alastor and tries really hard to have Prosper signed a contract.  The character interactions were really great and I found myself laughing hard at times and decided I was going to be referring to some people as maggots (you’ll need to read it to know).

Overall, I thought this was was perfection and I strongly recommended, it is the perfect Halloween read.