Review of The Demon of the Well

[Valkyrie9]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Demon of the Well" by James B. Hendricks.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Once, long ago, a young trader lost his soul to the Demon of the Well. The demon has since been using his soul to wreak havoc on the world. The weather and lands have changed. The summers that used to bring rain, birds, and bees to pollinate the crops now only bring dust storms and dry winds.

The trader, now an old man grieved by the role he played in destroying the world he once knew, recounts the tale of how the demon came to take possession of his soul to some village children. One child bravely volunteers to cross the desert with the trader to confront the demon and perhaps recover his soul in the hope of restoring the land to its former abundant glory.

The Demon of the Well by James B. Hendricks is a novel written entirely in verse. One would think that by forcing a story into poem form, some of its essence might be lost, but not so with this masterpiece. The story flows smoothly from stanza to stanza, the rhyming effortlessly painting the scenes in the reader’s mind. The abcb rhyme structure makes this novel easy to read and instantly draws the reader in, making it virtually impossible to put it down.

While I appreciate that writing an entire novel in consistent rhyme is exceptionally difficult, there were several weak rhymes that appeared crude, such as “kings” and “scenes”. Additionally, in Part 2, there was often a syllable missing in the second b-rhyme line of the abcb stanzas. Including the missing syllable would greatly have assisted with keeping the rhythm uniform. This was what I liked least.

The author often referred to a person’s soul as their "dreamer". I would have liked it if he had expanded on that a little more throughout the story.

What I liked most was that the author committed to his format and rhyme structure throughout. Even the dedication follows the same rhyming format as the rest of the novel. I was also fascinated by how the author describes his writing process to have been: different verses came to him over the course of at least 18 years, not always in order, and he scribbled them down on whatever medium he had at hand. When he finally had the last verse, he carefully sorted through the jumble to present us with this seamless tale.

The author is liberal with his poetic licence in terms of punctuation: commas and semi-colons appear or are excluded as he deems necessary to assist in the flow of reading. The few errors I encountered would easily have been corrected by a professional. As such, I do not believe that this book was professionally edited. However, none of the errors hampered my overall enjoyment of the story.

This book would be best suited to high school students and adults. The author uses some uncommon words, and younger readers may find the story difficult to follow as a result. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy exotic tales, to the abstract-thinkers, and to those who would not lose their dreamers in their quest for treasure.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will surely read and re-read it again in the future. In light of the stunning imagery, the consistent rhyme structure, and the author's dedication to sharing his tale with us, I gladly give The Demon of the Well by James B. Hendricks a well-deserved rating of 4 out of 4 stars. Any reader who enjoyed The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho will certainly relish this tale.

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The Demon of the Well
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[MsH2k]

What a unique story--from conception to construction! Thank you for your thorough, descriptive review.

[Hyacinth Bella]

I think I would love how this is crafted and composed. I think it's very beautiful to have it written poetically. Thanks for the review!

[Bigwig1973]

I really enjoyed this book and it was amazingly done and for certain, to me anyways, a most curious way to go about writing something. I think of Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" when I think of this book. I read this before I read The Alchemist, so you gave me some food for thought!

[NancyDrew12]

Stories about demons always grab my attention. And this novel is no different. I wonder how the confrontation goes. Great review!