Shadowmancer

Andrew and I have been reading G.P. Taylor's book Shadowmancer to each other. We like to have a good kid's book to get us through the housework (one person reads, one person folds the clothes/washes the dishes/ makes dinner). I know Shadowmancer has had some rave reviews, but frankly I'm disappointed. There's some good stuff about it: the setting (Cornish coast, 18th century) is atmospheric, and the introduction of demons and witchcraft into that gloomy and superstition-ridden context entirely effective. Having a vicar as the villain is a nice touch! But it just seems far too clunkily... Christian. Whole sections of the narration and dialogue are taken straight from the Bible or are oddly tract-like. What we can't work out (given that it seems to have sold really well) is whether it just grates on us because we went to Sunday School. Are there hundreds of kids out there who read a description of the dark lord as 'a prowling lion, seeking to devour you' and think it's a strikingly original image? Perhaps there are!