Devil's Kiss

Devil's Kiss, by Sarwat Chadda, is a YA novel, the first of a series, that mixes together Arthurian legend with Templar mythology and then tosses in a handful or two from Paradise Lost, with just a pinch of the Crusades. I enjoyed it, but felt like I'd sampled from the pot before.

There are a few new spices in this recipe. The Templars, in this world,
"had been formed to defend the Holy Land, but that battle had been lost long ago. Their war wasn't for Jerusalem, not anymore, but for mankind's soul. Their war was against the supernatural evil that preyed on humanity."
Okay--an obsolete order fighting imaginary evil. Got it, kids? We're going to throw some Latin in here (a la Rowling) and call it "The Bataille Tenebreuse."

There's even some reasoning for why the modern Templars have to train with ancient weapons:
"Immortal didn't mean unkillable. Not even a ghul walked away from having its head chopped off. It was one of the main reasons the Order still trained with hacking weapons."
I like a story that at least attempts to explain why you can't just shoot the suckers.

There's a predictable bad boy who taps into the heroine's teenage angst and need to rebel against her father. But since the boy's name is Mike and he's described in angelic terms, while the father's name is Arthur and he has a big sword, you know who has the heroine's best interests at heart. The heroine, by the way, has an Arabic name and goes by "Billi," which shows you, I guess, that you won't be able to guess which way she'll jump.

I get to add this to my list of books in which necromancy doesn't pay (on the sidebar):
She didn't know the book still existed. It was a book of necromancy, the darkest maleficia.
"Where d'you get it?" She stared at it warily, as if it were some deadly dormant creature.
"Off some fool who thought he could summon the devil," said Arthur.
"You're joking, of course."
Arthur looked at her. It wasn't his joking face.
"What happened to him?"
"Something bad," said her dad in the tone that meant the conversation was over.

Later, "Billi had read enough about necromancy to know what might happen if things went wrong." And we know they always do.

There's a prophecy, and no one is able to interpret it correctly, and so the ending is a surprise after all. It's a quick read, and if you already know you like these flavors, it'll go down easy.

For a more sensitive and nuanced review, try this one at Bookgazing. It shows you more of how an actual young adult reacts.