Starting the Next Chapter: Review: Misfit

by Jon Skovron
publisher: Amulet Books
date of publication: August 1, 2011
format: ebook
pages: 384
source: Netgalley
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N

From Goodreads:

Jael has always felt like a freak. She’s never kissed a boy, she never knew her mom, and her dad’s always been superstrict—but that’s probably because her mom was a demon, which makes Jael half demon and most definitely not a normal sophomore girl. On her sixteenth birthday, a mysterious present unlocks her family’s dangerous history and Jael’s untapped potential. What was merely an embarrassing secret before becomes a terrifying reality. Jael must learn to master her demon side in order to take on a vindictive Duke of Hell while also dealing with a twisted priest, best-friend drama, and a spacey blond skater boy who may have hidden depths.
Author Jon Skovron takes on the dark side of human nature with his signature funny, heartfelt prose.

What I Thought

At first, I wasn't too sure about Misfit. It started out very heavy on the church references and I thought that I was about to have a very preachy reading experience. However, all of that was simply setting the groundwork for an interesting take on such subjects as demons, ancient gods and goddesses, and the underlying characteristics of the world.

Misfit contained some really interesting and unique characters. First, there is Jael (pronounced YAH-él, according to the book), an awkward teenage girl who has been subjected to dozens of moves by her ex-priest father, Paul. Jael has something that sets her apart, however: she is half demon. However, this means something entirely different than one might think. Her mother was called Astarte and had once been revered as a goddess (more about that momentarily). Jael has misgivings about her heritage, but soon learns that things aren't always as they seem. Jael can definitely tug at the heart strings at times, but I just wasn't able to become fully invested in her as a character. While she had some very dynamic moments, it wasn't very constant and she continued to fall flat for me. Next, there is Robby, her skater boy love interest who also just so happens to be a math and science whiz. He is a very sweet boy, though he didn't have very much "umph" as a character. Then, there is perhaps my favorite character, Dagon, Jael's demon uncle. Although alarming in appearance, he is actually very kind and quickly becomes one of the more intriguing characters in the story.

An especially interesting idea put forth by Skovron is the theory of what happens to ancient deities when they fail to be remembered. As explained by Astarte (who was once a Mediterranean goddess of fertility, sexuality, and war), when the ancient deities were no longer revered, their roles adjusted to match humanity's perception of them. Thus, in this story they became demons. I am not sure how I feel about this theory, but it does put forth an interesting concept that has given me plenty of food for thought. In any case, Astarte is a force to be reckoned with. I really enjoyed getting to know her through the various flash back sequences scattered throughout the book (probably my favorite part, overall).

Not everything about this book won me over, however. The dialogue between characters was a bit awkward to read. For example, within the same paragraph would occur conversations such as, "'Thank you,' she said. 'You're welcome,' he said." (That is not a direct quote, by the way.) There were several he-says, she-says conversations such as this throughout the entirety of the book, which really began to wear thin on my sensibilities. It wasn't my favorite treatment of dialogue, to say the least.

I had to struggle quite a bit to finish Misfit. In my opinion, it was slow to start and the aforementioned dialogue issues really left me feeling less than impressed. However, I did like some of the theories adopted within the plot, as well as some of the characters. I would probably give a sequel a chance since I was sufficiently interested in the outcome of the story line by the end. I don't know that I would like to have a copy for my own collection, but it piqued my interest enough to earn it a rating of 3 hoots.