IMPORTANT NOTE: A month and a half later, I’ve finally finished this book! *does a happy dance*

If you’ve ever wondered what The Room of novels is, you’ve come to the right place for the answer. Like Jenny Nicholson below, you might have thought you’ve found the worst book you could possibly ever read:

You were wrong.

Kia Liu, a forensic technician comes in contact with an old humand bone. Examining it, she falls ill and soon is in a coma. When she wakes she has a burning desire to find the guy that vistied her in her coma. A desire so strong it brins a part of her heritage as an American Indian to life, a part she never knew existed. She discovers she is part of a silver blood shape shifter clan. The highest level of shape shifter.

On her journey to find the guy that vistied her in her dreams while she was in a coma. She discovers she is surrounded by all types of mythological creatures. They are looking for safety from something evil that is after them.

John Smith a business man from Colorado buys a property that has a hidden past and is haunted by a black entity. He uncovers what has been killing people for over a century.

See what joins him to fight the evil that is lurking in the woods of Sulfur Mountain. Explore with John, and his dog Hurley, the creatures that lives in a place they call:

Devils Attic

Devils Attic by Vicki Adrian is a book I discovered by mere accident while checking out the Independent Author Network. Much like Nicholson, I love looking for cringeworthy indie published books, a relic of my early Twitter days where I was following hundreds of indies shilling their barely publishable fiction. Basically, every couple of weeks I head onto #IAN1 and click on each of “Our Newest Members”. Sometimes I’ll find something that sounds interesting, and I’ll add it to my TBR, most of the time I’ll cringe hard.

That’s not to say Devils Attic (no, there’s no apostrophe) isn’t an interesting book. Despite its many flaws, it is an easy read (until the last fifty or so pages, where you’re begging for it to finally end), and the writing is so-bad-it’s-good. If you read Devils Attic as a comedy, it may well become one of those novels that sits treasured on your bookshelf. Despite everything, it is also hard to actually complete a novel, and kudos to Ms. Adrian for actually finishing her manuscript instead of being one of those types who claims to “have a novel in them” but has never written anything.

After discovering Vicki Adrian through #IAN1, I had thoughts of buying Devils Attic. It wasn’t until I discovered Book Depository very recently that I finally had my chance. Because Devils Attic is the sort of book you just have to own in hardcopy.

I have no problem with indie-published books. I aim to be a self-published author within the next year. I just endeavour—and hopefully you will too—to put in some effort and some editing before I slap my book up on Amazon and CreateSpace.

Devils Attic is not your typical indie published book.

This book is almost five hundred pages long, and the two supposed main characters—Kia Liu and John Smith—don’t get to interact until over halfway into the book. Kia herself isn’t named until around the halfway point, and is only referred to in passing before that as the FBI forensic technician who is in a coma. You make your way through the book thinking John Smith is the main character, and Obviously-Not-A-Real-Estate-Agent Victor Donovan is the secondary character. When Kia Liu finally pops out of her coma, and rushes down to Beaver Creek, Kentucky, from FBI HQ in Virginia, she heads straight into the loving embrace of…not John Smith. And, after the “black entity”‘s identity is discovered…BANG…he’s nowhere near as dangerous as he appears and he’s ended pretty quickly. And what happened to John’s wife Lizzie coming from Colorado to visit John?

There are a lot of plot holes, some so thick I had to take a break from reading to find some sort of reason as to why that happened. Why are the characters all so quick to believe a demon-like creature has infiltrated the Sulfur Mountain property? How can John Smith buy the Sulfur Mountain property from another real estate agent, despite Victor Donovan’s agency having the rights to the property? Why is no-one suspicious of him having the most generic name of all time?

What happened to the now-removed chapter where Kia Liu was the original owner of the property and signs it away to John Smith while she’s in a coma? Why does Kia Liu read nothing like a half Native American slash Chinese woman? What is a “CSI investigator” and isn’t that what the “I” stands for? How the eff is Victor Donovan part djinn? The warlock bit makes sense…but djinn? Also, how was anyone not suspicious of the Marshall in the 1800s. The biggest plot hole to me were the burning at the stake of Anne Stellar and *insert SPOILER ALERT Supporting Character*. Burning at the stake? The 1800s? Burning at the stake wasn’t a common method for murder in the United States, and hanging and burning were more common. This is the main reason that I predicted the truth about the Marshall so early on in the book—because burnings at the stake wouldn’t happen in the mid-to-late 1800s unless the Marshall was corrupt or evil. Shouldn’t the Stellars have been at the Sulfur Mountain property in the 1600s or early 1700s? It would have made it less obvious that the Marshall is one corrupt monster.

There was also far too much effort spent in the latter half of the book trying to introduce as many supernatural creatures as possible instead of trying to deal with the plot at hand. I kept reading to see what was happening with Tori, and was expecting Curt’s band of Ghostbusters to reappear, only to be sorely disappointed. I also predicted who Tori really was early on, right after it mentioned what happened to Anne Stellar’s family. I was like, “It can’t be that obvious, can it?” It really was that obvious. However, by the end of the book, I was trying to keep track of far too many supernatural creatures and the loose plots associated with them. It started off with the case of the Stellar family, Tori the femme fatale’s secret, the black figure (or “image”, as Adrian kept inexplicably calling it. Note: “figure” and “image” are not interchangeable) haunting John Smith, and the Native American spirits. Then it introduced Kia Liu’s power, which you’ve read about in the blurb and expect. Then it introduces Victor Donovan’s secret. Then the Edward Cullen-esque boy who was burnt at the stake in the late 1800s and his mother who was accused of being a witch and killed too. That’s all fine, too. Then…BLAM! We have mermaids, djinn-warlocks, hellhounds, a doppelganger, a succubus, an incubus, and some spoooky creature who’s in charge of the hellhounds set to destroy the shape shifters of Beaver Creek. Whew.

Speaking of Beaver Creek, it was clear Adrian was basing Beaver Creek off a place she knew, which she revealed early on in a footnote. However, it extends beyond that. The owners of Nell’s Diner, Nell and Ed, are described in far more detail than necessary. This was not a red herring, it was just useless descriptions of minor characters. Unless Nell and Ed turn out to be the evil monsters in charge of the hellhounds, then I really don’t care if Ed played Santa one year. There also seemed to be confusion between Beaver Creek the town and Beaver Creek the creek, with Adrian making seemingly no effort to discern between the two. A character said something like “John was going to Beaver Creek today!” about the creek one page, and then “Victor is off to Beaver Creek today” referring to the town three pages later.

The book was an interesting read, at least up until the main event, where it all went downhill. This event involves Kia, Victor, and his mother, and is just pages and pages of boring description in what is supposed to be an interesting event. You’re also annoyed with Victor and worried for Kia, and after everything happens, she just accepts it and moves on. Then we switch to Kia revealing everything to Sheriff Taylor (or Sheriffsheriff Taylor), John Smith, and John’s assistant Ellie. It’s the same as before. Just paragraphs of Kia reciting what she’s learned to everyone else, without anyone questioning “How did you discover the truth about Tori?” or “There’s no way you could have known that”. After that, every other character and plot is forgotten except Victor and Kia. The End.

Despite all its inconsistencies and flaws, Devils Attic by Vicki Adrian is a fun, engaging read. While it may be full of plot holes and spelling and grammatical mistakes and tense changes galore, as well as an inability to decide whether it’s a mystery or a gritty love story (the mystery was better than the romance), if all these things don’t bother you, then go ahead and read it. Unlike most of the barely readable trash on Amazon, Smashwords and Wattpad, this one is so-bad-it’s-good, so you’ll definitely find something in it. If you’re looking for a mystery, go right in: it’s flawed but fun! However, if you want a sexy love story, stay away. It doesn’t start until over halfway through, and when it does, Victor is a dickhead. Even if he’s not the baddie. Whoops. Spoiler alert!

Overall: 2.5/5