The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken Published by Disney-Hyperion on September 5, 2017
Genres: fantasy, Paranormal
Pages: 362
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Goodreads
"I would say it's a pleasure to meet thee, Prosperity Oceanus Redding, but truly, I only anticipate the delights of destroying thy happiness."
Prosper is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history — that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper's great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made — and then broke — a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, four-thousand-year-old Alastor isn't exactly the forgiving type.
The fiend has reawakened with one purpose — to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his future without a side of eternal servitude, thanks.
Little does Prosper know, the malefactor's control over his body grows stronger with each passing night, and there's a lot Alastor isn't telling his dim-witted (but admittedly strong-willed) human host.
From #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexandra Bracken comes a tale of betrayal and revenge, of old hurts passed down from generation to generation. Can you ever fully right a wrong, ever truly escape your history? Or will Prosper and Alastor be doomed to repeat it?
Catfairy’s Bookmix
My personal Halloweenie playlist along with some Disney Haunted Mansion instrumentals for your spooky pleasure!
Catfairy’s First Thoughts
If this book doesn’t give you all the Halloween feels and makes you want to buy your round-trip ticket to Salem, then I don’t know what book will! This is my first Alexandra Bracken book and I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed reading it! Jesse the Reader was one of the BookTubers that recommended this book for Halloween and I am so glad that I picked it up!
The setting of this book is what really sucked me into this book more than anything! I am a sucker for any Halloweenie books that are set in Massachusetts! My dream trip is to go to Salem, Massachusetts and be a part of all those corny witchy tours and definitely see the Hocus Pocus house since it’s my fave Halloween movie of all time! Dream come true people!
Being a Miami girl, whose around perpetual sunshine all the time I always yearn to live in a place that actually has a true fall season…. There is just something about the fall season that just makes me so darn happy and I would love to be immersed in the true fall season while reading this falltastic book! This book will put you right into the fall mood and will inspire you to go visit some pumpkin patches while eating fried pumpkin leaves along the way!
Catfairy’s Bookcasting
Prosper Redding played by Michael Campion
I am choosing him mainly because I am on a Full House kick and I think he would exemplify perfectly what it means to be an outsider. Plus, it would be pretty darn funny to see how he reacts to the demon living inside of him!
Nell played by Rowan Blanchard
She seems to have that spunkiness that Nell exudes and I think that she and Michael would make an adorkable team especially for the second book!
Alastor played by Steve Martin
I think that this gif explains it all as to why he would do amazing at playing the role of Alastor! I am sure he could make me laugh as much or even more than Alastor did in this novel!
Toad played by @charliechuchi
Since Toad is technically a changeling my cat would be the perfect Toad since he is used to being tortured in many different costumes! Case in point below!
Pop Culture Reference
This book gave me all the Hocus Pocus fall feels!
Catfairy’s Final Thoughts
Alexandra Bracken’s writing is just so impeccably detailed! This book was the perfect fall blend of pumpkin spicey goodness!
The story was so unique in every way and one of the other elements of this story that stood out was the characters! I absolutely loved Alastor! He has that whole Disney villain kind of personality! How can you not resist a demon that sings songs like, “Pull off their fingers and toe,” to the tune of My Country Tis of Thee? Not to mention who can forget the cat bat named Toad?! It literally flies and I love how the cat has quite the strong personality!
Since the publisher of the book is Disney Hyperion it also has elements of that good old Disney magic! There was a scene that seemed very familiar to the Haunted Mansion ride where Alastor goes into the cemetery that has hilarious gravestones inscribed, “Poor little Susie, her death was a doozy.” The cemetery scene just gave me a wave of nostalgia and I just adored it!
Alexandra Bracken killed it when creating this story and I can officially crown her the queen of fall but I would have liked to have seen fewer descriptions. Even though, I loved how descriptive her writing was at times it felt excessive. Since she is writing a second book for this story, I don’t think she had to reveal so much in the first book. There were times where the descriptions slowed down the story. Also, I think the story doesn’t necessarily fit the mold of middle-grade but I believe that middle grade and YA readers would enjoy it immensely. This book ended in such a shocking way and I am so intrigued to see where the characters are going to end up in the second book!
Any thoughts about Alexandra Bracken’s middle-grade novel The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding? Leave a comment and tell me your thoughts below!