The Black Tattoo - Sam Enthoven

"Jack’s best friend, Charlie, is in serious trouble, possessed by an ancient demon called the Scourge who plans to use Charlie to bring about its evil ends—which, unfortunately, involve the destruction of the entire universe. Now Jack and the butt-kicking, sword-wielding Esme must contend with floating sharks, intelligent jelly, oversized centipedes, gladiator pits, and vomiting bats, all for the sake of saving Charlie from the Scourge.

And, hopefully, saving the universe from total and utter annihilation."

Well wow.. that was not what I was expecting. 

Now I must be honest this book is just a whole bunch of clichés wrapped together with gore and wire. But to be honest I loved it. It was such a guilty pleasure. It was weird and bizarre and gross. I felt like I was reading every video game, action movie and horror all mixed up and narrated by a fabulously sassy narrator. 

The Scourge, (sound's like a nasty illness or a cleaning product, doesn't it?) is a demon and our big bad. He's your typical liquid darkness, I'm-so-evil-I-want-to-destroy-the-universe kinda guy. He has long evil monologues and evil cackles, is patronizing to mortals and has absolutely no motivation. 

The characters are also complete stereotypes of different archetypes but they still all felt real, likable and relatable. The writing was good, vivid and visceral. The fight scene where brilliantly written and where really engaging. 

Eventually the story rises to the climactic massive 'good vs. evil' showdown, sacrifices are made, puppy love blooms, lives are lost, and--spoiler alert--good triumphs all. There are unfortunately some points about it which make for a occasionally tedious read. For instance, a third or so into the book, a second secret society, the Sons of the Scorpion Flail, is introduced, for no apparent reason other than to give the protagonists a few more obstacles to overcome on their way to hell. Never mind the convolutions and contortions the story occasionally goes through as well, again with no other purpose, it seems, other than to drag the story out. I think had the story been written a bit tighter, it would've truly been a rip-roaring tale.

Overall really really worth a read despite the overlong plot. It had me cackling on my bed at times by the silly hijinks going on. It was a nice break from the usual deeply taut YA where everyone has hidden agendas and motivations. It was just a really good bang bang shoot-em up with no plinking of heartstrings. 

Age Rating 14+. Gross and gory but in such an unrealistic way that many younger readers will love it. It won't genuinely make feel uncomfortable.