This review was first posted on http://www.rubysreads. 
 I finished it! I don't know why it took me so long. The only thing I can say is that The Demon Trapper's Daughter didn't spark for me. This was due, in part, to the extensive world-building that Oliver does in order to explain Riley's world to us. It's a world which demons and angels inhabit, one where kids go to school at night in old Starbucks stores, and rich people have zombie servants. In a word, it's bizarre. But no more so than other alternate universes. What confused me was why this Atlanta was so different. There was the magical element--there are witches and necromancers, etc, but there's also a great deal of economic depression. Are the two were connected? Riley thinks in terms of before and after, but I wasn't sure if the "before" was "before her mom died", "before her dad lost his job and became a trapper", or "before the demons came." I guess what I'm saying is: is Riley's Atlanta an alternative one or a post-apocalyptic one? I found myself scratching my head over this question several times while reading the book. 
 Riley is an admirable heroine, but not one that I really connected to. She's stubborn, she's smart, she's a good trapper, and she doesn't take s!%@t from nobody. It got kind of boring after a while. I've read that heroine over and over again. Riley's also much-loved. There are no less than three males vying for her attention (or at least in competition for her affection). There might or might not have been a fourth. It's too soon to tell. Riley's that girl in high school who got the brains, the looks, the athletic ability and the self-confidence. It wasn't that I didn't like her--or that she was perfect and never made a single mistake--she just wasn't a very sympathetic heroine. For me. 
 I now turn my discerning eye to the male population of the book: There's Beck, Riley's dad's former trapping buddy, Simon, the angelic trapper apprentice, Peter, Riley's best friend, and Ori, the mysterious freelancing demon hunter. Beck is clearly the star here. He's a good hero--I liked him, and he's got enough issues to keep the raft afloat. Simon is a good guy, but I predict he won't last. At the very least, he's not going to be able to compete with Beck. Peter is Riley's off-screen sidekick; the computer nerd. My favorite was the mysterious Ori, who makes the fewest appearances in the novel. It should come as no surprise that I'll be rooting for him in future books. Still, as I said, I'm fairly certain that Beck will win the day. 
 I have higher hopes for the second book. Now that a great deal of the world-building has been done, I hope Oliver will allow herself to focus more on plot. I suspect that Oliver has a multi-story arc planned out, which is something I usually enjoy. The problem with that kind of a series is making each individual book work on its own. I didn't really feel that with The Demon Trapper's Daughter. It showed potential, but I still need to be convinced.