Review: The Black Tattoo

Back description:
Jack Farrell never thought he would end up in Hell. Certainly not when he was still alive. And definitely not by choice. But that's exactly where he does end up-in one of Hell's prisons cells, no less, with only a giant two-headed tapeworm for conversation.
But what else can he do? Jack's best friend, Charlie, is in serious trouble. An ancient demon called the Scourge is using 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, moving jelly, over sized 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.

The whole book is about trying to capture this demon called the Scourge who has been imprisoned on earth for centuries and is now inhabiting Charlie one of the main characters of the book. There are three main characters: Charlie, Jack, and Esme. Charlie is so swept up with his hatred and self centeredness of finding out his fathers a jerk that it just might cause the destruction of everything. Jack is just along for the ride witnessing everything, dieing and being made part demon, and dealing with the fact that no one pays attention to him. And, Esme has been training her whole life and her only purpose is to capture and bind the demon who killed her mother and father.

I liked the imagination in this book. How there was so many different creatures of hell like a two-headed tapeworm. a giant blue swords women, a jelly substance that covers hell, a giant centipede slash hedgehog, and a flying shark. Oh and how could forget a Chinj or a talking bat like furry creature that who's main purpose is to puke into a bowl to give you food.

I didn't like the self centeredness of both Charlie and Jack. Charlie only thinks about how his father wronged him the whole time and only takes in consideration how he will be effected by his decisions. There is only one word to call Jack, annoying. The whole book he talks about how no one listens to him and how its always typical for him to end up in the bad situations. In a part of the book he is in the jaws of a flying shark about to meet his death and all he can say is how typical it is that he is the one in the situation. Throughout the book a physical tension between Jack and Esme is mentioned and that's all, no kiss not even a feelings talk. It would have made the book better if they would have explored that relationship in some way.

Other than that this is a good fantasy read for its fight scenes and the descriptiveness of its creatures. I give it a 7 out of ten.