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That’s a whole lot of paranormal shenanigans in a barebones story surrounding a demon named Asmodeus, nicknamed Tobi, infecting the lives of Katie Featherstone and her lineage.

First, the outright terror of Matthias standing off against Asmodeus in the first Redwall hooked me like nothing else.

The snake hypnotism is a great use of the central animal-fantasy conceit, and the fact that Asmodeus isn’t the primary villain makes the encounter that much more unsettling.

And yet, here I was, offering them up to the avowed enemy of all humankind throughout millennia: Satan, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Lucifer, Asmodeus, Al-Shaitan — the Devil.

“The serpent stared at us. It kept on saying, ‘Asmodeus, Asmodeus’.”