Unnatural Talent

Dark Forces #7

by Les Logan

Using an ancient book of spells, Andrew calls up the demon, Angela, who agrees to give him the talent to become a star basketball player.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Childrens

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1983

Reviews

[Grady Hendrix · Rating 1 out of 5]

The second most boring book ever written about a kid who sells his soul to a Satanic basketball to become the best player on his high school team.

[Terri LH · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, Dork Forces... They are such fun junk food books and have been such a comfort during this lock down. Upon finishing this one, I can now say that I've read them all, thus being able to check off the ones I didn't get to read as a kid. However, I didn't pick the best one to read last. The same old formula as with so many of the others happens here: 1) All of the sudden a clergy member magically comes into the picture just before things get too ugly 2) exorcism ensues 3) Jesus Christ saves the day. Not unexpected for this series, but there are better ones. Maybe if you're a basketball fan (which I am not) you'd find it more interesting. I thought this one would be as good as the other story in the series "The Game" written by the same author, but nah. Not nearly as good in my opinion.

[Meen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read all of the books in this teen horror series over and over in junior high and high school. I'm sure if I read them now I would find them hideous (in the bad way), but because I loved them so much then, I'm giving them all five stars!

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I had never read any of the "Dark Forces" books before, but I knew what to expect, and got it. A high school student basically sells his soul to become a better basketball player and get popular. It had a lot of familiar tropes, and the ending was a little trite. This was still a guilty pleasure as it was a fairly quick read and enjoyable. I like that teens/tweens in the 80s were given a series a little darker than the usual teen romance novels to read. I wouldn't go out of my way to read other books in this series, but I wouldn't avoid them either.

[Gregory Chevette · Rating 2 out of 5]

If dude wanted to improve at basketball, he should have tried practicing. He spends so much time moaning about how he sucks at basketball without even attempting to get better.