Startup Hell

Reviews / Votes

Caitlin Rozakis has the rare ability to simultaneously skewer and celebrate human nature. Hilarious, clever, and insightful, Startup Hell is everything you want it to be! Highly recommended!
-Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

One of the sharpest pieces of corporate satire in recent memory ... The comedy is exceptional ... But Rozakis is doing more than making readers laugh. Beneath the comedy runs a genuine examination of workplace misogyny, moral complicity under capitalism, and what it means to carve out a life when the world has already decided what you are capable of. Rozakis does not miss.
-Albuquerque Journal

Give this book a promotion and the corner office! At turns seductive, shocking, and laugh-out-loud funny, Startup Hell makes a compelling case for selling your soul if it means landing the handsome demon who really gets you. Only Caitlin Rozakis could make a modern fable about desire, fulfillment, and surviving America's corporate hellscape so much fun!
-Venessa Vida Kelley, USA Today-bestselling author/illustrator of When the Tides Held the Moon

Caitlin Rozakis's writing is both sympathetic and wise, infusing the everyday with magic and grounding magic in a way that speaks to us all.
-Sarah Rees Brennan, author of Long Live Evil

Darkly trenchant and cutting under a delightfully frothy exterior, STARTUP HELL is therapy for anybody who has ever dealt with a toxic boss, an overbearing mother, and/or a demon lover.
-Elizabeth Bear, Hugo-Award winning author of THE FOLDED SKY

Morgan is an incredibly relatable protagonist and readers will cheer her on as she finds her voice while chaos cascades around her. The hinted-at sequel brings hope that her adventures have not come to an end.
-Booklist

Delightful and devilish, witty and wicked, Rozakis spins a story of magic in the most unusual of places: the startup marketing grind. I enjoyed every step along the way, whether on this plane or the smokier one.
-Natania Barron, author of the Queens of Fate series and the Love in Netherford series

A demonically good time-a vicious satire of startup culture and urban fantasy alike, leavened with romance.
-Max Gladstone, New York Times-bestselling author of Dead Hand Rule and co-author of This is How You Lose the Time War

Clever, charming, and as earnest as it can be with demons heavily involved, Startup Hell confirms what we've known all along: corporate culture is evil, and the only antidote is love-and the judicious application of cookies and puppies.
-Delilah S. Dawson, author of Bloom, House of Idyll and many more

Packed with Rozakis's customary wit and charm, Startup Hell is heartfelt and entertaining in perfect measure. H. M. Long, author of The Winter Sea series and The Four Pillars series

I absolutely loved the book. Startup Hell explores the hellish nature of the corporate world, quite literally, through slapstick humour and entertaining absurdity while illuminating moral ambiguity and the way desire might result in detrimental consequences but also wholesome, and sometimes chaotic, connections. Rozakis brings us on a journey of navigating a first job and finding faith in ourselves, especially when facing conflicts we aren't well-equipped to handle.
-Ai Jiang, author of A River From the Sky

Infernally funny and hellishly heart-warming, Startup Hell is a corporate satire for our times. It contractually obliges you to weigh the worth of your soul and wonder what you'd sell it for. The stakes couldn't be higher with multiple dimensions on the line, but the hellhounds are cute and the baked goods are tasty. Caitlin Rozakis is a modern-day Voltaire.
-C. S. E. Cooney, author of Saint Death's Daughter

Startup Hell is a damn good time! Rozakis has a talent for finding delight in the darkness, and crafting characters you'll root for, even as they stumble. An exploration of the modern marketing labyrinth and the infernal bureaucracy of hellish planes, nothing binds people and demons so much as desire, and hating your job. Invest in this wonderful story today!
-Martin Cahill, USA Today Bestselling author of Audition For The Fox

START UP HELL is possibly the most accurately named book of 2026. Sweet, funny, and hysterical. The company is painfully funny, but I admit that if I could have a demon hunting mom and an adorable hell hound pet, I might even apply for a job.
-Mur Lafferty, award-winning author of Six Wakes

Rozakis lured me in with a complete cinnamon roll of a demon love interest, and I stayed seated for the urban fantasy adventure proving MBA Tech Bros give real demons a run for their money. Startup Hell is funny, clever, at times surprising deep, and especially satisfying if you've ever been trapped in the hell that is corporate marketing.
-Gabriella Buba

This book was SO much fun, interlacing hilarious situations with deeper questions about work, capitalism, and what it means to sell your soul literally vs. selling it metaphorically was spot on. Terry Pratchett is the go-to example when people want to say this humorous fantasy is really great!
-but this was genuinely Pratchett-esque in the way it wove together hilarity and seriousness. I really loved it!
-Naomi Kritzer

Startup Hell is fun, fast-paced, and full of heart. Once again, Rozakis deftly explores the absurdity of humanity through a speculative lens, while never losing sight of kindness and hope.
-A. C. Wise

Startup Hell is diabolically delicious! Caitlin Rozakis crafts a magical combination of darkly humorous office culture, a charming romance that unfolds through the book, complicated but relatable family dynamics, and a whole lot of laughs. Simply brilliant!
-Jendia Gammon, Nebula and BSFA Award Finalist author of Dungeon Crawl at the Haunted Mall, Doomflower, and Godfestation

Startup Hell is so many marvelous things at once: a Faustian romp with sexy demons, a pitchfork-sharp satire of the New York startup ecosystem, and a celebration of competence and desire in a system that tries to co-opt both. The thing I love about Caitlin Rozakis novels is that they take a good hard look at all that is dumb and mean in the world, and they respond with the intelligence, kindness, and jokes that will help us endure.
-Seamus Sullivan

PRAISE FOR THE GRIMOIRE GRAMMAR SCHOOL PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATION

Whimsical, darkly comedic, and incisive, this book was a hilarious, heartfelt fantasy satire for anxious parents everywhere. Rozakis simply does not miss. I'll read anything she writes, and eat it up with gusto.
-Olivia Atwater

Harry Potter meets Gilmore Girls... Seriously, what's not to like? Tom Holt

This book knows that our kids deserve better, even if our kids are werewolves. An adorable and hilarious journey through the anxieties of parenting a magical kid enrolled in a questionable schooling system. A little apocalyptic humor reminds us that a fight at school isn't the end of the world-unless it literally is.
-John Wiswell

Deeply relatable and uproariously funny, The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association is an intelligent, sharp story that millennial parents are going to inhale. I felt seen! Rozakis is on her way to becoming this generation's Pratchett.
-Kritika H. Rao

Clever, charming, and irresistible, this is magic school as you've never seen it before -through the eyes of a nonmagical parent who is trying her best. It is at once painfully real and also brimming with magic and fun, achieving the rare feat of feeling simultaneously familiar and utterly unique!
-Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop

Once again, Caitlin Rozakis takes the familiar and gives it a spin that cleverly mixes character, danger, and snark, stirring things into a refreshing satire that will be familiar to anyone who has put a child through school.
-Bob Greenberger

As a fantasy fan, I found it delightful. As a parent, Vivian's struggles and anxieties as a mother and partner made me feel seen. A fun read with genuine heart and warmth at its core.
-Jim C. Hines

PRAISE FOR DREADFUL

An absolutely magnificent comedic fantasy with a hint of bite. This book was a witty, empathetic, and genuinely funny meditation on the nature of good and evil. It was easily one of the best books I've read this year.
-Olivia Atwater

DREADFUL is pure fun. Caitlin Rozakis delivers a (loving) send up of classic fantasy tropes alongside a compelling redemption story and plenty of quirky humour. The Dread Lord Gavrax (or Gav, as his memoryless alter ego prefers) is a fantastic character, alternately chilling and sympathetic, and readers will also love the cast of seemingly stock fantasy characters with endearing hidden depths. Highly recommended.
-Heather Fawcett, bestselling author of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries

It was very kind of Caitlin Rozakis to write this book for me. Sure, the rest of you should like it too, but it was clearly written for me, with all the elements I love: fun and humor, breaking fantasy tropes, interesting and complex questions about identity and redemption, and some delightful goblins!
-Jim C. Hines, author of Goblin Quest

A spellbinding (literally) massacre of all our favourite tropes, underscored with a pleasing dry wit.
-Tom Holt

Caitlin Rozakis cleverly takes the tropes of a fantasy story and upends them in creative and entertaining ways, freshening the genre.
-Robert Greenberger, Editor, Thrilling Adventure Yarns

With a unique and razor-sharp voice, Rozakis cleverly flips the script on your typical swords-and-sorcery fantasy in Dreadful, with a bumbling dark wizard, a grumpy kidnapped princess, and a crew of smarter-than-they-seem sycophants and goblins who actually run the place. Magic and adventure meet absurdity in a tale that turns tropes on their heads while delivering unexpected twists, clever banter, and irreverent humor. Readers will tear through this quick-witted and fast-paced novel and search eagerly for Rozakis's next creation.
-Mary Fan

Outrageously funny and self aware, Dreadful is perfect for fans of The Princess Bride. Rozakis blends wit and whimsy with a deft hand in this charming debut that had me laughing with every page-turn. A vital addition to the cozy fantasy genre Rosiee Thor, author of Tarnished are the Stars

Caitlin Rozakis's debut novel, Dreadful, is an absolute delight. Her characters, from the conflicted Gav to the supporting cast, are fully realized and believable beings within their fantastical world. The plot is fast-paced and by turns funny, horrifying, and utterly relatable. I didn't want it to end, even as I kept reading just one more page because I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.
-Hildy SIlverman

Rozakis has conjured a spellbinding debut that is just what it seems to be: clever, whimsical, and a little spicy.
-- E.C. Myers, Nebula Award-winning author

Dreadful is magnificent! Fun, funny, and brilliantly insightful, this book is such a joy! I absolutely loved every second of it!
-Sarah Beth Durst, award-winning author of The Bone Maker