In an appeal against a demurrer without leave to amend, what is the standard of review of the order sustaining the order?

^8. Antone asserts we should forego applying the established de novo standard of review for an order sustaining a demurrer without leave to amend. Without citation to pertinent authority, he invites us to review the trial court's order sustaining his demurrer using a combination of the substantial evidence and abuse of discretion standards of review. We reject the invitation. Our task in this appeal requires us to compare the various pleadings and judicially noticed materials to determine whether and to what extent they are mutually inconsistentnothing more. We are in no worse a position than the trial court to perform such a task, and there is accordingly no reason to depart from the accepted de novo standard in favor of a review posture that would require us to defer to the trial court's view of the same pleadings we are able to examine. (See Smith v. ExxonMobil Oil Corp. (2007) 153 Cal.App.4th 1407, 1415 [rejecting argument for more deferential abuse of discretion review because "[t]he trial court had no more information than is now before us and was in no better position than we are to evaluate that information"].)