Mark of the Demon – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

Ever read a novel, thoroughly enjoy it and then not know how to review it? That’s me tonight. It may make you think that it couldn’t possibly be all that good if I’m having a hard time reviewing it. But it’s me, not the book, I assure you. I’m just in a weird mood. When I finished this though, I had to restrain myself from running to the book store and picking up the next book in the series. I’m trying to get my book buying under control, but self-restraint isn’t one of my strong points. I happened to win this time.

Kara Gillian just made Homicide Investigations. Just in time for a serial killer to emerge from his slumber to play. This serial killer has a little something up his sleeve. Something most humans can’t see and know nothing about. Kara isn’t one of those humans. She’s a summoner. A practitioner of the arcane. She can call forth demons from another plane of existence. And she can see the arcane trails left all over the corpses of victims.

As if this didn’t make her life difficult/interesting enough, a Demonic Lord (read demon badass) has ruined one of her summonings by appearing uninvited. Worse yet, he keeps visiting her dreams. It’s killing her confidence of summoning demons and sometimes those guys are the only ones with useful answers.

Meanwhile, the serial killer is upping his game, preparing for something big. The corpses are piling up and Kara can’t explain to the other officers why she knows so much about the killer. Add a FBI agent to the task force who knows more than she is comfortable with about summoners, and a girl is up to her eyebrows in a complicated shit storm.

This was a wonderful blend of detective novel and the paranormal. I was equally interested in the police work aspect as I was with the arcane element. The main character was perfectly flawed. I’ve said it more than once, but I’ll say it again, I can’t stand uber badass heroines that make no mistakes.

This was fresh, exciting, fun and interesting. I will definitely be coming back for more.

Legion

As of 3 am this morning, I have lost my husband for the week, probably longer. The new expansion for World of Warcraft was released.

I’m a firm believer in the couple that games together, stays together.

But, I don’t play anymore. I played from BC through Mists and attempted Warlords for about a month after it came out. For the most part, the game just lost its appeal to me. This expansion is highly tempting though. The demonhunter class looks like oodles of fun and what is better than demon slaying? Too bad that I went so far as to get rid of my desktop computer. (The graphics were shite and I couldn’t stand looking at it any longer.) Despite the temptation with the new x-pac, I would have to spend hundreds of dollars in order to play again. My laptop can’t handle the kind of power required to save Azeroth and Outland.

So the motto changes; couples that game/read together, stay together.

I know a lot of couples argue over gaming, lots of wife/husband aggro. But honestly, my husband is lucky that I understand AND don’t mind being ignored for a lengthy time period. I’m my own person and I’ve got shit to do.

Happy Gaming! Slay some demons in my name!

Cracked – Book Review

Disclaimer: YA is not a genre that I’m really into anymore. This is probably why this didn’t get a 4 or 5 star rating from me. If you enjoy that genre, you’ll probably love this.

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“Yes, I did just give love advice with a fist full of demon guts.”

A solid 3.5 stars.

Meda isn’t sure what she is, not 100% anyway. What she does know is that every couple of weeks, she eats a soul. Bad souls only. This little soul eating monster has a conscience or least the resemblance of one that her mother tried very hard to instill in her. Through her quest to eat one of these bad souls, she discovers that the Templars still exist. They fight to destroy demons or at least keep them from destroying ‘beacons’ or people who are going to do good things for the world. Meda is mistaken for one of these people and they take her under their wing. They don’t know that she eats souls, that’s a demon thing and she damn well better keep her mouth shut about it if she’s going to walk out of the lion’s den.

Problem is, Meda likes a couple of them. Despite her best efforts to remain heartless, the friendships begin to creep in. When demons (her potential kind) and Templars (a kind she is growing to like) collide, where will Meda stand?

This book and I had a complex relationship. It kept courting me and I kept denying it my heart. Why? I just don’t know where I stand with the YA genre anymore. By all rights this is a good, solid book. The main character was great. A sarcastic little wench with self-preservation at the fore front. The world building, while not as complex as my usual fair, was good. The story line was unique and it avoided many YA tropes. But despite all these things, I just couldn’t let myself love it.

So, I stand on a wobbly fence about whether I would continue the series or not.

The Warded Man – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

This book sat on my shelf for over a year. If I could go back in time, I would bitch smack myself, follow it up with a solid back hand and a, “Bitch what were you thinking?!”

The story follows three characters from three different paths in life. Arlen, farmer’s son turned warrior. Leesha, who went from future wife and mother to Herb Gatherer (healer). And Rojer, a small hamlet boy to Jongleur (jester/musician).

The back story and character progression is phenomenal. It is what I loved the most about the book. The plot line and world-building are fantastic as well but it was the characters that really drew me in. A strong female character was a winning point as well.

Their world is infested with demons by night. Or corelings as they call them. Once man fought them and won. They became lazy and forgot how they even fought let alone defeated demons, until the demons came back with vengeance and now work heavily to destroy the human race. Only day time is safe and the humans wards keep the demons out at night, but they don’t actively fight the threat. They just survive.

When you don’t fight back, you can only survive for so long. Human numbers continue to dwindle and only our three heroes can turn the tides of war.