Wednesday, October 17, 2012

REVIEW: Demon From the Dark by Kresley Cole

TBR Challenge Review
Published August 2010

The theme of this month's TBR Challenge, hosted by Wendy the Super Librarian, is romantic suspense or paranormal romance. I've had this book on my TBR pile since it was released in 2010--I believe I won it in a book giveaway from a book blogger who is sadly no longer blogging. I've been catching up on this series in the last couple of months and really loving every book. They're SO fun!

Demon From the Dark is the 10th book in the paranormal romance Immortals After Dark series--a series in which immortal beings long thought to be mythical secretly exist alongside humans in modern time. There are numerous factions of immortal beings who collectively call themselves the Lore, including vampires, demons, valkyries, witches, furies, shifters, fey and many more. Every five hundred years, all of these factions of the Lore fight for dominance of their world in a series of events called the Accession, which is culminating during this series.

What a thrilling and nerve-wracking adventure! Demon From the Dark is the story of the witch Carrow Graie and Malkom Slaine, a demon who was transformed against his will by an evil vampire centuries ago and has since been out casted and tormented by his very existence. Carrow is a witch with strengths in three houses--enchantress, spell bounder and warrior who draws her power from the joy and happiness of others. Because of this, she has a party girl reputation but the truth is that she's pretty sad and unhappy on the inside. Malkom is extremely tormented from always being betrayed by the few people he has loved in his life and judged as an abomination by all because of his demon-vampire duality. Yet he has fiercely protective, loyal and caring tendencies.

Carrow is forced to go to the hell-like demon realm called Oblivion to find and capture Malkom in order to save both her own life and that of Ruby, the newly orphaned child-witch in her coven whom she loves like her own child. As soon as Carrow comes to Oblivion, Malkom recognizes her as his fated mate and will stop at nothing to protect her. Carrow accepts his protection as a means to lure him to a portal to their captors, but in the week that she is stuck with him, they of course come to love each other. But with all romances between immortals of the Lore, there are serious complications and obstacles that seem impossible to conquer. The fierce determination that these beings have to be with their mate is thankfully even more invincible.

I've been sweeping through this series over the last couple of months after doing a re-read of the first several books and every book that I read is just as good as the last--they're SO much fun! The stories are action packed, chock full of humor and often a little heartbreaking at the same time. The romances are seriously sexy and oh so sweet, too. Carrow and Malkom's story is no exception. She is desperate to save Ruby and will do whatever she must to keep the girl safe. I found her maternal instinct very heartwarming and Ruby's character utterly adorable. She adds such a great familial layer to this story that only children can do, which we haven't seen yet in this series. I really liked that. Malkom is such a tortured soul and works so hard at overcoming his past, which is nearly impossible given his circumstances. His efforts to do that while being so protective of and honorable to Carrow in the face of all the adversity thrown his way really mark him as noble and heroic. A lot of characters from past stories pop up in this book as the events Accession start to escalate, and some new characters are introduced as well. Demon From the Dark is a fantastic installment to this series and I cannot wait to read more as the series builds towards the denouement of the Accession business!

I give Demon From the Dark 4.5 out of 5 stars.

GRADE: A-

Visit author Kresley Cole at her website www.kresleycole.com.

You can read my reviews of earlier books in this series on my goodreads page at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4753648-christine.

11 comments:

  1. I have to admit I gave up on this series because the time lapse between books caused me to get confused about all those factions of immortal beings. But I sure did like the ones I read. Maybe someday I'll go back to the beginning and read them all one after the other. This one does sound fun. My poor brain. I need to baby it.

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  2. Okay, you made me really want to read this book...
    Sounds really intricate, this world. :)
    I guess I'll try to check it out, see if I'm not too lost jumping in.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it :d

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  3. LOL Christine! I'm glad the love is still there and you're having fun reading and catching up on this series!! I've heard so-so reviews about this one and unfortunately, that's where I stopped this series ^_^;

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  4. Phyl I completely understand because that's what happened to me back in '08 or '09. I don't know what made me do a re-read of the first five or six books. I very rarely re-read and six books is A LOT! But the books are quick reads with lots of entertaining dialogue and action so I thought what the heck! I'm glad I did.

    Alex The world isn't too intricate but all of the books are sort of happening at the same time, overlapping everywhere. Which is why it's been really fun to read them all close together almost in a row. I'm able to remember stuff from the other books. Otherwise I'd be like Phyl wanting to baby my poor brain. LOL!

    nath Why did you start with LOL Christine! Because I'm glomming this series or because the love is still there? I went into this one without knowing anything about it--not even who the couple was. I like the element of surprise and no expectations. ;)

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    1. I started with LOL Christine! because it's so nice to see that the love is still there and your enthusiasm is infectious!!

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  5. I think this is one of my favorite books in the series - the emotions, the romance, the crazy bad guys...it all works so well together and I LOOOOOVE it! Have you read Lothaire yet? Amazingness!! Wonderful review :)

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  6. The Brunette Librarian Hey!!! I have not read Lothaire yet. I cannot wait, though! I think there's one between this one and Lothaire's book.. I'll probably get them from the library this weekend. I swear if I had them on my shelf at home I'd be reading them RIGHT NOW. Then I'll be so sad when I'm caught up and have to wait for the next release with the rest of the IAD fans! Argh. lol!

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  7. Christine, I remember that I really enjoyed this book. Malkom actually made this book for me, I really liked him as the hero. I got stuck on this book until recently when I read the two books that followed this one... now I'm up to date and hmm... kind of giving up on the series. (darn it!) :(

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  8. Ohhhh, I have to get back to it again :) I've been on a bit of a thriller kick.

    Paula

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  9. Oh, I liked this one a lot. One of my favorites of the series! So glad you're enjoying the series. :)

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  10. Just another series that I need to find the time to read. Especially if it is warranting a reread by you!!!! I may just grab the 1st book from the library the next time that I'm there :)

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