TEST
While The Demon You Know had some plot problems, it moved along quickly and ended up as a mostly enjoyable read. I haven’t read all the books in this series, but the author does a decent job of explaining the characters and there isn’t much world building to catch up on.
Abby Baker is an average girl working a non-glamorous job at a TV station. When her friend asks her to be his camera person for a big story on the riots that have broken out due to the unveiling of the “Others,” she reluctantly agrees. The “Others” are the werewolves, vampires, demons, and witches, etc. who have lived among humans quietly for thousands of years. Obviously, mankind doesn’t take the news well and violence has erupted in many cities. Abby ends up in the middle of a riot, her so-called friend ditching her at the first sign of trouble. While hiding behind a car, she notices a somewhat shell-shocked and confused Other running headlong into trouble. With more grit than brains, she steps into the fray to help him, and ends up with the fiend Louamides (Lou) possessing her body.
Rule, a demon from Below, is hunting for a lost fiend. Demons aren’t the evil creatures scripture has made them out to be; they were actually messengers for the Others before Faerie made war on them. After being banished Below, they split into two factions, demons, who still retain their sense of identity, and fiends, who have sought out evil. Most fiends are not greatly evil, but there are archfiends out there waiting for their chance to return to the world and create chaos. The only thing stopping the fiends is that they must be invited to the upper world and cannot remain after their summoning. However, Rule believes the fiends somehow figured out a way to make it Above and remain there, which could create a serious crisis. Rule is with the Watch, basically the demon police force, and has been permanently invited to the surface so he can come and go as he pleases.
While sniffing out Louamides, Rule stumbles across Abby, who was rescued by Tess (a witch) and Samantha (a werewolf) and taken back to the leader of the Others for safekeeping. Once they realize what has happened and why, none of them are willing to let her go free. An Archfiend is on the hunt to enter Above, and if he finds Louamides, who holds the key, the very fate of the world is in danger.
Abby is none too pleased at being kidnapped, and she has a difficult time accepting her fate when she realizes her “roommate” won’t be leaving any time soon. It doesn’t help her situation to realize that Lou is a smart-mouthed lecher, although his comments did give a funny, sarcastic bite to the plot.
One of the unusual things about this book was that although Abby’s character came off as somewhat spoiled and selfish, none of the other characters let her get away with her behavior. Her choices had consequences, which was a refreshing change from the normal spoiled heroine routine.
Rule is a typical Alpha hero, and I wished for more back story on demons. I’m still vague on the whole Below concept and what demons and fiends actually do while they live Below. Rule didn’t seem very different than any of the other characters, and I wondered if further detail was provided in the series’ two previous books.
Those earlier books’ characters did entertain me, though, and added dimension to the plot, although their final plan to catch the Archfiend was completely transparent. Even though this book was somewhat uneven, I believe fans of this author will enjoy the latest in this series even more than I did. I have one of the previous books in my TBR pile, and I still plan on picking it up to read. Hopefully I’ll get some explanations that were missing in The Demon You Know.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Urban Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 29/05/07
Publication Date: 2007
Related Reviews
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.