Two For One Book Review

Mark of the Demon (2009)
Blood of the Demon (2010)
Diana Rowland

So today we get two books for the price of one.   I read both of these books back to back. It took me a week to read the first book, but I inhaled the second book in one day.  For all the reasons I can nit pick the books I also like the characters enough to keep reading.  I look forward to the third book in the series to see what happens between the main character, Kara, and her love interest(s).

First, let me get my bitching over with.  The first book didn't interest me until about half way through the book.  For those of you who know me, you will find this funny.  I think the main character cussed too much.  It was almost like the author used 'fuck' and 'shit' repeatedly to give Kara more street cred since she is a member of Beualac's finest.  The language was not used for emphasis as much as it seemed a little thrown in here and there.  My other complaint is that the author is repetitive.  Not only in the use of 'fuck' and 'shit', but in certain phrases.  She liked to measure the passing of time in the passing of heartbeats and she completely abused the word 'arcane'.  It seems to me that there are some alternate ways to phrase that without re-using the same word over and over and over.  This was more obvious to me in the second book because I did read it in one sitting.

Okay, that over with, I obviously like the series enough to have read two of the books and look forward to the third.  I think I will refer to this as my current guilty pleasure.  The books have no great redeeming value, but they do deal with a newer subject for my current urban fantasy fetish.  Kara, the main character, has the ability to summon demons that reside in a different realm.  There are 12 levels of demons.  The lower the level number the lower the demon.  In the first book Kara is summoning a lower level demon when what she later finds out is the demonic lord, Rhyzkahl, shows up instead.  She expects him to kill her for summoning him but instead he ends up seducing her and they have hot, steamy mortal on demon sex.  I never said this was classic literature.

Not understanding how she could addicentally summon a demonic lord she stumbles though most of the book questioning her ritual.  We later find out that the accidental summoning actually crosses paths with the murder investigation she is in charge of.  Can I say that for a detective she sure does a lot of sleeping?  Anyway, the murder investigation revolves around a serial killer who leaves arcane traces on his victims.  Since Kara is the only person she knows, besides her Aunt, that is trained in the arcane she is able to use her skills to help her solve the case.   In this book she meets her main love interest, Agent Ryan Kristoff.  She soon finds out that although he is not trained in the arcane arts, he is sensitive to them and can see some of the things that she sees.  Thus providing them with common ground for a blossoming frienship.

At the end of the first book the killer is caught, but not without consequence.  Kara was basically eviscerated and taken away to Rhyzkahl's realm to heal.  She appeared two weeks after her 'death' and funeral much to everyone's surprise.  Kara's aunt is also left in a coma because she has lost her essence.  This carryovers to the second book where we have another murderer on the loose.  Enter Kara and Agent Kristoff trying to solve a case that involves people's essences being ripped from them.  The victims are all members of Beaulac's upper echelon and seem to have their own problems ala Wysteria Lane.

During her investigation Kara summons Rhyzkahl who is getting annoyed with Kara for not doing exactly what he would like.  He offers her assistance if Kara will agree to be his summoner.  He will allow her to summon him without threat to her if she allows him to wander freely in her realm.  This poses it's own risks and Kara is hesitant to agree to his terms.  This time arround we also get more of a friendship working towards something else when it comes to the relationship between Kara and Ryan, which I actually enjoy.  It's not one of these instant sexual attraction relationships but one more out of friendship.  Kara needs to get a clue though.  In response to one of her arguements with Ryan she decides to summon Rhyzkahl for nothing more than a revenge fuck.

What made this book more intersting was actually learning about Ryan's talents and the mystery of what he actually is.  We find out that the residents of the demon realm and Ryan do not respondly nicely to eachother with no clear reason as to why.  We also learn that Ryan has the ability to 'Men in Black' people and change their memories of an event.  Huh?  So Ryan has definitely become more interesting and no longer has the milquetoast vibe we got from him in the first book.  So, like I said, not classic literature, but a great way to spend a day on the couch.  The more I read the more I liked the characters, the more I became interested in seeing what direction she takes them.