A Book Obsession..: Early Review: Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur

Early Review: Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur

, by Kt Clapsadl

Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur

Dark Angels #3

Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones can enter the realm between life and death, and she can see the Reapers who collect the souls of the dead. Now, she is using her gifts—and the investigative know-how of a man who broke her heart—to find a cabal searching for the power to control time, reality, and fate. And this is besides her work for the Vampire Council, half of whom want her dead.

But for now the Council needs her alive. Someone is killing blood-whore addicted vampires, and Risa must find the guilty party. If she succeeds, she may finally convince the council to lift the execution order on her life. But before she succeeds, she must first survive…

The last person Risa expected to ever have to deal with was the werewolf who broke her heart. As she well knows after him using her to dig up dirt on her mother, Jak's investigative skills are very thorough, which is exactly what she needs in her search to find the remaining member of the consortium who must be stopped. Meanwhile the Vampire Council is still teetering on ordering her execution order, and she must work to prove her worthiness to them. Her latest mission involves blood-whores and the vamps that are addicted to them, and she has very little time to find the killer before the Council tires of waiting and her number comes up.

I am still 100% in love with Risa's character. (Well maybe not quite 100%, more like 98% as her relationship issue are driving me a little batty, but I'll get into that in a little bit.) Out of a fierce loyalty to her close friends and a need for revenge against her mother's killer, she literally runs herself on fumes to get the job done. Despite being beholden to the Vampire Council, she doesn't meekly cower to them even if that would be the sane thing to do. She always finds a way to hold her own no matter what she is up against. She really is an unstoppable force, especially as we see Risa's determination to continue to hold on to her mission despite being on the very brink of death countless times.

I cannot believe Risa is still messing around with Lucian. The guy obviously has a lot more going on than he has revealed, and the way he uses her for information is ridiculous. Seriously everything about that Aedh makes me grind my teeth. Risa is so admirable in so many ways, but her determination to keep Lucian in her life in order to keep from wholly committing to Azriel really gets on my nerves. I understand she was burned badly in the past, but that doesn't really explain why she continues on with the Aedh when he knows that he cannot really be trusted. If it really is that much of an issue to protect her heart, well then she just needs to find some other bloke to shag instead. Granted, a lot my frustration stems from the insane push and pull dance that has been going on between Risa and Azriel for three books now. I will say that there was a little be more gratification in Darkness Devours, but in the end it only left me even more unsure of what exactly was going on between them. Hopefully the slow build up will play out well in the end, but for now I have to say that it is driving me possibly batty.

Keri's ability to raise the stakes in each every book never ceases to amaze me. We saw this in the Riley Jenson series, and now even more so in the Dark Angels series. Each installment is more action packed than the last, and trust me, that is no small feat. I especially love the way she weaves other issues into the main plot line of the series, making things all that much more dangerous and trying for Risa. Absolutely nothing comes easy for the characters, but that's what makes things more interesting. So just like the previous installments, I have to give Darkness Devours a resounding 5 star rating. Keri Arthur sure knows how to keep the reader coming back for more!

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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