A Book Obsession..: Early Review: Vengeance of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Early Review: Vengeance of the Demon by Diana Rowland

, by Kt Clapsadl

Vengeance of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Kara Gillian #7

Demon summoner Kara Gillian is on the wrong side of the law, and there's evidence to prove it. Too bad the courts don't accept "fighting demonic forces" as justification for murder and mayhem.

Yet Kara has problems that go way beyond her legal woes. When the enemy demonic lords spur their human accomplices into high gear, master summoner Katashi aggressively pursues their goal to establish a permanent gate between Earth and the demon realm. To hell with the consequences for humanity.

The line between ally and enemy blurs as Kara gathers the remnants of her posse to prevent a devastating demonic incursion, but a shattered trust may cost them the war and put Kara behind bars. With treachery rife, and her loved ones in danger, Kara must call upon the essence of who she truly is in order to rally back from a crushing loss.

And if she can't, the world is going straight to hell.

This one is going to be a bit difficult to review. While I never found myself losing interest, and was continually able to stay easily focused on the story, it just wasn't as engrossing as I would have liked. The book seemed to meander throughout a lot of different things to the point where there just didn't seem to be any focus. Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable read, I just don't feel like there was a clear plot or even resolution of much of anything by the end especially with that cliffhanger. Granted, she's written some pretty nasty cliffhangers in the past, but this time around I'm not sure it was necessary or really warranted. I just wasn't sucked in enough for the cliffhanger to have had that full sucker punch effect. Typically that leaves me desperate for the next book but this one just didn't have the momentum for that to work.

One thing the book did get really right for me was Kara. She's been through so much and I really enjoy seeing how much she's matured. While it's hard to watch her have to make the hard decisions, she's really become a power to be reckoned with. Then of course the rest of the cast of characters are pretty fabulous too, and they are all fully three dimensional throughout. That's more than a little impressive considering just how large the cast has become. In many series, I forget who the older characters are between books, but this time around I had no trouble jumping back in, which goes to show how real the characters seem. My only complaint in the character department is that there wasn't more time with Mzatal, but hopefully that will change in future books.

In the end, VENGEANCE OF THE DEMON was a decent read that kept me entertained, but I can't help hoping for the next installment to return to the engrossing style of the previous installments. This still is a great series that I'd love see more great reads from, so here's hoping.

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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