Sidelined demon summoner
Kara Gillian has her hands full when dimensional rifts allow demons to
cause widespread panic and destruction on Earth. These aren't the
human-tolerant summonables she's known before, but demons from the far
reaches of the demon realm.
Add three demonic lords with conflicting ambitions to the mix, and Kara has the perfect recipe for global disaster. |
The Kara Gillian series has its ups and downs, fortunately mainly ups.
This time the book jumps a few months ahead right in the middle of action sequence, literally, and apparently Kara has been promoted to something akin to world leader of fighting the supernatural. Everyone knows her connections to the realm and what she's about, so she has the edge when ridges start opening over the world and Earth starts going to literal hell. She even talks to the president at some point, although the reader just gets the one-sided phone call gist of the conversation. Rhyz is still in the backyard contained, Mzatal and she stay on good terms but again illustrate the absence makes the heart grow fonder mantra, Jill is still pining for her child, and there's all sorts of unsettled situations in both world.
No one can accuse this story of not being creative and intricately structured; in actually it's so detailed it's almost confusing. I admit to never knowing the full picture. There's twists and turns classic Kara Gillian style, although no big shockers this time. That's okay, the story didn't need another yet.
Fans of the original Rhyz will be perhaps surprised but maybe happy that the man reaches some redemption. More light is shone on his former sins, bringing them into news angles and explanations. Turns out some of his past follies weren't so bad after all. Not only that, but Kara reaches inside herself for some forgiveness to let a certain hatchet bury itself. I liked the change and not just seeing him as the big-bad all the time.
Kadir is a fun return, creepy and a little cliffhanger. Others return and intermix, although there's a sad sort of ending for an old series regular that hasn't seen the light of page the past few books.
Ultimately it's a good story and addition to the mythos, but it's so action packed and filled it loses steam only because it overdoes it. Over-hammer something and it eventually grows blunt. I grew bored with too much action, drawn out battlefield plays, hyped up stressors and constantly appearing/twisting demonic enemies. Kara remains likable - more so than she used to be even - but even the small doses of her internal humor cannot calm down the over-hyped up story.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC
Similar Reviews:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
