Brook, Meljean - Demon Night, Demon Forged, and Demon Blood

[oyceter]

Demon Night - book 3 of the Guardians series. I skipped this and Demon Moon in my first pass through the series since they were both about vampires. Luckily, this book is actually more interesting than the back cover lets on. Ethan McCabe is watching over Charlie Newcomb, as her sister is working at a demon-owned corporation which has been vamping their employees' relatives. The whole thing with Ethan protecting Charlie isn't particularly up my alley, but I very much like that Charlie is a former alcoholic who is desperately trying to keep her life under control. This may also be the book that gives us a larger view of the Guardian corps, as we're introduced to many of the novices that Ethan has been mentoring. Then again, we may have also seen them in Demon Moon, which I haven't read.

Brook also throws in supernatural creatures galore, and although her vampire mythology isn't as cool as Mizushiro Setona's, her making bloodlust text and not subtext is fairly interesting, particularly since she has vampire heroes and heroines throughout the series. I like Ethan and Charlie's interactions best in the book, as the focus is largely on the psychological tension between them, though I also appreciate Charlie's relationship with her sister and the way this book kicks off a lot of the plot for the next few.

Demon Forged - Irena is one of the oldest Guardians, and although she and Alejandro were very attracted to each other in the past, a demon got between the two of them four hundred years ago. Meanwhile, the wife of a demon masquerading as a U.S. Senator has been assassinated, and Irena and Alejandro are trying to find out who's behind it while also dealing with the fall out from Demon Bound. The first time I read this, I wasn't very impressed with the romance. I'm still not, but this book has plot like whoa and works much better as a fantasy novel instead of a romance. Brook also starts to bring in the hero and heroine of the next book, as well as set in motion what I'm sure will eventually be the book for Michael, Doyen of the Guardians.

I'm still not certain all the world building makes sense; one reason I went through this reread was because I started the latest book and had no idea who and what all the supernatural creatures were. But! I have plot brain back, and things a bit clearer this time around. The world building reminds me a lot of my favorite idtastic manga, as well as Marjorie Liu, in which everything and the kitchen sink goes in, and the showdown at the end is pretty spectacular. Really fun, although I was much more interested in the plot than the relationship between Irena and Alejandro, and much of this book feels like set up for the rest of the series.

Demon Blood - Rosalia the Guardian has a plan to deal with the nephilim, but for that, she needs the help of the vampire Deacon. Both were introduced in the previous book. This is much more a romance than Demon Forged, and although I like Rosalia as tactician and manipulator, Deacon goes through a bit too much "Woe! Angst! She could never love me!" for me. I like that Brook has just as many women as men influencing the overall plot of the series, and I love that Rosalia is the mastermind behind the plot of this book. I kind of hope she still gets a large role in following books. As mentioned, I'm not as impressed by Deacon, although I still buy the romance much more than I did the one in the previous book. I also like that the events from Demon Night are still influencing the plots, and I especially like the thread for Michael's book is still going on.

These aren't particularly deep books, but they hit several of my happy buttons, and I am really enjoying the world building, cracktastic though it may be (or more likely, because it is cracktastic).

Comments

[estara]

You know if you were able to handle the vampires in Demon Night and Demon Blood, you really should give Demon Moon a try, it has one of the most awesome Brooks heroines in the Indian (from India) software developer and hacker Savitri. Right in the first view pages she kills a Nosferatu on a plane (with a pencil, I think...)

I read this cycle as one big superhero epic, but with a paranormal slant, and we will get an end as well. Her new steampunk series got off to a great start too, with a brilliant novella.

[oyceter]

Demon Moon is definitely on the list! I just went through these first on my reread because I was too impatient for Demon Angel and Demon Moon to come through ILL and wanted to get to the new book asap.

[estara]

Totally understandable. With my handy ebook reader I'm rarely in that position anymore, at least with recent authors and books ^^. Then again I can't borrow them from the library.

[oyceter]

Oooo what ereader do you have? How do you like it? I keep wavering about getting one, especially now that I got an iPhone and can kind of read on that, but I also kind of want an eink screen too...

[estara]

I bought a Sony PRS 505 in February 2009 and am still quite happy with it (contrastwise and conveniencewise), but I've found that many people have varying needs regarding their ebook readers (not to mention they no longer sell the 505 - the clinch was that you are able to view converted manga scans on it ^^). I bought it at a time I had a lot of problems with my right eye and the ability to increase fontsize combined with the lack of backlight (no more eyestrain than a book) really sold me on it - also the huge amount of books you can have at your fingertip.

I regularly read DearAuthor.com for romance reviews and discussions and Jane Litte, who is an awesome Asian lawyer lady and the main proprietior has had a series of posts regarding ebook readers and what works and what doesn't. Let me see if I find a few helpful links:

http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/comparison-table-of-ereading-devices/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/e-book-format-and-device-table/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/09/12/notes-about-the-2010-sony-readers/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/08/29/review-kindle-3/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/08/22/dear-jane-how-do-i-sideload-ebooks-onto-the-kindle/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/07/27/whats-the-future-of-drm/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/07/25/who-has-the-best-ebook-prices/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/07/18/dear-jane-how-do-i-check-out-electronic-books-from-the-library/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/07/04/dear-jane-how-do-the-different-ereading-devices-handle-notes/
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/06/27/dear-jane-should-i-buy-the-nook-or-kindle-now-that-prices-have-all-come-down/

The true specialist site for asking questions about ereaders and reading discussions and wiki-entries about them is here though:
http://www.mobileread.com/

Let me know what you decide to get, if you decide to get it ^^.

[oyceter]

Yay, thank you! I read DA a lot too, which is mostly to blame for my wanting an ereader! I think my problem is that more and more models keep coming out, so I keep holding off in hopes that one that will be just right for me will come out. Well, that and I am hoping that the DRM things comes to some sort of a resolution, because I refuse to shell out for DRMed ebooks.

[estara]

I'd say if there's no clear decisive advantage to you buying one right now, it's a good idea to hold off (even the backlist or e-book only releases you can always buy later - they'll never go out of print).