After battling fatigue and illness and general busy-ness (which I'm not technically supposed to be having yet), I finally finished Demon From the Dark last night. I aired my concerns about the future of the series here yesterday, and maybe it was the catharsis of speaking out, but I was able to put my head down and power through to the end.
I'll say up front that I was left totally relieved and re-energized about the series.
Let me back up and start with the plot summary. Carrow Graie, who was reported missing at the end of Pleasure of a Dark Prince, has been imprisoned for a week when the book opens. As suspected she's being held by something that closely resembles Whedon's The Initiative, only with a dash of secret religious order thrown in for fun (apparently these mortals rise up at each Accession, convinced that the immortals are going to war with them and not each other). The head of the compound where everyone is being held seems to have it out for Regin the Radiant, specifically, and is reportedly torturing her at every possible opportunity. Turns out he may just be her mysterious Berserker, after all. Whether or not he's under a spell or heavily medicated (and therefore being manipulated) remains to be seen.
The immediate deal presented to Carrow by her captors is simple: go and capture a vemon (half vampire/half demon... a new and artificially created species within the Lore), and they'll free her and her new charge. A word about this: We're supposed to believe that Ruby is an all-important witch child whose mother (now dead) is well-known within Carrow's coven. We've never heard of her. It's in situations like this that I wish there was a little more background to these characters and this world-- it wouldn't hurt to really deviate from the main characters and show us other things that are going on elsewhere throughout the books. Context after the fact doesn't really work for me.
Carrow agrees to the deal even though it's an obvious double-cross, mostly because they are threatening to outright kill the child if she refuses. So off we go to a new Hell dimension with the help of Lanthe, sister of Sabine the Queen of Illusions. When she reaches Oblivion, Carrow has little-to-no trouble finding Malkom, the aforementioned vemon, and despite huge language barriers and his obvious lack of civility (by which I mean he has not lived in civilization in over three hundred years), they manage to communicate and get naked in an expedited manner.
(I'm OK with this and willing to buy it... Cole evolves the characters reasonably within their tightened "we have to get this done in five days" timespan)
Malkom is an interesting figure, if a little close to J.R. Ward's Zsadist. As a child he was sold as a blood slave to a vampire and used for blood and sex repeatedly-- both by his Master and by his guests. When the book opens and we meet Malkom in his adult state, it has been quite some time since this occurred and he is reasonably "over it" (as much as one can be) though he understandably has serious trust issues.
Long story short, he is betrayed by a domestic enemy and turned over to still more vamps, where he is turned into a vemon. He kills his best friend (prince of Oblivion) and flees to the mountains where he lives as an abomination.
Despite all of this, he is a reasonable being. Lack of civilization for three hundred years aside, he adapts remarkably quickly to Carrow and soon remembers the finer points of interacting with people. He in no way carries the psychosis of the other vemons we've encountered (Hello, dumbass who got between Lachlain and Emma. How's your head? Still missing? Cool.) despite being tortured repeatedly throughout his life.
ANY. WAY. Of course Carrow has to betray him to get back to Ruby. Of course they are separated (though mercifully this is Kresley Cole, and everyone comes to reasonable and not at all outlandish conclusions in the end). Carrow and Malkom deal with his issues, we get us some Wroth brother action (Hi Conrad! I missed you like whoa), and in the end, the Accession is nigh. FINALLY.
Carrow and Malkom were a very nice couple. Not quite among my faves, but solid and well-written. It was a nice change to read about the dude being betrayed and having trust issues, but it was even nicer that he didn't have to be beaten over the head with a sharp object to get why Carrow did what she did. And I liked that Carrow knew she screwed up, and was willing to do whatever she could to help the situation. Per usual they could have had a couple of more honest conversations and taken care of a lot of tension, but overall I was never more than slightly irritated by their running around in circles.
Without giving away the finer points, the book more-or-less ends with half of our favorite people in the same room, on the same mission, trying to get to their loved ones who are now trapped on the island where the The Initiative (I mean, The Order) was located. This includes Sabine and Rydstrom, Garreth and Lucia, Myst and Nikolai, and Mariketa and Bowen. Would have loved some Emma and Lachlain and Holly and Cadeon, too, but I'll take what I can get. As long as over the next two books (one for Regin, one for Lanthe, and then NO MORE) things get wrapped up and we get to see all of our peeps being badass again, I'll be thoroughly satisfied.
I do need to mention that I'm very worried about Nix. Like, a lot. And I have a sinking feeling she's going to be fighting the Goddess of Evil all by herself.
You know what got me really pumped? I mean really, really pumped? HOLY ALPHA MALE THROWDOWN IN THE LIVING ROOM, BATMAN. That's all I have to say about that.
Dear Kresley Cole,
It's spelled "frak." Not "frack." Plus 20 cool points for correct usage. Minus 5 for spelling.
Thanks.
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