I'll admit I got this book as a freebie from Amazon. It was part of a collection of 6 books by different authors which are all from a similar genre ("Urban Fantasy"). Most of the books are the first book in their particular series. So I knew very, very little about it - except for the fact that it appeared to have werewolves and demons in it.
One thing I didn't realise (until I was a good 1/3 of the way through it) was that this is the fourth series in the same "universe". I struggled a bit at the start because of this, simply because I am joining a narrative in the middle and so some of the character development aspects had already been covered in earlier books. Having said that though, you can still enjoy this book without all the prior information, the individual story hangs together well enough on its own.
So "Urban Fantasy" then. This was my first venture into it and I actually quite enjoyed it. There is a significant supernatural theme running through this; demons from hell, fallen angels, werewolves and succubi to name a few. I don't know if this is true for all Urban Fantasy but it certainly adds an extra element compared to my usual reads.
The story itself is well-paced and the characters have plenty of depth to them. It definitely feels like a story in the middle of an overall narrative, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. As a stand-alone tale it has enough to engage you and keep the pages turning. There is not particularly original in here, it seems like your fairly typical angel/demon battle which drags a few humans into the mix.
However the denouement does hint at something bolder and grander to come so there is plenty of potential here. It has also piqued my interest enough to contemplate going back through the earlier books and catching up with the previous adventures of some of these character.
So overall, a decent enough book with plenty to keep you entertained and promises of more to come. Definitely worth going back throgh Reine's earlier stuff if you want to get the full benefit from it though.
Verdict: 3.5 stars out of 5
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