One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Demonica, Book 5
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Length: 432 Pages, 6158 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


She is responsible for an epidemic that is scouring the earth of his kind, but the sparks between them are incendiary. Sin is the only female Seminus demon to have ever been born, not that she's particularly fond of that fact. She's strong and independent, and has chiseled herself into a deadly weapon after surviving a past chained to her succubus needs and owned by one cruel master after another. She long ago gave up any such niceties as tenderness and affection, and emotions are for saps.

He's lived for a thousand years, which is young for the half-warg (werewolf), half-vampire dhampire species, but Con has spent his time as a mostly irrepressible rogue, flitting from one thing to the next to stave off boredom and court excitement. He found a place as a paramedic at UG, the demon hospital, and has thrived there, but a chance meeting with his boss's sister Sin rocked his body and stirred his blood. Finding out she's the one responsible for the warg epidemic horrifies him, though, and his desire for her is tinged with loathing.

When politics and warg agendas take precedence over survival, Con steps in and with the help of Sin's brothers, manages to save her from imprisonment. But being incarcerated by torturous demons is the least of Sin's problems when her assassins start coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of the fact she's not in her den. Soon Sin and Con are forced to keep fleeing for their lives even as they struggle to help in the effort to stop SF from wiping out every warg on the planet.

I loved this book. I've been a fan of the Demonica series since the beginning, and I think Sin Undone is the best of the bunch. It's a fabulous swan song for a strong, original series bursting with excellent characters, sizzling sensuality, and layered, intricate plots full of danger and sacrifice.

Sin and Con are the best parts of this book, their individual development and the way their relationship evolves captivates as the world surrounding them gets grimmer and the future more grave the longer the epidemic spreads. They have complicated metaphorical demons riding them, and paired with the external crisis, these characters are imbued with a rich history and enough emotional baggage to bury lesser mortals. 

One of Ione's gifts is creating characters who not only fit together perfectly, but who provide each other exactly what they need to heal from their past traumas, no matter how oblivious they are to those needs. Con brings out the best in Sin, allows her to get in touch with emotions long since denied. In Sin, Con finds the one person he can care about beyond his own self interest, a woman who accepts the darker aspects of his nature and doesn't judge or shy away from it.

They start out with a sexual chemistry that burns but they are steeped in mutual dislike. Their banter and aggression drive them hard. When they start to look past those prickly surface personae and get to the core of each other and themselves, their relationship becomes truly powerful and intense and ultimately pleasurable to experience. The additional threats of Sin's assassins trying to kill her and the warg civil war add a lot of depth and layers to their journey.

Though paranormal romances are at the top of my list of favorite genres, I've been disappointed for much of this year by many books I've read, even those in some of the long-standing series that I've been a fan of for years. There's been a gem here or there, but overall, PNRs just haven't been working for me. Sin Undone worked for me. It's more than just one of those gems, it's one of the best of them. Ione had me thoroughly emotionally invested in the characters and their relationship (the fun parts, the sexy parts, and the gut wrenching parts), and practically entranced by their story.

I loved Sin Undone, and was extremely satisfied by the overall plot arc and how all the pieces came together. I did have a few minor issues with the story, though, one or two things that seemed a little convenient or a little emotionally manipulative, like Con having time to convince Luc to do something unspeakable, but not cluing him in on the outcome. It's not like the outcome wouldn't be apparent, so not telling him made no sense. I also wasn't totally enamored with the ancillary plot thread of the Feast warg. Beyond that, though, this book was totally stellar in almost every way.

I don't want to say goodbye to these characters, but I appreciate Ione for drawing the series to a conclusion that stays true to the body of work instead of dragging on and on until the fire is gone. For a final book in a series, I thought it was exceptionally well done and tied up a lot of loose ends even as it was setting up events for Ione's Lords of Deliverance series, which is set in the Demonica world and will include familiar and beloved characters from the Demonica series.

And if I'm looking forward to Eternal Rider (Lords of Deliverance) with a fevered intensity that borders mindless obsession...well...just ignore the drool.

Demonica Series (Complete):

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Demonica, Book 4
Rating: 4 Stars
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


With each book of the Demonica series I become more and more impressed with Larissa Ione. She's created an original world with complex and unique mythologies blending nearly seamlessly into a cohesive whole, ripe with dark humor, honest and erotic sexuality, and at its core, the steely strength of love - familial and mated both. What began four books ago as a paranormal romance series has developed into a smorgasbord of trials, tribulations, dangers, and true consequences, and as a reader, I'm intensely appreciative of the pleasure each book has provided. Ecstasy Unveiled was absolutely no disappointment.

Lore, the Sem demon assassin, is one kill away from freedom from his master, but it's not freedom for himself he cares about, it's his sister Sin's life - which hangs in the balance of this particular kill. Unfortunately, the target is none other than Kynan, the human whose life he restored in the previous book, and the guy who got the girl that Lore himself was interested in. Not to mention that Kynan is real tight with the three brothers Lore recently discovered and he's protected by the almost-angel, Idess, whose job it is to keep Kynan alive - at all costs - to save humanity. What's a demon assassin to do?

One of the things I like most about the Demonica Series is it really is a study in the adage "whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Truly, none of the good guys (and the not-so-good-but-mostly-well-intentioned guys) can catch a break here. Lore has to kill someone he sorta hates, sure, but he doesn't want to kill him, really, especially as he craves a family bond and connection to his brothers Eidolon, Shade, and Wraith (and they'll kill him for taking out Kynan), not to mention he's totally hot on Idess, who really wants to get into heaven and leave the earthly plane, but to do so she's got to make sure neither Kynan nor Lore get dead. And if that's not enough, the forces manipulating all this death and destruction are viciously evil and bent on the destruction of the brothers, their mates and children, and Idess...basically everyone.

Oh yeah, you definitely can't say that Ecstasy Unveiled is thin on plot. My only complaint, actually, is that in this particular book there's almost too much going on as Lore's world spins out of control and the evil undermining his brothers starts ripping everything apart. I can understand - and really liked - the initiation of the story thread for Sin's (the smurfette...*giggle*) book (due out in September 2010, so look for it!), but a werewolf epidemic on top of everything else that was going down in Ecstasy Unveiled made it just a little too chaotic for my personal tastes. I would've liked more time with Lore and Idess, seeing their relationship develop a bit more in non-life threatening or captured situations. It's a minor issue, really, but it did keep me from truly loving this book. I really really liked it though.

I do not recommend this book if you haven't read the three previous novels. This is not the sort of series where you can just pick it up here and go, or read out of order, because far too much of what goes on in these books, and the characters in them, are motivated by the relationships and events of the past novels, and there's not enough exposition to satisfactorily define the world for a neophyte. Too much impact would be lost. Also, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone not comfortable or fond of sexual situations written with explicit language and without the use of flowery euphemisms. The brothers are sex demons, after all, and there's not a whole lot held back.

Really enjoyed Ecstasy Unveiled and am very pleased that the next in the series, Sin Undone (Demonica, Book 5), will be out in September. Until then!