Sara's Review: Mark of the Demon: Kara Gillian, Book 1 Diana Rowland (Author), Liv Anderson (Nar
Reviewer Purchase
Publisher: Bantam
Released: June 23, 2009
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 386 pages
Format: ebook , paperback, audiobook
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Blurb
Cop and conjurer of demons, she's a woman in danger of losing control—to a power that could kill.... Why me? Why now? That’s what Beaulac, Louisiana, detective Kara Gillian was asking herself when an angelic creature named Rhyzkahl unexpectedly appeared during a routine summoning. Kara was hoping to use her occult skills to catch a serial killer, but never had she conjured anything like this unearthly beautiful and unspeakably powerful being whose very touch set off exquisite new dimensions of pleasure. But can she enlist his aid in helping her stop a killer who’s already claimed the lives—and souls—of thirteen people? And should she? The Symbol Man is a nightmare that the city thought had ended three years ago. Now he’s back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he, too, is well versed in demonic lore. Kara may be the only cop on Beaulac’s small force able to stop the killer, but it is her first homicide case. Yet with Rhyzkahl haunting her dreams, and a handsome yet disapproving FBI agent dogging her waking footsteps, she may be in way over her head...
Five Boundless Stars
This title has been on my TBR list for an incredibly long time. The audiobook came up for sale and I was all over it. It’s an Urban Fantasy with a kick ass chick, I mean hello, she summons demons and she’s a cop! And there isn’t a vampire to be found in the entire book! Score! Definitely my type of book!
The one thing I really liked about this story was the mythology created. The Demons that Kara summons aren’t evil; they are from another plane of existence. They are neither good nor bad; they are just utterly self-serving, and rely on a strict honor system in their culture. Their honor is everything to them. So once a summoner; which is what Kara is, agree to terms with a demon, the demon will abide by those terms, simply because their honor holds them to it. It was a pretty interesting concept. Kara summons the demons in order to glean information, and basically uses them to better learn her craft. Again, she isn’t evil, and neither are the demons. It’s all in the summoner and what the terms agreed upon.
Kara has a summoning go disastrously wrong and winds up with a far deadlier creature she has to contend with, Rhyzkahl. Who instead of slaughtering her where she stands, decides seduction is the name of the game. This coincides with an old serial killer starting up again and Kara is given the case, her first murder case. She is in a race to track down the Symbol man before he kills again. On top of being saddled with a FBI agent who she is completely attracted to, while he thinks she is a compete idiot. Oh, and did I mention Rhyzkal is now visiting her dreams? Stress doesn’t even begin to cover Kara’s world.
I finished the audiobook in a 2-day period. I kept guessing this is the killer, then nope he would get killed. It was loaded with surprises all the way to the end. I was so thrilled I wasn’t able to guess! The stories are always blown when I can figure them out, so happy this wasn’t the case. I will note that this is a bit on the horror side for me with all those grizzly details, but not enough that I wasn’t able to enjoy the story.
Mark of the Demon is an excellent start to this series and I am so pleased that I finally jumped into it. I have been missing out! I can’t wait to dive into the next book, Blood of the Demon.