A good read - Rated 
There's a lot of urban fantasy about lately, and this is one of the more entertaining ones. Richelle Mead has invented a situation that works - angels and demons of various grades and descriptions don't just swoop down to do a bit of smiting or tempting; they have to live (mostly) ordinary lives in the real world. It's nice to see a series in which the good guys aren't all good and the bad guys aren't all bad. Angels and demons alike act like 'real' people, and they have ordinary problems as well as supernatural ones. One does get the impression that the author has had to sit through a few too many management pep talks; Hell giving out 'employee of the month' certificates is a nice touch. I'll certainly be getting the second book in the series when it comes out. The only reason this doesn't get five stars is that it does lack a level of complexity that would have taken it right to the top - but it's still a good book and worth the time and money!
A breath of fresh air - Rated 
I've been reading a lot of vampirey, crimey, urbam, fantasy... etc. novels recently, but this really stood out. The prose is lovely, the story is very nicely plotted, characters are engaging, and generally it's just very enjoyable to read. Highly recommended.
Entertaining Beginnings - Rated 
A new author jumps into the supernatural scene with a sassy, funny demoness who gives Sex in the City a bad name. Why? Well she's a Succubus and sleeping with her will cost you your soul, but she's so damn sexy and that's it, you're damned. Balancing a working life alongside the Eternal Battle for mankinds soul's gives this quirky, at times innocent and above all riot of mayhem a thumbs up from me. If you know a fan of the genre, stash this little gem to one side as a present as lets face it, when they discover this author its going to be hard for you to keep their nose out of the adventure within.
Succubus Blues - Not Here - Rated 
Okay, so, the title made me want to read it because it tickled my sense of the ridiculous. The novel itself is so easy to read the characters jump off the pages almost as fully formed as you could need. If you were looking for an indepth treatise into the demon hierachy you won't find it here, what you will find however, is a romping good read, with characters you will care about and a sense of humour rather akin to the darker sides of Buffy. I loved this and nearly "devoured" it in one go, and I'm certainly looking forward to more novels from this world. The demons and angels all have their alternate "sides" and amalgamate into the human world with varying degrees of success. Georgina Kinkaid is a modern heroine/demon who fits just right, sometimes she gets it right but when she gets it wrong... watch out!!
Four and a Half Stars - Rated 
Georgina Kincaid is a succubus, living in Seattle, working by day in a bookstore whilst at the same time trying to squeeze in her otherworldly duties. However, there are more deadly things at play in Seattle as Georgina is about to discover.
Sometimes you read the first page of a book and you just know you're in for a wonderful read. Succubus Blues takes us into the life of the working demon and makes it real. It shows how the road to hell can be paved with good intentions, and illustrates how the concepts of good and evil are ambiguous.
As it's written in the first person we are immediately drawn into Georgina's world; which is so like our own. She has her friends (Hugh the imp, Cody her vampire dancing partner) and her enemies, and she has to please her boss - Jerome the archdemon.
Georgina is a witty and self-deprecating protagonist and as we get to know her through the course of the story we become aware of her sadness as well. She is a succubus with all that entails, and although there are romantic elements to this story, I would classify it as urban fantasy rather than romance. The life of the succubus is not glamorised, and although there are sexual situations, the sex scenes when they take place are not gratuitous. Indeed given the subject matter you may have expected more.
There is a lack of strong female secondary characters but given Georgina's nature perhaps this is not surprising. And the male characters more than make up for this - Seth, the shy, reserved writer, who Georgina not so secretly hero-worships; Hugh, Peter and Cody - her friends; and the surprising double act of Jerome (the local archdemon) and Carter (the angel) who, whenever they appear, steal the scene. You really feel you're gaining an insight into the lives of these `evil' immortals, and at the end of the story it's hard to say whether any of them are intrinsically evil or good - they are all just trying to do the best they can.
|