A Good Read, But A Low For The Series - Rated 
The title sums it up nicely - high quality storytelling ( if a little slow for the first half ), just not on par with the rest of the series.
The big negative is the central character Hope being significantly weaker than any of the previous Women Of The Otherworld - both in terms of being less interesting ( I found her angst fairly tedious and frankly absurd when her 'big fear' is revealed ), and also in the sense that her power is plain feeble ( she does nothing any of the necromancer, vampire or even detective characters already established could not have ).
Happily she is marginalized in her own story towards the end, which I can only hope indicates that she will not be considered to star in any subsequent novels.
The other negative is the further 'Laurell K. Hamiltoning' of this series ; No Humans involved was the first book in this series in which I would describe the sex scenes as needlessly explicit and intrusive to the plot - Personal Demon has twice as many such scenes, placed even more intrusively.
This series has been a spiritual successor to the early Anita Blake novels for me, and I would hate to see them follow the same downward spiral.
Personal bugbear ; please no more revivals of the emotionally-stunted-older-man love interests ( especially werewolves ) !
We broke free for a while there, but now they are back again and again !
Just to stress it though : an excellent read once the pace quickens, lots of familiar faces appearing, must buy if a fan.
Hope theres more... - Rated 
If you've read any of the series by Kelley Armstrong then you may already know that Hope Adams is no ordinary tabloid reporting, Cabal avoiding, werewolf dating girl. Shes also a half demon who thrives on chaos and can up the ante when shes near its effects. In this book Hope gets called in by Benicio Cortez (head of the Cortez Cabal) in order to do some undercover work infiltrating a gang. Sounds simple enough until you throw in Hope's on-off jealous werewolf partner Karl. Then throw in Lucas Cortez (Benicio's son and a handy sorcerer) his wife Paige (witch and moral guidance) and also someone who wants the Cabal leaders dead. Hope has no idea who to trust or how to avoid getting more drawn to her chaos side, when a man is bleeding to death infront of you you aren't really meant to enjoy the vibes.
This is a really good book and a great addition to the series. But thats an important point - if you haven't read the series a lot of whats happening will make no real sense. Also Hope and Karl's first story was in a short story anthology (Dates From Hell) if you missed that then you may wonder where these people have come from!
Its a great book and I love the world that Armstrong has created for her characters, she launches you into the story without really stopping for breath. The dual narration between Hope and Lucas is also a nice way of giving us two sides to events and upping the suspicion and mistrust. As always I look forward to the next book.
An enjoyable addition - Rated
I really enjoyed the latest enstallment of the otherworld series. It was quite different from the other in many ways, but refreshing.
I liked hope, I thought it was good to have a character who struggled more with her identity as a woman of the otherworld. Since Elena got to grips with her new identity, we've had a string of confident women who have embraced their powers. I really enjoyed the conflict Hope felt and was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if she would master it. I though her relationship with Karl was well done and made more poignant because of their backgrounds and their isolation without each other, the two are the 'black sheep' of the otherworld.
I struggled at first with the dual narration, I distracted me, and to be honest I didn't find it interesting enough, so I was desperate to get back to Hope. But then I was drawn in, mirroring Lucas, and found the world of the cabals darkly fascinating.
The tone of this book is quite different, there is a distinct lack of happy ending in my opinion, I was not left feeling that all would be well. I was left worrying for Lucas and Paige, and wondering how the cabal developments would alter their lives, and their relationship. I hope we find out in future books, although I haven't heard of anymore Paige/Lucas books, the series is currently contracted to ten books, with plots for the last two already outlined, but it may be extended due to popularity.
For the first time I would really recommend that you read the earlier books, I guess after seven other books there is just too much back story now. If I came in cold I would have been frustrated, especially seen as Hope and Karl have had only very minor parts up till this point, so there was a lot of reference to past events in an attempt to tie them into the series, so that we understand that they were there all along, albeit in the background.
Overall highly enjoyable, with a darker undertone than usual, which is not bad, but different.
Book 8 in the Otherworld Series - Rated
Hope Adams, a rare Expisco half-demon, has inherited a hunger for chaos from her demon father. When Benicio Cortez asks her to go undercover in a new supernatural gang, it's an opportunity to feed her addiction to chaos and to pay back the favour she owes the Cortez Cabal. But before long things are spiralling out of control and Hope is out of her depth. If she's to get out of this alive, she'll need more than her attraction for chaos. It will be up to Karl Marsten (werewolf) and Lucas Cortez (sorcerer) to help her survive.
I have to admit Hope is not my favourite Kelley Armstrong character and the author plays a tight line in this book. Too far one way and Hope loses all sympathy with the reader as it's incredibly easy for her to place her chaos addiction above the safety of her friends. Indeed one thing Hope proves over and over throughout the story is that she's not the best judge of anyone's character. She makes assumptions about Karl's feelings but is quick to accept other people (the gang members) at face value. So I find what I like most about Hope is how her relationship with Karl is explored.
I've liked Karl since his first appearance in Bitten, so love the expanded role he now has in the series. And he and Hope make a great pair, they are two flawed people who ultimately find a home in each other.
"I've never lived with anyone, Karl."
"Neither have I."
"I drool in my sleep."
"I know. It's cute."
Karl is much older than Hope, and it's his experience of having to deal with his werewolf side that allows him to help Hope with her chaos addiction, an addiction she can't get away from because it's genetic. In the same way that Karl can never get away from his werewolf.
Lucas Cortez is the second narrator of Personal Demon. This dual protagonist approach allows us to experience two different sides to the story. I'm always glad when we find out more about the Cabals, since reading Industrial Magic (Book 4) it's a part of this world that fascinates me. So one of the major things that lifted this story for me is the further insight into the workings of the Cabal. You can almost feel the tentacles of the Cabal structure pulling Lucas in. And it's also pretty obvious (to me anyway) that he would be a worthy successor to his father.
Although I think you could read this book and enjoy it if you've not read any of the other books in the series as Hope is a relatively new character and Karl has only played a small role in the other books. There is an awful lot here that picks up on events and characters from the previous seven books. There are references back to events in Books 2,3,4 and 7. There's also a very nice (but brief) update on Clay and Elena.
And once again I find myself counting down the days 'til the next Kelley Armstrong release.
Not the best one in the series - Rated
I have given Kelley Armstrongs latest offering 4 stars and as ever it is a great read by any standard, for me though not the best offering the author has made- I think that is simply because Hope Adams as a central character does not offer the same depth as the other heroines- Elena for example, one feels as though you know her incredibly well by mid way through the first book but Hope never quite reaches that point.
Still a well written winner though!
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