In 2003 I read my first urban fantasy: Kelley Armstrong's BITTEN. Thus reading her consequent novels is somewhat sentimental for me.

When half-demon and tabloid journalist Hope Adams goes undercover in a supernatural gang as a rich socialite, the story is enjoyable enough but hardly something to gobble up. However, the real action begins halfway through the novel with the mention of a panic room.

But as the bodies piled up, I didn't feel completely satisfied; had that 'good but not great' feeling. But about thirty pages from the end was an idea that gobsmacked me with its brilliance and sheer originality. More than a few readers will rush to re-read STOLEN, the second book in the series. It really justifies the author as my favourite.

I wish I could say that I was pleased with the novel's conclusion, but I wasn't. Something else happened that really made me think, "if this is true, then the author will set a new benchmark that other writers could only dream of reaching". But instead, "what a freaking copout". But I may be alone with that feeling.

This was a fun book to read. I have been sort of disapointed on the last 2 books (no humans involved and this one). Not to the standards of bitten, stolen and broken.

I am a big fan of Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series so I was really looking forward to reading Personal Demon. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed.

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, each book is narrated by a female character who is some sort of supernatural. So far there has been a werewolf, a witch, a ghost witch, a necromancer, and now a half-demon. Each story is independent, although the characters do crossover and the books definitely follow a time line. Armstrong also produces online novellas and her characters appear in various short story anthologies.

Personal Demon is narrated by Hope Adams, a half-demon. She takes on an undercover assignment that forces her to face who she is and what she is capable of.

This book had two main differences from the previous books in the series. The first is that Hope is not the only narrator. Some of the chapters a narrated by Lucas, a sorcerer from a very powerful family and the husband of a witch. This is the first time one of the men has actually narrated portions of the novel. Armstrong makes it very clear who is narrating which portions with her chapter headings and I did not find it confusing at all.

The second difference in this book is the amount of sex. It is not an excessive amount by any means but previous books had little to no sex in them at all. I am anticipating that the sex is connected to Hope and not going to be a regular addition for all the characters.

Personal Demon was a great read and really kept me guessing up until the end. The clues were all there but it definitely took a while to put them all together. I liked it that I didn't feel that I was ahead of the characters in figuring out the situation (making them appear dumb) or way behind them in understanding (making me feel dumb). Armstrong also does a great job with wrapping up the story while leaving enough open ends to continue the overall conflict in future books.

For some reason, Kelley Armstrong's editor took a long nap in the middle of what could have been the best of all the Women of the Otherworld books. The tautly paced first 200 pages feature Hope Adams as the primary focus and details her undercover assignment to infiltrate a cabal-gang (if you don't know what that is, please read previous books), and the book zips along like a knockback spell. The last 150 pages feature Lucas as the primary character, and those are also great. However, the middle 150 pages muddle along like listening to an older relative retell the same story for the 8th time during the same family gathering.

Overall, I recommend this, but also recommend you skim when you start nodding off.

Title Personal Demon (Women of the Otherworld, Book 8)
Author
Kelley Armstrong
Rating ****
Tags paranormal, fantasy, half-demons, series

Eighth in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. The main character in this book is Hope Adams. Adams is a debutante with the exotic looks of her Indian mother. She learns as a young woman that she is a half-demon, and her power is detecting and feeding off of chaos (strong emotions). Not knowing how she was reading strong thoughts and being drawn to them earned her some time in a mental institution. Now she feeds the chaos as a tabloid reporter chasing down alien abduction stories and working for the interracial council of the supernatural races. She accepts an assignment that takes her to Miami to go undercover into a gang that wants to challenge the cabals. She is greatly attracted to one of the young gang members, Jaz, while still trying to deal with her strong feelings for the werewolf Karl.

After reading so many books in this terrific series, I've decided Armstrong should take as her motto, "Writing rationally about the irrational". Her plots are well thought out, and so are her characters, who mostly behave like, well, rational adults. They plan things out, yet act when they must, using all their intelligence, talents, and more. The supernatural characters all have powers, and there are consequences to those powers that are often difficult to deal with, and that shape the characters and their destinies.

The purpose of all creative writing, in my mind, is to define what it means to be human and explore its limits and strengths. Armstrong does this well in her series by showing the limits of power, and the choices that power forces on us. And along the way she is darned entertaining. Highly recommended.


Publication Spectra (2008), Mass Market Paperback, 544 pages
Publication date 2008
ISBN 0553588206 / 9780553588200