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Changeling #4
Demon Games
Teenage werewolf Trey is facing the most important and dangerous mission of his life. He must journey into the dark Netherworld and rescue Alexa, daughter of his vampire guardian Lucien, who is being held hostage by a powerful demon lord. But strength and courage alone are not enough to succeed - instead Trey must 'win' both their freedoms by participating in a death-match against his deadliest nemesis yet. The forces of evil are stacked against him and Trey can only be certain of one thing . . . one of them WILL die.
Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2010
9 people are currently reading
509 people want to read
About the author
Steve Feasey
17 books157 followersSteve Feasey was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, UK in 1968. From a modest background, he found escape in books, and spent much of his time in his local library. Always an avid reader, he only began writing in his late thirties, but was fortunate to land a publishing deal for his very first book, Changeling.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 6, 2024
Wątek Luciena>>>>>>>>>>
poza tym damn, te książki (jak na książki dla młodszych nastolatków) mają naprawdę git fabułę??? like serio
a poza tym kocham to jak Lucien jest dominowany przez kobiety
poza tym damn, te książki (jak na książki dla młodszych nastolatków) mają naprawdę git fabułę??? like serio
a poza tym kocham to jak Lucien jest dominowany przez kobiety
April 26, 2022
As with the second book, I feel like I'm rounding up; think of that fourth star as a comment on how much of an improvement this is after the badness of Blood Wolf.
For one, it plays to Feasey's strengths: practically the whole story is set in the Netherworld, so we get lots of weird and at times creepy descriptions and less of his bad attempts at purple prose. There is still some unnatural dialogue and other mechanical issues, but in general the prose feels like it's improved from the other books.
I also enjoyed the characters. Trey is finally starting to feel like he has a personality (and unlike the last book, it's not a stupid one), as does Alexa, to a certain extent. I still don't care about Philippa much, but she didn't overstay her welcome like in the last two books. I also liked all of the new characters, who ranged from serviceable (Molok) to actually pretty enjoyable (Shentob, Hag, Helde).
One problem with this story, near the beginning, is that we have four storylines going on at once; thankfully, they merge into 2.5 fairly quickly. Trey and Alexa have the strongest one. Lucien's is alright, though it kind of diverges from being about his vampire issues to being about Caliban pretty quickly. Caliban's half-storyline is the weakest, since it's just multiple chapters of him trying to resurrect Helde, another new villain who seems a little more interesting than he is. Not that that's hard.
Actually, another problem is how weirdly disconnected Caliban's story is from the main plot, which is the titular Demon Games. He's taken over most of the Netherworld, and Molok, the only independent sovereign left, is using the Games to either intimidate or suck up to Caliban. But...Caliban isn't there, nor does he even seem aware that the Games are going on. It kind of ties into another issue, that while we're constantly being told how scary Caliban is, he...doesn't do much. The heroes fought him in the first book, not-really-fought him in the second, while the third was completely divorced from him. Here it's all just setup.
Another odd point: it turns out that Molok was involved in the death of Trey's father, which Trey learns but...then kind of forgets about? He never mentions it again, even when listing the bad things that Molok has done to him, nor does it make their rivalry seem more personal. For that matter, it was a little odd that we learned, halfway through the book, that Trey's dad was in the Demon Games before, just because it seems like it would have come up earlier.
Molok is defeated off-screen, by Lucien and Moriel's angels. It's kind of a letdown that Trey didn't participate, but also...isn't Molok, like, really powerful? One of the four demon-lords and all that? Could they have just overthrown him at any time, without waiting for him to do something specific to piss them off? Also, is it actually a good idea to defeat Caliban's only competition for total domination of the Netherworld? I'm not sure Feasey thought the implications of this through.
The Games themselves take up surprisingly little page-time, but that's not necessarily a criticism; including a bunch more fights might have been tedious, and what we got was pretty good. Abaddon's was another creepy touch, and this book actually grappled with Trey's violent nature better than the last one, where I expected it to be the main theme.
Trey and Alexa's romance comes into focus in this book. I don't really see any reason that they should get together, except that they're the main guy and main girl, especially since they usually get separate subplots and thus haven't spent much time together on-page. But it's also not played up too much; Alexa saying that she "loves" Trey seems hyperbolic, but their interaction actually comes off as friends who just decided that they're attracted to each other enough to start dating. I hope the next book doesn't try to make them "TWU LUVS!" or anything.
All in all, a pretty flawed book that's still a big improvement over the last one and even the okayish ones preceding it. Hopefully the final volume can stick the landing.
For one, it plays to Feasey's strengths: practically the whole story is set in the Netherworld, so we get lots of weird and at times creepy descriptions and less of his bad attempts at purple prose. There is still some unnatural dialogue and other mechanical issues, but in general the prose feels like it's improved from the other books.
I also enjoyed the characters. Trey is finally starting to feel like he has a personality (and unlike the last book, it's not a stupid one), as does Alexa, to a certain extent. I still don't care about Philippa much, but she didn't overstay her welcome like in the last two books. I also liked all of the new characters, who ranged from serviceable (Molok) to actually pretty enjoyable (Shentob, Hag, Helde).
One problem with this story, near the beginning, is that we have four storylines going on at once; thankfully, they merge into 2.5 fairly quickly. Trey and Alexa have the strongest one. Lucien's is alright, though it kind of diverges from being about his vampire issues to being about Caliban pretty quickly. Caliban's half-storyline is the weakest, since it's just multiple chapters of him trying to resurrect Helde, another new villain who seems a little more interesting than he is. Not that that's hard.
Actually, another problem is how weirdly disconnected Caliban's story is from the main plot, which is the titular Demon Games. He's taken over most of the Netherworld, and Molok, the only independent sovereign left, is using the Games to either intimidate or suck up to Caliban. But...Caliban isn't there, nor does he even seem aware that the Games are going on. It kind of ties into another issue, that while we're constantly being told how scary Caliban is, he...doesn't do much. The heroes fought him in the first book, not-really-fought him in the second, while the third was completely divorced from him. Here it's all just setup.
Another odd point: it turns out that Molok was involved in the death of Trey's father, which Trey learns but...then kind of forgets about? He never mentions it again, even when listing the bad things that Molok has done to him, nor does it make their rivalry seem more personal. For that matter, it was a little odd that we learned, halfway through the book, that Trey's dad was in the Demon Games before, just because it seems like it would have come up earlier.
Molok is defeated off-screen, by Lucien and Moriel's angels. It's kind of a letdown that Trey didn't participate, but also...isn't Molok, like, really powerful? One of the four demon-lords and all that? Could they have just overthrown him at any time, without waiting for him to do something specific to piss them off? Also, is it actually a good idea to defeat Caliban's only competition for total domination of the Netherworld? I'm not sure Feasey thought the implications of this through.
The Games themselves take up surprisingly little page-time, but that's not necessarily a criticism; including a bunch more fights might have been tedious, and what we got was pretty good. Abaddon's was another creepy touch, and this book actually grappled with Trey's violent nature better than the last one, where I expected it to be the main theme.
Trey and Alexa's romance comes into focus in this book. I don't really see any reason that they should get together, except that they're the main guy and main girl, especially since they usually get separate subplots and thus haven't spent much time together on-page. But it's also not played up too much; Alexa saying that she "loves" Trey seems hyperbolic, but their interaction actually comes off as friends who just decided that they're attracted to each other enough to start dating. I hope the next book doesn't try to make them "TWU LUVS!" or anything.
All in all, a pretty flawed book that's still a big improvement over the last one and even the okayish ones preceding it. Hopefully the final volume can stick the landing.
June 26, 2024
te igrzyska to było coś dziwnie fajnego
March 25, 2017
I love the series as a whole but I found the books to have a major improvement from book 3 and on. Demon games and Blood wolf are my undecided favourites.
May 23, 2011
4-4½ stars. This book has some spoilers from the third book.
Demon Games picks up with Alexa having run off to the Netherworld with the Ashnon in search of Philippa, Lucien in search of answers as to why he’s suddenly having vampiric urges he had long ago and Trey learning about all that’s happened while he was in Canada with his uncle.
Trey, with the help of a demon named Dreck, enters the Netherworld in search of Alexa, who ends up captured by Molok, the demon who tricked Philippa into leaving the Ashnon’s sanctuary in the previous installment of the series (It may have been because he had a contract with Philippa, but I love the Ashnon!). He ends up having to fight as part of Molok’s stable in his Demon Games; a series of fights in which demons from the Netherworld battle to the death until only one is left in the final round.
Meanwhile, Lucien is trying to reign in his own demons with the help of Hag, an old sorceress. He’s also being aided by a character we met in the past in an attempt to find his brother, Caliban, who is not only systematically defeating demon lords in the Netherworld, but hatching a plan that will make him almost unstoppable.
As with each book, I liked this one even more than the last. There was action, new characters along with ones we’ve met before and we learn more about the main characters, too. There were also a couple of new developments that will have to be explored in the fifth, and what I recently found will be the last, book in the series, Zombie Dawn. I found out that the last book just came out in England and was lucky enough to have a friend coming over buy one for me. I can’t wait to read it and see how everything turns out.
Demon Games picks up with Alexa having run off to the Netherworld with the Ashnon in search of Philippa, Lucien in search of answers as to why he’s suddenly having vampiric urges he had long ago and Trey learning about all that’s happened while he was in Canada with his uncle.
Trey, with the help of a demon named Dreck, enters the Netherworld in search of Alexa, who ends up captured by Molok, the demon who tricked Philippa into leaving the Ashnon’s sanctuary in the previous installment of the series (It may have been because he had a contract with Philippa, but I love the Ashnon!). He ends up having to fight as part of Molok’s stable in his Demon Games; a series of fights in which demons from the Netherworld battle to the death until only one is left in the final round.
Meanwhile, Lucien is trying to reign in his own demons with the help of Hag, an old sorceress. He’s also being aided by a character we met in the past in an attempt to find his brother, Caliban, who is not only systematically defeating demon lords in the Netherworld, but hatching a plan that will make him almost unstoppable.
As with each book, I liked this one even more than the last. There was action, new characters along with ones we’ve met before and we learn more about the main characters, too. There were also a couple of new developments that will have to be explored in the fifth, and what I recently found will be the last, book in the series, Zombie Dawn. I found out that the last book just came out in England and was lucky enough to have a friend coming over buy one for me. I can’t wait to read it and see how everything turns out.
January 14, 2020
Jeg er målløs over, hvordan det er lykkedes endnu en gang at udvide universet her med nyskabelser og flere elementer end tidligere, uden at det virker anstrengt eller påtaget, men i stedet som en naturlig forlængelse af det univers, der er blevet skabt og stablet på benene i løbet af de foregående tre bøger i serien.
Trey kæmper stadig en kamp for at være ærlig over for sig selv og for ikke at bryde med de værdier, der står ham nær; han vil gerne være noget for dem, der betyder noget for ham, og han spiller på sine egne vilkår, men det er svært at vide, hvem faktisk kan stole på undervejs. Det er en balancegang, som Trey heldigvis kommer godt igennem her, og selvom hans færd ikke er uden problemer, når han alligevel langt hen ad vejen at få opfyldt de mål, han stiller sig selv.
Også Alexa og Lucien kæmper deres egne kampe, og mens Alexas karakter er klart defineret, og det er let at tolke, hvad baggrunden for hendes handlingsmønstre er, samt hvad hendes mål med det hun gør er, kan det være sværere med Lucien. Hans færd er mere mystisk, og vi kender endnu ikke alle svarene på, hvorfor han reagerer som han gør, eller hvad hans plan er, - det bliver spændende at se, hvor meget han har mod på at delagtiggøre andre i det, han finder ud af, og hvordan hans udvikling bliver i den sidste bog, samt hvordan det kommer til at påvirke de andre karakterer.
Desværre så vi ikke så meget til Tom i denne bog, - han har ellers en tendens til at kunne lette stemningen og være det forbillede, Trey har brug for, så man kan håbe, at vi kommer til at se mere til Tom i seriens afslutning.
Trey kæmper stadig en kamp for at være ærlig over for sig selv og for ikke at bryde med de værdier, der står ham nær; han vil gerne være noget for dem, der betyder noget for ham, og han spiller på sine egne vilkår, men det er svært at vide, hvem faktisk kan stole på undervejs. Det er en balancegang, som Trey heldigvis kommer godt igennem her, og selvom hans færd ikke er uden problemer, når han alligevel langt hen ad vejen at få opfyldt de mål, han stiller sig selv.
Også Alexa og Lucien kæmper deres egne kampe, og mens Alexas karakter er klart defineret, og det er let at tolke, hvad baggrunden for hendes handlingsmønstre er, samt hvad hendes mål med det hun gør er, kan det være sværere med Lucien. Hans færd er mere mystisk, og vi kender endnu ikke alle svarene på, hvorfor han reagerer som han gør, eller hvad hans plan er, - det bliver spændende at se, hvor meget han har mod på at delagtiggøre andre i det, han finder ud af, og hvordan hans udvikling bliver i den sidste bog, samt hvordan det kommer til at påvirke de andre karakterer.
Desværre så vi ikke så meget til Tom i denne bog, - han har ellers en tendens til at kunne lette stemningen og være det forbillede, Trey har brug for, så man kan håbe, at vi kommer til at se mere til Tom i seriens afslutning.
June 23, 2015
A bit tired of the whole vampire/werewolf/demon thing I only picked this up because it was the first book to hand on my TBR pile. Glad that I did pick it up, Demon Games proved itself to be possibly the best 'supernatural' novel that I'd read in quite a while.
Tremendous creatures - many of which I'd never come across before- and plenty of them. I really enjoyed teen hero, Trey. Quietly refreshing, there was none of the smouldering sexiness, the power play, that seem to be the basis of so many lycanthrope novels.
Wonderful world-building. Just enough that you get a real sense of the place, not too lengthy that the story became bogged down by details.
Humorous.
Plenty of action and yet not so much that it distracted from other aspects of the plot and because its target market is young adults gruesome enough without being too graphic.
A hint of a romance.
There really are lots of things to recommend Demon Games.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
Tremendous creatures - many of which I'd never come across before- and plenty of them. I really enjoyed teen hero, Trey. Quietly refreshing, there was none of the smouldering sexiness, the power play, that seem to be the basis of so many lycanthrope novels.
Wonderful world-building. Just enough that you get a real sense of the place, not too lengthy that the story became bogged down by details.
Humorous.
Plenty of action and yet not so much that it distracted from other aspects of the plot and because its target market is young adults gruesome enough without being too graphic.
A hint of a romance.
There really are lots of things to recommend Demon Games.
Copyright: Tracy Terry @ Pen and Paper.
December 6, 2010
Another cracking story in this brilliant series of books. I'm looking forward to the next book, I can't wait to see what happens, I hope Trey and co manage to defeat Caliban.
January 1, 2012
Kinda boring. I liked the first couple books of this series, but when I got to this book, it almost immendiately got boring and I lost interest in it soon after
December 22, 2011
This book was a lot harder to get in to then the rest of the books. But once you got in to the book it was another great edition to the series. Cant wait to read the next one!
November 3, 2015
IT was pretty good but sometimes it dragged out but only for a few minutes, I suggest you read it if you are FABULOUS
July 8, 2016
i LOVED IT! Very exited when he went through to the nether. It is a must read in the changeling series.
March 22, 2017
Pretty good
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews