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Lucid
My name is Laec Matthews. An orphan dumped on the steps of a small church and raised by its hell-and-brimstone minister and his wife. Grew up a good kid; polite. Honest. Trustworthy. A little quiet. Conflicted. And then I found out why. Turns out I’m something that’s not supposed to exist. A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Abomination, in my father’s dictionary. Killer. Believe it or not, there are those who insist I was brought into this world to deceive the guilty and defend the innocent. Guess what I think of that idea? Yeah. I am what I am. As far as I’m concerned, that sucks about as much for me as it does for you. Too bad. Because I’m tired of hiding in the shadows. I want answers, and I’m about to bust out of my cage to get them.
- GenresFiction
ebook
First published January 1, 2012
About the author
A.J. Church
11 books16 followersAside from being an avid reader, I also write urban fantasy and dark romance books under the names A.J. Church and Aesyn Cravery.
My current projects include the urban fantasy series, The Sacrifice (written under the pen name Aesyn Cravery), and a number of dark romance standalones.
My current projects include the urban fantasy series, The Sacrifice (written under the pen name Aesyn Cravery), and a number of dark romance standalones.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 5, 2013
*I received a free copy of this book from the author through Smashwords in exchange for an honest review*
Laec was an orphan raised by a minister. Laec discovered that he was part demon and has to fight to keep that side of himself secret and under control. But now the forces of good and evil both want to use him to find a young witch about to come into her powers and the demon within might be all that keeps him alive.
I liked the concept of the story with the guy who wants to be normal having to keep his true nature secret even from his adoptive brother, and who must keep his inner beast caged for the safety of everyone. I liked the personality of his beast 'Iggy'. He was the most interesting of the characters for me and the constant battle for control between him and Laec allowed decent character development. The variety of monsters and creatures that both sides of Laec have to deal with are also fun and the action scenes are well thought out and put together. There is a decent flow to the events in the story as well. I didn't always fully connect with Laec though as he and the other characters were pretty dark. Iggy was much more fun and it was good when he was in charge of events. The book certainly improved as more action took place and the last third was by far the best.
I do have some negatives which keep this book as a 3 star. I found it over descriptive with big info dumps about things that don't really add to the story. For example, not only is there a description of every building Laec passes in every part of town, we are also told what these buildings used to be, which streets are safe and dangerous, which are seedy or not...then on the next page Laec gets to his destination and these places are never mentioned again. I felt that too much time was wasted on things that were irrelevant to the story. I get that the author was world-building but it was just too much information that I didn't need. There was also a lot of history about angels and demons battles, Laec's childhood and city history that could also have been shaved down to just the essential stuff which was Laec and his allies battling evil.
I was not a fan of the very frequent bad language in the book either. I'm far from prudish about book content as I read lots of gory horror books with lots of violence, but Laec just seemed to swear for the sake of it and I just found it a bit annoying after a while. I feel that this may have been an attempt by the author to add to his tough guy image but I didn't think that it was needed, personally. I prefer when swearing is used for effect and not as the norm.
This is a dark urban fantasy book with violence, magic and demons and it should appeal to most readers of the urban fantasy/dark fantasy genre. If you like a book with lots of gritty but grim characters and descriptive world-building then you should enjoy it.
Laec was an orphan raised by a minister. Laec discovered that he was part demon and has to fight to keep that side of himself secret and under control. But now the forces of good and evil both want to use him to find a young witch about to come into her powers and the demon within might be all that keeps him alive.
I liked the concept of the story with the guy who wants to be normal having to keep his true nature secret even from his adoptive brother, and who must keep his inner beast caged for the safety of everyone. I liked the personality of his beast 'Iggy'. He was the most interesting of the characters for me and the constant battle for control between him and Laec allowed decent character development. The variety of monsters and creatures that both sides of Laec have to deal with are also fun and the action scenes are well thought out and put together. There is a decent flow to the events in the story as well. I didn't always fully connect with Laec though as he and the other characters were pretty dark. Iggy was much more fun and it was good when he was in charge of events. The book certainly improved as more action took place and the last third was by far the best.
I do have some negatives which keep this book as a 3 star. I found it over descriptive with big info dumps about things that don't really add to the story. For example, not only is there a description of every building Laec passes in every part of town, we are also told what these buildings used to be, which streets are safe and dangerous, which are seedy or not...then on the next page Laec gets to his destination and these places are never mentioned again. I felt that too much time was wasted on things that were irrelevant to the story. I get that the author was world-building but it was just too much information that I didn't need. There was also a lot of history about angels and demons battles, Laec's childhood and city history that could also have been shaved down to just the essential stuff which was Laec and his allies battling evil.
I was not a fan of the very frequent bad language in the book either. I'm far from prudish about book content as I read lots of gory horror books with lots of violence, but Laec just seemed to swear for the sake of it and I just found it a bit annoying after a while. I feel that this may have been an attempt by the author to add to his tough guy image but I didn't think that it was needed, personally. I prefer when swearing is used for effect and not as the norm.
This is a dark urban fantasy book with violence, magic and demons and it should appeal to most readers of the urban fantasy/dark fantasy genre. If you like a book with lots of gritty but grim characters and descriptive world-building then you should enjoy it.
November 19, 2013
Firstly, the cover of this book is amazing. Alot of indie author covers are not very good so thumbs up for having a cover that would make me pick it up in a bookstore.
However I wasn't so keen on the content. For me this book was just okay, I struggled with it at times and had to force myself to keep reading in places. Laec Matthews is a half human/half demon who can switch between his two personalities. He reminded me alot of Damon from the Vampire Diaries(tv show not book!). He is genrally cynical or a psychopath, depending on which of his personalities is in residence at the time. One of the things which annoyed me about Laec is that he would go on about how he 'wasn't fucking doing it' and then he would just do it. He did this quiet alot in the book and I just wanted to shout at him, 'just walk away then!'.
I also really hated how the brother thing was handled. Ethan finds out about Laec being a demon by overhearing a conversation and from that moment hates Laec. If someone said my sister was a demon, even if I been brought up by the church. I would:
a)Not belive them
b)Wouldn't just stop having feelings for my sister.
I find it hard to belive he'd be so willing to cut Laec off like that. And Laec seens to do the same! Replaceing Ethan pretty quickly with his real brother. Like all those years of growing up meant nothing!
For me the best part of the book was when they were all on the rescue mission to save Asa. I enjoyed being in Aither and the interaction between the characters and the angels/Gods. I wished we had spent more of the book there.
Overall this book wasn't really for me so I wouldn't read the second one but if you love your paranormal creatures, especially if angels and demons are your thing, then you might enjoy this.
However I wasn't so keen on the content. For me this book was just okay, I struggled with it at times and had to force myself to keep reading in places. Laec Matthews is a half human/half demon who can switch between his two personalities. He reminded me alot of Damon from the Vampire Diaries(tv show not book!). He is genrally cynical or a psychopath, depending on which of his personalities is in residence at the time. One of the things which annoyed me about Laec is that he would go on about how he 'wasn't fucking doing it' and then he would just do it. He did this quiet alot in the book and I just wanted to shout at him, 'just walk away then!'.
I also really hated how the brother thing was handled. Ethan finds out about Laec being a demon by overhearing a conversation and from that moment hates Laec. If someone said my sister was a demon, even if I been brought up by the church. I would:
a)Not belive them
b)Wouldn't just stop having feelings for my sister.
I find it hard to belive he'd be so willing to cut Laec off like that. And Laec seens to do the same! Replaceing Ethan pretty quickly with his real brother. Like all those years of growing up meant nothing!
For me the best part of the book was when they were all on the rescue mission to save Asa. I enjoyed being in Aither and the interaction between the characters and the angels/Gods. I wished we had spent more of the book there.
Overall this book wasn't really for me so I wouldn't read the second one but if you love your paranormal creatures, especially if angels and demons are your thing, then you might enjoy this.
July 22, 2016
Laec's already got one serious problem; he's a preacher's son with a demon living inside. Laec's second problem is a bunch of folks want Iggy the demon, and the only way Laec may be able to save his brother and the rest of the world is to turn Iggy loose.
A.J. Church uses fantasy to explore the constant struggle between the ego and id. In this case, the superego is played by Laec's boss, who has more than a few secrets of his own. Laec wants to blame Iggy for his bad behavior, but as.Iggy points out, the two are far more alike than Laec wants to admit. However, Laec's belief in his father's principles has more of an affect on Iggy than he realizes.
While there's lots of action, the best parts are the internal battle between Laec and Iggy. This is one of the few books I've read where the middle is actually much better than the beginning and end. This is one of the few cases where I think the book should have been longer. The city of Erebus could have been fleshed out more, as could Laec's family relationships. All-in-all, a good afternoon read!
A.J. Church uses fantasy to explore the constant struggle between the ego and id. In this case, the superego is played by Laec's boss, who has more than a few secrets of his own. Laec wants to blame Iggy for his bad behavior, but as.Iggy points out, the two are far more alike than Laec wants to admit. However, Laec's belief in his father's principles has more of an affect on Iggy than he realizes.
While there's lots of action, the best parts are the internal battle between Laec and Iggy. This is one of the few books I've read where the middle is actually much better than the beginning and end. This is one of the few cases where I think the book should have been longer. The city of Erebus could have been fleshed out more, as could Laec's family relationships. All-in-all, a good afternoon read!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews