Demons

The Ravyn #1

by Natalie Kiest

Demons, the first book in The Ravyn Series, follows Ravyn, a brutal and uncompromising heroine and Kara, an innocent, bubbly young woman who happens to be a powerful witch. Opposites definitely attract, argue, and drive each other absolutely crazy when their worlds collide. What would you do if you found out you were half demon? Seventeen year old Ravyn didn’t ignore it, she embraced it. Now, at the age of twenty-three, Ravyn is one of the most feared demons in existence and a merciless assassin. When the Prophets deem Ravyn’s only childhood friend, Kara, a dangerous threat, they fail to see Kara’s life means far more to Ravyn than anything in this world. Ravyn must fight those who wish to protect the prophecy and those who wish to stop it from coming to fruition. But Ravyn has never backed down from a fight and refuses to give up on Kara no matter how horrible the odds. Ravyn never expected her human emotions to be switched back on and that’s exactly what happened when Kara re-entered her life. Fear and guilt quickly consume Ravyn while she struggles between becoming the caring friend Kara once knew and providing the much needed deadly protection. Dark secrets are revealed, friendships are betrayed, and love is tested to the breaking point.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Lesbian, Paranormal, Fantasy, LGBT, Romance, Demons

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2014

Reviews

[XR · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an odd one. There was a lot happening without the whys nor hows... and for two characters to care so deeply for one another, there's a heck of a lot of animosity between Ravyn and Kara. It got really annoying.

I'm not sure if I'll read the second book... but I'm curious to see if it gets better and also curious to see what happens next, but I'll have to think about it first.

[Ibri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well it was okay. But a few things: If everyone is super good looking it kinda loses its meaning.
One of the main characters is supposedly a fairly powerful witch, we see her powers in a flashback and in a single scene in the middle of the book where she only uses them to prevent Ravyn from leaving the room. The next time she tries she is somewhere where she can't use her powers.
I think her actually using her abilities from time to time would have been more interesting. If she doesn't do anything to protect herself with them (which would have been nice, if all you need is a damsel in distress who doesn't do anything then don't give her magic) then at least let her do something. Give her some role beside someone for Revyn to protect and have sex with.

I don't really buy the way the last fight ended. She is half dead and still manages that without him doing anything against it?


Also, the demons are for much of the time just violent super powered humans. I know that is often the case with everything intelligent non human that is a significant character in a story, few authors can pull of non human characters which don't feel like human but can still interact with the human characters. So I don't really mind that but it is often nice when it isn't the case.

And some other things but I am not really interested in making a complete list.

(Btw what the hell was Remis plan? Okay torture the new lover of your ex - crazy and stupid but okay. But getting anywhere near Revyn at the end was just fucking stupid. Also Astaroth letting all his people die before joining in was pretty stupid too.)

[Ted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here we've gotten something I think is quite unique in the paranormal romance universe. First off, this isn't fracking Twilight. Stupid vamps don't twinkle in the sunlight and breathlessly ask the protagonist to tell them what they are.

This isn't unicorns and rainbows. It's magecraft, demons, fallen angels. It's white/grey/dark.... And it's fracking brilliant.

The main characters are fully developed. They're oozing with badassary. Their emotionally vulnerable, while almost an unstoppable team together. In a nutshell they're real. Believable. And you really root for them. Which speaks to the depth of writing by miss Natalie.

While I won't get spoilery, the ending ruffled my feathers a bit. But that only made me wanting to snatch up book 2 (which is still under keyboard atm).

Would I recommend it to others in this genre? Heck to the frickin yea I would. But I'd warn my twilight friends just the same.

[Fae · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if I should hate or love the author. My thought stuck in the middle and I decided to rate it 2.5 (if only the rating isn't just 1-5).
There are just so many characters that I am extremely loathe in this story.

Both of the main characters are really infuriating.
Ravyn complains about Kara's crankiness while she is cranky herself, and her cockiness doesn't help her character either. I am very disappointed with most of her decisions, especially the ending. However, I love it when she tortured those that totally deserved the pain (I don't think it's an evil trait, revenge is just sweet that way. She is only evil if she harms another person for no justify reason, in which she didn't).
Kara is the very definition of a damsel in distress. I wondered why the author even made her a witch in the first place. Her power is useless throughout the entire story. Beside using it to control Ravyn's inner demon, she might as well be a normal human.
The dynamic between these two characters are too fragile. They are constantly in an argument against one another. I could only see their love at about 3/4 of the story. The rest is pretty much lust, little irritating arguments, and annoying remarks toward one another.

Now I'm beginning to wonder why I even rate this 2.5 stars. To be honest, I did enjoyed the whole concept of the book, some of Kara and Ravyn's moments did put a smile to my face, although little. The rest? It just one big jumble of conflicts out of nowhere and straightforward, no plan nor strategy involved, no twist, no lesson learned, no anything. Oh...I don't even know why chapter 23 of the book labels "happy ending" while it is anything but "happy".

I don't even think it's a romance. The romance is too weak compares to the dread, violent, and angst in this story. Near the end, everything that happened is very repulsive and depressing. Honestly, I just want to skim the pages, waiting for it to finish fast. After I finished the book, I don't even know what's the moral or motif in this story. I wouldn't complain if the ending is good, but it is not, it only have a bitter sweet taste in my mouth.

Extra thought:

Most of the villains in this book died a stupid deaths. Look at Gabriel, Remy, and Dagan.


Dagan is stupid, pointing a sword behind Ravyn to have her kill him just like that. What's the point of even sneaking up on her if he just gonna say "you will need these" ? Yeah, he's dumb enough to even bring the key to free Kara...

Then Remy, okay, she is a woman in love and totally consumes by jealously. However, her death is way way way stupid, instead of go into hiding, she just stood there with a grin in her face, then screamed when Ravyn approached and tortured her...wtf I don't even.

It's obvious why Gabriel's death is stupid. If he cares about his lover's safety, why don't he spill the information when Ravyn threatening him and torturing both his lover and him? I have no sympathy for Gabriel. He only confessed the truth when he saw his girlfriend almost orgasm by his enemy, he didn't confess when Ravyn was torturing her. That's tell me he cares more about his ego than the well-being of his lover. He remained as a sad existence throughout the entire book.

As for Astoroth, it's like he has no plan at all for his evil deed. Until his death, his motive is either unclear or ridiculous. Every of his actions scream unnecessary, and it only serves to trigger the anger from the readers.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting concept & great read

I purchased the book merely because of the description on Amazon. Being a life long Catholic, I found it very interesting how they paid demons to kill the evil in the world. It went far beyond my expectations. Ravyn is your usual tough warrior you expect in this genre. Kara behaved like she was a teenager & Ravyn wasn't any better. With that said, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it with how disappointed I was in Ravyn's behavior with Kara at the end of the book. Fallen Angels should be quite a page turner if it is anything like this book.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the idea behind this book. The characters where strong and made me want to know more about them. My main problem was with the flow of the story. The story jumps back and forth from the two main characters point of view and the story has lots of slow moving sections followed by a sprint only to return back to a snails pace. I will be giving the next book in the series a try just based on the strength of the idea behind the book.

[Philisha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Couldn't put it down. I've read my share of paranormal books and this has definitely made an impact. It was dark and that's p probably one of the main things I enjoyed about it, but there were definite times where I didn't want to continue reading. All in all, I'm excited for the next book.

[Pauline allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well

I can't believe I made it to the end. Very few books hold my attention because of pure weirdness. The plot kept spinning in circles and lost me hear and there. Great ideas wrong why to show them together.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adored this book! Cant wait for the next!!!

[B.L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story.