Demon Hero

Dark Fae Hollows #1

by Jae Vogel

What if your whole life has been a lie?

Cora’s Hollow is under threat of social disruption. The signs are written all over the buildings and the faces of its people.

The Fae have been pushed into hiding. Fear of magic has been the strongest propaganda tool offered by the human government. Whether or not the people believe is of little importance. A divided public is the easiest public to control. 

Follow the story of a Freedom Fighter, a Bartender, and a Veteran as they discover their love for one another and fight against the endemic social war with little hope to survive.

DEMON HERO is a standalone contribution to the Charmed Legacy Dark Fae Hollows collection. Stories can be read in any order. To learn more, visit CharmedLegacy.com


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For a limited time, additional Urban Fantasy novels are included in this ebook for your enjoyment. Don't miss out - grab your copy today!

Genres: Paranormal, Magic, Fae

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2017

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange. Slow to get started but it was difficult for me to put it down near the last third.
The ending was also rather abrupt, and very dissatisfying for that. This is a stand-alone entry in this series, which I assume means no future installments and no resolution to Demon Hero’s overarching conflict. Frustrating.

[Damian Southam · Rating 4 out of 5]

DETAILS:

Demon Hero is written by Jae Vogel and it's not the first standalone novel in a new multi-author series called Charmed Legacy I: Dark Fae Hollows Collection. Demon Hero is roughly 54,430 words long, and has the bold description heading: What if your whole life has been a lie? A series website and Amazon author page can be located by using Charmed Legacy as search terms (Amazon link below). Jae's book was absent from the Amazon page at the time I wrote this review, which I believe to be associated with the fact that it wasn't offered as a preorder purchase (which is a heads-up for other things you search for on Amazon). Book two is currently absent from both locations, but books three, four and eight can be preordered/purchased via Amazon's Charmed Legacy Page.

Angel Blood - The Fallen Chronicles Book 1 is another publication by Jae that I've reviewed (see link below). Jae also wrote a further novel I do own and have every intention of reviewing, which is called Fallen Angel. It's currently available as one of the twenty-one novels in the Legends of the Damned Boxed Set: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels; making it a no-brainer in terms of whether you should seek it out. On the whole, Jae's publications appear to be a blending of urban fantasy and paranormal romance and there's more than just those I've listed (see her author page below).

Author Page - https://www.amazon.com/Jae-Vogel/e/B0...
Series Page - https://www.amazon.com/Charmed-Legacy...
Review - https://www.amazon.com.au/review/R9VQ...
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INTRODUCTION - THE STORY:

Fear and propaganda about magic has pushed the Fae into hiding and is yet another cause of social division. A reflective locale for examining the burgeoning social problems in the wider populace is in the anarchy being facilitated in Cora's Hollow through officiating government initiatives in corrupted media representations. Fear is tool used to create the backbone of greater social control by responsible parties. Fearful divided populations are far more able to be controlled than cohesive larger groups where indifference is absent. Armed response teams that pursue the Fae in the wake of any advised conflict, violent or otherwise, have made visible law enforcement appear as urban warfare forces as though such overzealous military hardware and bioweaponry is necessary.

Between the standard responses of militarised law enforcement using genetically engineered darts and gas grenades filled with the same "medicine", the official aims of governments is therefore called Naturalisation. This new but long planned banner aims at giving the public an impression of a medical response to the abnormalities of Fae existence and magic, instead of the correct one which is conducive to "armed and deadly" deployment of police as soldiers instead of peacekeepers. The administration of a vaccine or antidote Fae sickness, which is a diabolical agent capable of genetic manipulation and "correction" that seeks to remake the Fae in the image of the only natural form deemed legitimate on Earth, that is: the human one.

In the places where conflict breaks out, where the Fae are provoked into protecting themselves from aggression fueled by fear, it is no longer enough that the Fae must suppress what makes them who they are. Now they face death or irreparable alteration of their "unnatural" physiology in addition to a life of incarceration. The Fae have lived in the shadows and curbed their needs for the better part of recorded human histories, and now they've become the ace in the hand of governmental desires to move ahead with public control initiatives under the guise of the fear they escalate and the projection a medical treatment instead of a violent one. Unable to see their way clear of the charade and into their future, humans fail to consider the number one fundamental realisation: what happens to all that urban pacification once the Fae are pacified or eradicated, and the givernments and policy makers wish to avoid a wastage of all the resources and money it took to raise such an option?

Who do they think will become the next target when there are no longer any Fae to hunt; or don't they think at all? With little hope of survival as the magical beings they've been for eons before humans learnt to fear them en masse, at the frontline as a miniaturised setting of the wider maelstrom is Cora's Hollow. Here, the life stories of Talon the Freedom Fighter, Verdant (Vee) the Bartender, and Sol the Veteran bar owner seemingly human, their friendship, history, desires, and interactions make their fight the perfect example of the issues endemic of the brewing social war at an international level.

At the bar Sol owns and where Vee bartenders, Talon is present and in waiting at his customary table in the far corner of the room. He's been frequenting where invested humans drink and make inflammatory jibes about how they'd love to sodomise the next female Faerie they catch; for he knows what both Sol and Vee hold deep down inside of them. Talon's the match the Fae have been secretly awaiting to spark events that'll put all three characters front and centre of a war just days away, and he knows good fighters when he sees them and recognises and had experiences with.
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OPINION:

The shortsightedness of humans when it comes to the affairs of group prejudice, favouritism, and inter-relations is a long proven weakness. In smaller populations like those found in the rest of the animal kingdom the effects are even more devastating. The adage of competition providing the context where the only the strongest survive is correct up to a point, but only where a vacuum exists that makes all other things equal, then the strongest does prove beneficial for genetic development of a species. If land and resources with equality of access occurs outside of individual factors, then the biological determinant of only the strongest surviving does influence attributes and abilities developed in subsequent generations that become better adapted to the environment. But with industrialisation of the environment and means of production, combined with unsustainable population growth, Darwin's accuracy continues to dwindle.

We now live in environments where non-biological determinants have the lion's share and then some, the portion of access to survival resources, never more so than in the case of humans. Biology has continued to decline in its ability to determine how human gene pools benefit and respond to the environment and competition to facilitate a rising of the strongest alleles in our double helix. It's perhaps amongst the smallest contributing factor to the long-term development that the aforementioned adage deals with. Our social environment now determines the greatest number of factors and it has reaper from the animal kingdom their abilities too.

The rates of extinction is a never more verifiable reminder, including both flora and fauna. In world environments where the means of production we foster, the economy instead of resources, and our growing inability to curb population growth has outstripped the natural environment's determination altogether, then access to resources within the paradigm of biological determination has been replaced by group demographics in relation to economical, religious, and political determination. We as a species aren't subject to the Darwinian concept that the 'haves' like to throw out there in support of their stance that of the strongest surviving.

Such arguments in modern times can be: only the richest survive; only those in the dominant ethnicity survive; only those left over from wars over access to crude resources and commodities survive; or any number of only's that have everything to do with the artificial things we have created and nothing to do with biology versus resources are the factors that determine who survives and for how long they survive. The human species portrays a utopian world where every single person can be what they want if they work hard enough for it, whilst for the greatest number of determinants it comes down to group offiliation and not hard work and perseverance; it's only within those groups that the latter idiosyncratic variables matter.

You might ask then what this has to do with the plot, or for that matter any other plots dealing in magical prejudice, to which I'd suggest that you can consider it such a fundamental aspect of our psyches that in every plot ever written about magical races in comparison to humans there's an underlying theme that relates to prejudice based on group offiliations. The fundamental flaw has very poignant themes hidden in the storyline that if you observe the interactions then you can substitute the word Fae with other victimised types in our real lives, such as: the Indigenous; the females; the gay and lesbian; the sick and the elderly; the mentally ill; the ethnics; the religious in denominations unacceptable to the major faiths; the disabled; the poor; the homeless; the unemployed; the people who drink or consume other types of drugs; and so on and so forth.

Throughout history there's been as many oppressed groups as there are labels used to define groups different to the dominant ones. The coming out of proverbial closets has distinctly had the flavours of conflict and bloodshed and thankfully in some cases it has led to shame and reparation, but not nearly in enough cases. Conflict predates the coming out, takes place during the coming out, and goes on long after the coming out has been openly established; wherein some of the most unfortunate cases that conflict leads to a returning of the closet. Oftentimes, conflict and bloodshed only halts for as long as it takes to either move to alternate groups, or to a single group big enough to attract our attention. It's not only law breakers with repeated propensity for violence, they aren't even the greatest number. It's instead law abiding citizens until and after laws are written to protect the victims from their violence and to abolish archaic laws that supported that violence (such as for gender or ethicity).

We are unequivocally not a forgiving species, by sheer fact of the nature of our labelling in the first instance; which is to say that we invent things that marginalised groups should suppose to be forgiven for! It's our indifference that created the oppression, and which expects responsible victims to ask for our forgiveness, as if only forgiveness can be the resolving measure. It is the dominant group who labelled the difference, and I'd therefore ask who is the rightful group who should be asking for versus the one doing the forgiving. The two concepts are unequivocally part of the two opposing sides. In nearly all cases the people doing the forgiving should be the ones asking for forgiveness.

The Fae in this story are just one more thing that's been shoved into the closet by public outcry backed up by laws and conventions. The most difficult and neglected dimensions are those that deal with differentiating which came first: the need for laws and conventions versus the outcry from an actual danger existing, and which one precipitates the other. Whether or not the author, or any authors who write about conflict between magical folk and humans are seeking to make said points about the human psyche as an intentional effort is redundant; that it occurs unavoidably in nearly every story only goes to show that the propensity permeates our very nature, regardless of voices who shout out about liberation groups and ideals in argument with those making the point salient.

Jae's economical choice of words and her delivery of those words is succinct and outlines the sequences of scenes and narration quickly and with purpose. It has the benefit of not missing out on necessary explanation without going so far as to describe redundant or word filling narration; plot and world building don't necessarily require x-number of words as long as those used do the job well. It also works rather well at making the action must faster in appearance. Without any noticeable gaps in building up the story, or detectable intensions to make delivery in a minimalistic fashion, the style of writing simply lends support to a fast-paced journey from a to z. Having not read enough of Jae's writing to say whether this is a regular trademark is certainly the case, but I can nonetheless identify it as a positive aspect.

A sense of internalisation and introspection engulfs the psyches of Jae's leading ladies as though she herself is an old-hand at doing so, or knew intimately someone who is or was. People on the whole seem to predominantly be governed by one of two different and distinct methods of examining their environment in respect of the things they do to it, or it does to them. On the one hand there's those who externalise and on the other those who internalise. It's not so much that either don't swap and interchange, or aren't capable of doing both, it's more that in regards to specific equations about events where a + b = c, for a respective set of events, then in the cases of where c occurs said people have a tendency to always either internalise, or externalise, as whatever the case may be.

If you were to look at all the equations assigned to one piece of paper where internalisation occurs when compared with the paper where externalisation does instead, then I think you'll find for the most part that people find one stack of papers much thicker than the other; hence the propensity to do one more than the other. Of the leading ladies in the two Jae Vogel novels I've read, these leading ladies struggle with and do internalise more than externalise; which like in the case of all tendencies seen in a multitude of characters across different books by the one author you find yourself wondering if those traits are projections by their creators, as they often are. Vee is a character that inevitably tries to find or focuses upon her role first. After internal debate she may rest on the acceptance that external factors are to blame, but first she is self-critical over her roles, accurately or otherwise.

Vee is a girl doing what she has to to survive. Guilt over harming struggles with any motivation to do so by circumstances and a lack of choices. She has a fundamentaland dire wish for acceptance, a long forgotten concept if ever it has been known. She's rather uniquely positioned to reveal to all sides willing to stop long enough to look and listen, how what they do, think, and feel in response to control shapes the very air they breathe. Talon is sick and tired of humans taking from him and his people, ruining the potential for what it is that makes them Fae. He's a charismatic leader who believes he's been forced into becoming the very thing he hates most. Sol is a veteran scarred beyond measure by his desire to serve his country and to fight for something meaningful, even though until recently he relied upon others to tell him what that is. A man far altered physically and psychologically by government officials he's uniquely positioned to interpret the writing between the lines, and just how sinister unsaid intentions can be. The trio make an excellent choice for the purposes of what their different environments ask of them.

A minor theme exposed when Angel Blood and Demon Hero are combined on an existential level that reveals nicities, restraint, acceptable values and behaviour, and cultural and gendered differences in what can be summed up as the experience of sex and the existence of the sex industry. There's a definitive quality that strikes me from the inference available that Jae's characters have the wonderfully complex natures like those of living people and she has the capacities to bring life to them in such ways. A hallmark of characters who seem more than the fictitious and artificial pages they appear on, are the aspects that make them more lifelike than the oftentimes fantastical paradigms they bring to life. The wonder of the stories and worlds of fantasies are often more widely well received if there's aspects that make them down to earth in critical dimensions, especially when considering acceptance and appreciation by readers who aren't necessarily fans of fantasy or science fiction.

Apart from a small lull in action there's plentiful to be enjoyed and the story is fast paced irrespective of whether action is taking place. It defines and explores the premise well and doesn't leave stones unturned, save perhaps a little in relation to the ending: which whilst the final confrontation was a good length and detailed, the end that came after that resolution feels a bit abrupt. As the books of this series are defined as standalone and given further titles aren't available to explore in relation to comprehending this aspect, I'm undecided on whether it's a critical component of my opinion or a factor of the consideration that more books are to follow. Given the preceding statement about being independent titles I do find it detracts from the 4.5 stars I would've gone with, making a 4 star rating as my final judgement. Still, that makes it a great book to read and one well worth the investment, tangible and intangible both.

[Shubhra Joshi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Omg it was so depressing … wtf was that lady doing
She was so confused and idiotic that I wanted to slap her. She goes with Talon then goes with Sol then wants to give herself up then gives up the fae plot to the police ( who are by all accounts aware of it ) and the dialogue!!!!!!! what utter rubbish
It’s like I read what she says and then read it again because I can’t believe the things that come out of her mouth. Literally there was a lack of thought that translates. For eg

“The real enemy was not the oppressive state and all its xenophobic trappings. The enemy wasn’t even the police with their brutish devotion toward enforcement of whatever public policy deemed the ruling paradigm of the day.  
…..
….
….”

The real problem was the l
While they try to escape to the wilderness 2 kids ( 11 yo) were stopped by the police and this lady
This is the scene that follows when the kids are stopped and treated as second class citizens because the police think they are fae
“You don’t get it… We are the problem.”  
I was out of my mind. Some part of me wanted to fly down and take the shameful treatment that the officer was giving those two children. After all, I was the catalyst for everything terrible that was happening here. I was at the bar when this started. I’d initiated the aggression against those people… they were only drunk and expressing their opinions.”
Their opinion being that fae women ought to be raped …

In another part …
Charles the guy who took pics and blew up her identity as fae is watching hardcore fae porn and ‘ “One look around this man’s apartment, and all traces of contempt were washed away by a deluge of pity and despair.”

So she pities the guy who is watching fae porn and trusts him to get the message of ‘unity ‘ out to the masses ????
What ?
It’s such an idiotic book that I keep thinking it’s referencing something else
Perhaps black and white relations in America
Or the Israel and Palestine relations
In any case the monologue is stupid and doesn’t fit the narrative of the book which is mostly about fae and human relationship
As I reached the end of the book the conflict was resolved by the people coming together when they say the astral projection of their city with physic damage caused due to fighting each other and the
hate was scarring the city.
The humans saw and then came together so the army didn’t kill them all !!!
The end !!
Phew I am glad it was only short story
I don’t think I would have been able to finish it if it was a longer

[Mary Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 60%

I got to 60% and just had to stop. This girl was so stupid and wow, no other way I can put it. So she runs off and has sex with a rebel leader then the next day she sneaks out to run back into danger, then when he saves her she tells him he's dead to her. Then she hears a plot to neutralize all fae and she decides to run off into s the wilderness with the nice guy who had been her boss for 2 years that she now wants to bang. They find the town surrounded so her answer is the only way to stop the war is to give up the fae and let the evil government know that the fae are going to be staging an attack that it looks like they are already prepared for. This will end up with her neutralized and locked up for life, along with all the other fae that just want their freedom to be themselves! I can't even begin to understand her mind. As if all this wasn't enough, her constant internal and verbal dialog was off putting, nonsensical and then died to sound super intelligent, but instead came across as a confused person who didn't really understand the meanings of the words she was using. If was a struggle to read this and try to understand what the character was trying to say. After the last stupid decisions I read, I just had to quit. This was one awful story. It was a really bad decision to make this the first in this series because even though I know other books are by other authors, I just have no desire to read them. This boom just turned me off to the series as a whole.

[Ksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 Stars

For an introduction to Jae Vogel's writing, I was rather happy with the result. Her characters are multifaceted, and are able to change throughout the novel. Readers are able to create their own opinions on each character.

I will admit that I found the amount of dialogue in some chapters to be a bit much. There were pages of nothing but dialogue; no action or descriptions of any kind. For me, this tends to slow the novel down for me. That has to do with how... unrealistic it can be. I realize people talk a lot, but in real conversations, you can notice how people move, or a change in scenery or the mood in general. I'd like to see that translated into some of her dialogues.

But the plot was an intriguing one. We all know about magical creatures hiding from humans, and the added plot of humans wanting a mass genocide gave it a more war-like feel. Overall, I can't wait to read more in this series.

Disclaimer: I received am ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review

[Heather Quarnstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read that has the feel of high fantasy

This book started a little slow for me. It took a bit for me to warm to the character and understand what exactly was going on. Once I did though I was blown away. The depth of the characterization was amazing. The themes that this book dealt with were incredibly deep and the story itself was deeply moving to me. I was truly hooked and couldn't put my kindle down. I was so into the book that I was falling asleep reading while dropping my phone on my face.

The bottom line is that this book is a fantastic must read from a great author. I can't wait for the next book to come out.

This book was given to me as an advance review copy at no charge. I voluntarily chose to review this book.

[Jennifer Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on Fae/Human relations. So much strife, loss and oppression. Vee is a Fae hiding because humans want to end the species. Talon outs her at the bar she works at & she finds out the guy who owns the bar is a genetically altered soldier. Chaos ensues and they are on the run.

Want to know how it ends? Read it!

Well written with characters that jump out at you.

I read this book as an Advanced reader copy.

[Patty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, the description of the series looked pretty promising. But this book was too confusing! The dialogue didnt mesh well, the abrupt ending left me with all sorts of questions. Questions that I dont think will be answered in the rest since this a stand alone to the series. Dont know if I'll be continue reading the rest of the books

[Suz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly this book was hard to finish and I was not exactly impressed with it. It was a lot like a behind the scenes war documentary that really wasn’t interesting. I got hung up on a good bit of the incessant political terminology which just didn’t sit well with the “fantasy” genre. There were some good parts, but they mostly got lost among the multiple uses of the “f” word.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. I would have never guess the ending. This is a must read ! The characters are great and the story is just the fantasy we all need to step away from reality! The realization that some books are so close to reality only if you think about them after the fact.

[Heather Rizkallah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved

The fae have always been a favorite for me, by to see them fighting to unite to fight the government makes for a good read. Prepare for war

[Airwreckah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophical monologuing was too dense. Bogged down my interest and the sex was not enough to perk my interest in the characters enough to contiue the last third.

[T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a confusing read for me, I think it's the writer's style, rather than an overall dislike of the story. Some of the scenes seemed unclear, then they segued awkwardly. I especially had a hard time following Vee's switching back and forth between Sol--who seemed like a nice guy, and Talon, a manipulative ass. She changed her mind too often for me to sympathize with her character. The book goes to 16 percent, after which there was a lot of other stories added. The price was good for what you got, but I was done after this one story.