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Demon's Dance
Desire roused the demon within him...Wanting to live freely as a human, half-incubus Tristan flees the Wardens. Broke and starving, he accepts Cory's offer of a paid photo shoot, never dreaming he'd find a man with whom he could be aroused and erotic in his own body without having to submit to his demonic half.Psychically sensitive Cory didn't meet Tristan by accident; he volunteered to find the beautiful, exotic man for his patron. Cory had never before been able to touch a man without discomfort and soon can't stop, but the hotter the sex gets, the more he can sense the darkness Tristan is trying desperately to escape. Cory will do anything to keep Tristan safe, even if it means going against both his patron and the Wardens. Cory must learn how to soothe the demon-and to love the man within. 42,800 words
132 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2010
2 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Evey Brett
32 books15 followersEvey Brett lives in southern Arizona at the behest of her Lipizzan mare, Carrma, who forces Evey to do terrible things like take her for walks and rides and feed her copious amounts of carrots and horse cookies. When not serving her equine mistress, Evey has attended workshops such as Clarion, Taos Toolbox, the Lambda Literary Retreat for Emerging LGBT Writers, and earned an MA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.
Evey also writes queer SF/F as Nica Berry.
Evey also writes queer SF/F as Nica Berry.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 9, 2011
There is a thin line between horny and sicko
humm... I'll be gentle explaining why I didn't enjoy this book
Cory, the main character is a slut, a whore, and will became a pimp.
Yes, that's the most gentle way to say what I think.
The Idea
Is very good... and certainly reading the blurb I was so excited about this release that I specific ask for Carina Press to have the pleasure of read and review this book. Half succubus used to please humans, and humans with special ability taking care of them... very great idea, and certainly would be terrific, if the book was only about Tristan. A possibility could be an atomic bomb killing everyone but him... that would save the book.
Ok, cutting the crap, why this book is not good?
More explanation in the Spoiler
Sorry... I can't go on... I just don't know what to pick, from the so many things I hate. I just gave as example why I don't appreciate this book.
It's a very personal opinion. I loved Tristan and the demons topic, but everything was so wrong... don't like this book, and can't recommend it.
so 1 star... i didn't like it.
August 5, 2011
It’s rare for me to bother reviewing a book I found disappointing, but this one warranted getting up on the ol’ soapbox for. As a number of previous reviewers point out, the premise is excellent. However, like many people who wade into the precarious waters of ‘moral ambiguity,’ the author completely tripped up on the follow-through.
The trick to writing moral ambiguity successfully, is to portray a character acting with nobility under less than noble circumstances – i.e. objectively admirable characteristics have to shine through in the character’s attitude and/or behaviour at some point in the story. Usually, this means self-denial in favour of a greater good, which in this case is simply not displayed by anyone other than Filipe Blanco, the chief warden (supporting character).
The predominant failure of this story, is that the author relies on the circumstantial themes of ‘loneliness’ and ‘abuse’ to try and win sympathy for her protagonists, but once the surface of unfortunate experience is scratched, all we see from both Tristan and Corry is passive, reactive, almost parasitic self-interest, heaps of self-pity, misplaced blame and an utter lack of drive to overcome challenges in a responsible way.
[Spoiler alert]
In fact, if not for Blanco, Corry would still be breaking public indecency laws in Balboa Park and Tristan would still be suffering under the control of his personal warden, Laurence.
Corry witnesses Blanco’s execution of Laurence for his abuse of Tristan in the park at night and takes pictures with FINANCIAL GAIN at the forefront of his mind. He is caught and confronted by Blanco, but is perfectly happy to let what he believes to be cold-blooded murder slide in exchange for money and a sexual favour . Tristan clings to Corry, because Corry is there, end of story.
In short: Corry doesn’t act unless its for personal gain; Tristan doesn’t act at all.
Even the relationship between the pair is clearly skewed along these themes: Corry pursues Tristan on Blanco’s behest (backed by substantial financial incentive) and believes himself to be ‘in love’ on no basis other than that Tristan pleases him sexually. Corry senses that there is something abnormal about Tristan, yet makes no effort to discover what is wrong with him, to question Blanco’s motives or really to do anything that would threaten his cushy status quo. He is quite content to whine and complain, but there is no attempt to DO anything about what he perceives to be wrong. Even claiming to be ‘in love’ with Tristan, he makes no effort to forewarn him of Blanco’s role in their meeting or even simply to question Tristan on his association with the man – ignorance, to Corry, truly is bliss.
The author makes a superficial attempt to portray the ‘development’ of this so-called relationship, but once the layers are peeled back, there’s really nothing deeper at play than gratification of hedonistic needs for Corry and self-indulgent martyrdom for Tristan.
Blanco keeps proclaiming that Tristan is ‘strong’ and ‘more in control than other cambions’ and that he is somehow ‘special,’ but none of these assertions are supported by his choices or behaviour. Tristan was betrayed and abused, which is sad, but his reaction to that abuse, once freed from it is to (a) evade dealing with it, (b) to remain a ‘victim’ by (for no persuasive reason) ‘punishing’ Blanco for his own suffering, petulantly refusing to accept assistance, choosing instead to live in squalor on the streets, and (c) being perfectly aware of the danger to others should he lose control of his demon, yet actively making the decision not to take his medication.
Laurence is a despicable character engendering no sympathy and one way in which Tristan may have been redeemed would be if he’d acted independently in freeing himself of Laurence’s control, but even his ‘defiance’ is guided and enabled by Blanco’s actions. There is no indication that he makes even a cursory attempt at an independent existence – not even by something as banal as prostitution, which according to the premise should come naturally to him. In fact, the only activity he actively engages in is self-pity and proclaiming his hatred of Blanco and the enclave, which on objective evaluation really doesn’t make sense beyond the abuse suffered under Laurence’s hand – i.e. Tristan is defined by his abuse and not very much inclined to change that.
In summary, both Tristan and Corry are self-absorbed, immature and reactive to the extreme and really not characters I enjoyed ‘getting to know’ at all. A far more compelling story would probably have been that of Blanco and his cambion Marco, though sadly, like everything else of substance in this book, this relationship is relegated to window-dressing.
The trick to writing moral ambiguity successfully, is to portray a character acting with nobility under less than noble circumstances – i.e. objectively admirable characteristics have to shine through in the character’s attitude and/or behaviour at some point in the story. Usually, this means self-denial in favour of a greater good, which in this case is simply not displayed by anyone other than Filipe Blanco, the chief warden (supporting character).
The predominant failure of this story, is that the author relies on the circumstantial themes of ‘loneliness’ and ‘abuse’ to try and win sympathy for her protagonists, but once the surface of unfortunate experience is scratched, all we see from both Tristan and Corry is passive, reactive, almost parasitic self-interest, heaps of self-pity, misplaced blame and an utter lack of drive to overcome challenges in a responsible way.
[Spoiler alert]
In fact, if not for Blanco, Corry would still be breaking public indecency laws in Balboa Park and Tristan would still be suffering under the control of his personal warden, Laurence.
Corry witnesses Blanco’s execution of Laurence for his abuse of Tristan in the park at night and takes pictures with FINANCIAL GAIN at the forefront of his mind. He is caught and confronted by Blanco, but is perfectly happy to let what he believes to be cold-blooded murder slide in exchange for money and a sexual favour . Tristan clings to Corry, because Corry is there, end of story.
In short: Corry doesn’t act unless its for personal gain; Tristan doesn’t act at all.
Even the relationship between the pair is clearly skewed along these themes: Corry pursues Tristan on Blanco’s behest (backed by substantial financial incentive) and believes himself to be ‘in love’ on no basis other than that Tristan pleases him sexually. Corry senses that there is something abnormal about Tristan, yet makes no effort to discover what is wrong with him, to question Blanco’s motives or really to do anything that would threaten his cushy status quo. He is quite content to whine and complain, but there is no attempt to DO anything about what he perceives to be wrong. Even claiming to be ‘in love’ with Tristan, he makes no effort to forewarn him of Blanco’s role in their meeting or even simply to question Tristan on his association with the man – ignorance, to Corry, truly is bliss.
The author makes a superficial attempt to portray the ‘development’ of this so-called relationship, but once the layers are peeled back, there’s really nothing deeper at play than gratification of hedonistic needs for Corry and self-indulgent martyrdom for Tristan.
Blanco keeps proclaiming that Tristan is ‘strong’ and ‘more in control than other cambions’ and that he is somehow ‘special,’ but none of these assertions are supported by his choices or behaviour. Tristan was betrayed and abused, which is sad, but his reaction to that abuse, once freed from it is to (a) evade dealing with it, (b) to remain a ‘victim’ by (for no persuasive reason) ‘punishing’ Blanco for his own suffering, petulantly refusing to accept assistance, choosing instead to live in squalor on the streets, and (c) being perfectly aware of the danger to others should he lose control of his demon, yet actively making the decision not to take his medication.
Laurence is a despicable character engendering no sympathy and one way in which Tristan may have been redeemed would be if he’d acted independently in freeing himself of Laurence’s control, but even his ‘defiance’ is guided and enabled by Blanco’s actions. There is no indication that he makes even a cursory attempt at an independent existence – not even by something as banal as prostitution, which according to the premise should come naturally to him. In fact, the only activity he actively engages in is self-pity and proclaiming his hatred of Blanco and the enclave, which on objective evaluation really doesn’t make sense beyond the abuse suffered under Laurence’s hand – i.e. Tristan is defined by his abuse and not very much inclined to change that.
In summary, both Tristan and Corry are self-absorbed, immature and reactive to the extreme and really not characters I enjoyed ‘getting to know’ at all. A far more compelling story would probably have been that of Blanco and his cambion Marco, though sadly, like everything else of substance in this book, this relationship is relegated to window-dressing.
January 13, 2011
This story was pretty good but not as good as the cover suggests. Tristan is a cambion, half human and half incubus, who desperately wants to have a normal life. The trouble is that without medication and a warden to look after him and fill his sexual needs, his demon side takes control and kills. Tristan escapes his warden and "finds" a young sensitive/psychic in Cory who can somehow keep the demon at bay. The story flows well and the characters are well shaped and likable in their own way. The story was missing that certain spark that would have made it more interesting. It was an entertaining read which never reached its full potential.
December 22, 2010
01/18/13: Revised rating after a couple of years of reading m/m: from 3.5 to 2.
Tristan is a cambion, born from a human mother and a sexual demon, an incubus. After his mother’s death his life is entrusted to a Warden, a human belonging to an order devoted to hunting demons and protecting their half-human offspring. Tristan's Warden ends up betraying his trust and abusing him and Tristan decides to flee from the institution who’s entitled to his care to try to live as a human.
Blanco is the chief of the Wardens and a man with an unusual empathic ability that makes him able to connect with the demon side of the Cambions and soothe and please it. He has always looked over Tristan, but the death of his Cambion, Marco, affected him so much that he neglected his duties to Tristan, letting him be abused and hurt by his Warden.
Cori is a young photographer who’s struggling to make a living with his art and who is unable to have a physical relationship with men because he can’t stand their touch.
One night Cori takes pictures of Blanco, thinking of being the witness of a crime. When Cori meets the older man (Blanco is around 60), he is unexpectedly attracted to him. Blanco recognizes the potential of Cori’s pictures and offers to be his patron. In exchange for that, Cori offers Blanco to find Tristan for him.
Tristan is a wonderful character. His struggle to control his demon half is heart-wrenching. He was the victim of abuse, but he doesn’t lash out is anger or passively accept his situation and he is always thinking about the well-being of the people around him. In the first chapter, the author shows the complexity of his relationship with his previous Warden: no matter how bad he is treated, he still craves the attention of his Warden and he still wants to please him, while taking all the blame for the beatings and the violence on himself. He is the one taking the first step to break the chain of the abuse, but the sexual demon inside him can’t break the connection between pain and pleasure, because Tristan has been taught that one always comes with the other.
I liked the fact that Tristan has to be re-trained to be able to feel whole again and the path to healing goes through the accepting of his demon. I must confess that at one point it was hard for me to accept the way Cori was praising the way Blanco displayed Tristan at the pictures’ auction, but Cori was probably seeing the beauty of the other half of Tristan and, being sensitive, he was also able to appreciate it without the basest sexual feelings that the audience was showing. This was something that almost made me put the book down, because the boundary between caring and sexploitation in a Cambion/Warden relationship is blurred at best. This is the hardest part to accept for my sensibility: the they-need-it talk always irks me to no end (and I know it’s fiction, I know it’s paranormal, I know, but still...).
In comparison to Tristan, Cori seems flat. Blanco’s attraction to him is due to his resemblance to Blanco’s previous lover. Tristan loves Cori for his compassion, but it’s not really shown. I also didn’t quite like the double play with Blanco, the fact that he wanted to please him and then he turned to Tristan and still he felt he had to be loyal to Blanco and bring the Cambion to him. I would have wanted to see him to try and hide away with Tristan somewhere. It’s true that the thought crosses his mind and that his interaction with Blanco was needed to discover his own abilities, but there’s little to no fight and his constant thinking about his art and money made me think he was rather cheap, sorry.
Blanco was creepy for the 90% of the book. I resented him for a long while, it’s only at the end that we’re shown the extent of his grief for the loss of his Cambion.
On a general note, I think the book pace was too fast. I think Tristan is a round character, but Cori and Blanco’s personalities are not as developed and maybe that’s why they broadcast those odd feelings to me. I also think that the general Cambion/Warden relationship and the order to which Blanco belongs needed more explanation (in places it came out as Wardens were sort of pimps, but that’s my opinion).
These are the reasons why I can’t give more than 3.5 stars, but the book is a real page-turner, that’s always good.
Galley received via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.
Tristan is a cambion, born from a human mother and a sexual demon, an incubus. After his mother’s death his life is entrusted to a Warden, a human belonging to an order devoted to hunting demons and protecting their half-human offspring. Tristan's Warden ends up betraying his trust and abusing him and Tristan decides to flee from the institution who’s entitled to his care to try to live as a human.
Blanco is the chief of the Wardens and a man with an unusual empathic ability that makes him able to connect with the demon side of the Cambions and soothe and please it. He has always looked over Tristan, but the death of his Cambion, Marco, affected him so much that he neglected his duties to Tristan, letting him be abused and hurt by his Warden.
Cori is a young photographer who’s struggling to make a living with his art and who is unable to have a physical relationship with men because he can’t stand their touch.
One night Cori takes pictures of Blanco, thinking of being the witness of a crime. When Cori meets the older man (Blanco is around 60), he is unexpectedly attracted to him. Blanco recognizes the potential of Cori’s pictures and offers to be his patron. In exchange for that, Cori offers Blanco to find Tristan for him.
Tristan is a wonderful character. His struggle to control his demon half is heart-wrenching. He was the victim of abuse, but he doesn’t lash out is anger or passively accept his situation and he is always thinking about the well-being of the people around him. In the first chapter, the author shows the complexity of his relationship with his previous Warden: no matter how bad he is treated, he still craves the attention of his Warden and he still wants to please him, while taking all the blame for the beatings and the violence on himself. He is the one taking the first step to break the chain of the abuse, but the sexual demon inside him can’t break the connection between pain and pleasure, because Tristan has been taught that one always comes with the other.
I liked the fact that Tristan has to be re-trained to be able to feel whole again and the path to healing goes through the accepting of his demon. I must confess that at one point it was hard for me to accept the way Cori was praising the way Blanco displayed Tristan at the pictures’ auction, but Cori was probably seeing the beauty of the other half of Tristan and, being sensitive, he was also able to appreciate it without the basest sexual feelings that the audience was showing. This was something that almost made me put the book down, because the boundary between caring and sexploitation in a Cambion/Warden relationship is blurred at best. This is the hardest part to accept for my sensibility: the they-need-it talk always irks me to no end (and I know it’s fiction, I know it’s paranormal, I know, but still...).
In comparison to Tristan, Cori seems flat. Blanco’s attraction to him is due to his resemblance to Blanco’s previous lover. Tristan loves Cori for his compassion, but it’s not really shown. I also didn’t quite like the double play with Blanco, the fact that he wanted to please him and then he turned to Tristan and still he felt he had to be loyal to Blanco and bring the Cambion to him. I would have wanted to see him to try and hide away with Tristan somewhere. It’s true that the thought crosses his mind and that his interaction with Blanco was needed to discover his own abilities, but there’s little to no fight and his constant thinking about his art and money made me think he was rather cheap, sorry.
Blanco was creepy for the 90% of the book. I resented him for a long while, it’s only at the end that we’re shown the extent of his grief for the loss of his Cambion.
On a general note, I think the book pace was too fast. I think Tristan is a round character, but Cori and Blanco’s personalities are not as developed and maybe that’s why they broadcast those odd feelings to me. I also think that the general Cambion/Warden relationship and the order to which Blanco belongs needed more explanation (in places it came out as Wardens were sort of pimps, but that’s my opinion).
These are the reasons why I can’t give more than 3.5 stars, but the book is a real page-turner, that’s always good.
Galley received via NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.
February 21, 2011
This one is a tough book to review. I enjoyed the basic concepts - the half-demon, half-human cambion with a Warden protector to help them control their incubi side - but the parts I didn't like overwhelmed that demon storyline.
First off, the blurb didn't give the clue I expected. The blurb reads rough with long, long, long sentences. The prose is better, and I read the story quickly with no stumbling or confusion.
Second issue with the blurb is
This story, while it had a believable romance in it, also had qualities that don’t work well in romances. I read romances for the Happily Ever Afters, the sensual sex, and the difficult paths in getting there. I almost stopped reading this story during Tristan's first scene. Brett did a fine job of portraying a tortured, abused man in Tristan (deeper in the story), so putting it all on-screen was gratuitous and off-putting. I read romances to escape, not to have violence and rape shoved down my throat. When I read those stories, I want to know ahead of time I'm reading those stories. The blurb should tell me (and then, yes, I will read them, but only when I'm in the mood for DARK).
This wasn’t the only scene that didn’t work for a romance mind-frame. The resolution failed for me too.
I did like the main characters. Tristan, as I’ve mentioned, for his broken, tortured past and his ways of dealing with it, and Cory, for being put in a situation that would help him achieve his dreams, but falling in love in the process. However, Cory needed to DO something about loving Tristan (say, fight for him?) but he never did. Neither did Tristan. That Blanco had to be the one to spur the start of the resolution, didn’t work for me. The main characters need to be able to fight for the relationship, or I’m left wondering if they’ll simply fall apart at the next non-perfect situation in their lives.
First off, the blurb didn't give the clue I expected. The blurb reads rough with long, long, long sentences. The prose is better, and I read the story quickly with no stumbling or confusion.
Second issue with the blurb is
This story, while it had a believable romance in it, also had qualities that don’t work well in romances. I read romances for the Happily Ever Afters, the sensual sex, and the difficult paths in getting there. I almost stopped reading this story during Tristan's first scene. Brett did a fine job of portraying a tortured, abused man in Tristan (deeper in the story), so putting it all on-screen was gratuitous and off-putting. I read romances to escape, not to have violence and rape shoved down my throat. When I read those stories, I want to know ahead of time I'm reading those stories. The blurb should tell me (and then, yes, I will read them, but only when I'm in the mood for DARK).
This wasn’t the only scene that didn’t work for a romance mind-frame. The resolution failed for me too.
I did like the main characters. Tristan, as I’ve mentioned, for his broken, tortured past and his ways of dealing with it, and Cory, for being put in a situation that would help him achieve his dreams, but falling in love in the process. However, Cory needed to DO something about loving Tristan (say, fight for him?) but he never did. Neither did Tristan. That Blanco had to be the one to spur the start of the resolution, didn’t work for me. The main characters need to be able to fight for the relationship, or I’m left wondering if they’ll simply fall apart at the next non-perfect situation in their lives.
January 4, 2015
Okay. This one was. Odd. Still trying to figure out how I feel about it. Narration was very good, but the story, well, the romantic in me was not overly happy with events in the book, or the ending. *sigh*
These characters all seem to be dis-associative and into whatever they do for self-serving purposes only. I may not be understanding the author's intent, but. I don't think I really liked it very much.
I will say I liked the symbolism of the dolphins, fluid and gentle. And the way gentleness was used to counter violence. It just seemed it came a little too late to really save the story.
Anyway, this story was definitely different. Not a bad listen, but left me with too many uncomfortable feelings to quite want to listen to again. And I felt very melancholy about the ending.
These characters all seem to be dis-associative and into whatever they do for self-serving purposes only. I may not be understanding the author's intent, but. I don't think I really liked it very much.
I will say I liked the symbolism of the dolphins, fluid and gentle. And the way gentleness was used to counter violence. It just seemed it came a little too late to really save the story.
Anyway, this story was definitely different. Not a bad listen, but left me with too many uncomfortable feelings to quite want to listen to again. And I felt very melancholy about the ending.
February 22, 2011
1.5 stars
The blurb for this story was interesting and I was looking forward to reading it unfortunately it turned out to be the best part of the book for me. Of the three main characters, Blanco, the leader of the incubus Wardens, Cory, a young photographer and Tristan, a half human/half incubus runaway only Tristan comes across as a likable guy. I frankly couldn't stand either Blanco or Cory and didn't enjoy the plot line of this story past the first couple of chapters. Although both said they cared for Tristan neither of the men behaved as if they did and a couple of scenes between them really squicked me out. Poor guy definitely deserves much better. I really hate giving up on books which is why I forced myself to finish it. I did for the most part like Tristan and the beginning was interesting otherwise I would have rated it a 1 star.
I received this story from Net Galley for review.
The blurb for this story was interesting and I was looking forward to reading it unfortunately it turned out to be the best part of the book for me. Of the three main characters, Blanco, the leader of the incubus Wardens, Cory, a young photographer and Tristan, a half human/half incubus runaway only Tristan comes across as a likable guy. I frankly couldn't stand either Blanco or Cory and didn't enjoy the plot line of this story past the first couple of chapters. Although both said they cared for Tristan neither of the men behaved as if they did and a couple of scenes between them really squicked me out. Poor guy definitely deserves much better. I really hate giving up on books which is why I forced myself to finish it. I did for the most part like Tristan and the beginning was interesting otherwise I would have rated it a 1 star.
I received this story from Net Galley for review.
February 24, 2018
I really really tried to like this, but I just couldn't do it. I got maybe 45 minutes into the audio add had to give me up on it.
January 19, 2011
Overall
While this book wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. It wasn't one of those that I struggled to get through, but there are some definite negatives. The basic concept of an abused cambion (a half-human, half-incubus) struggling with his demon half and trying to make it on his own is good, but some of the players are morally questionable, creating a teetering balance of enjoyability. It could just be that this book isn't my cup of tea, but read ahead and make your own decision.
Strengths
The writing was fairly good. It didn't bring me to tears or move me exceptionally, but it kept me reading through some fairly rough patches. It was steady and consistent and is probably good enough that I'd consider reading other works by this author, despite some of the qualms I had with this book.
Tristan and Cory. Our leading men have a rather nice dynamic. Tristan is the most compassionate character, and while Cory makes mistakes, most can be written off as being human and desperate for human contact, or poor decision making, although I cannot see how he creates any sort of positive bond with Blanco.
The world. We are given an interesting world, much like our own with some additions...namely incubus and succubus, but there are some other people who are Sensitives or have similar gifts. The keepers of the cambions, the Wardens, have a duty to have sex just as much as they enjoy it, in order to keep the demon within their ward sated.
Weaknesses
Morals? Some of the characters behave in ways that to the average person will be bothersome/horrifying. Blanco is possibly the bigger example, but depending on what bothers you, Cory may offend you too. Blanco considers himself Tristan's guardian and when we see things from his perspective, he seems like a reasonable man.
However, he often comes across as a pervy old man (he's 60ish while the other two lead males are mid-20s, early 30s). He gets off watching (and narrating) Cory masturbating and presumably watching Tristan and Cory have sex. In addition, there is an event at the end that adds to this, though it was asked for by one of the other leads. All the sexual encounters are consensual, but he still sometimes reads as a perv.
Another element which touched on the questionable morals nerve is the relationship of cambion and Warden. While Blanco insists that the Warden's role is to keep his ward safe (and he feels guilt at his own failings in this matter, so a few points in his direction), the relationships seem off balance. Cambions are controlled by the Warden in where they go (etc), and they can be sold out for sex by their Warden, in order to sate their demon's lust (while bringing profit to their Warden). I buy it, but I'd probably buy it more if the only time we saw a cambion being used thusly wasn't Tristan being horribly abused--it didn't leave a very good impression of the system.
Be sure to check out my other reviews on my blog.
While this book wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. It wasn't one of those that I struggled to get through, but there are some definite negatives. The basic concept of an abused cambion (a half-human, half-incubus) struggling with his demon half and trying to make it on his own is good, but some of the players are morally questionable, creating a teetering balance of enjoyability. It could just be that this book isn't my cup of tea, but read ahead and make your own decision.
Strengths
The writing was fairly good. It didn't bring me to tears or move me exceptionally, but it kept me reading through some fairly rough patches. It was steady and consistent and is probably good enough that I'd consider reading other works by this author, despite some of the qualms I had with this book.
Tristan and Cory. Our leading men have a rather nice dynamic. Tristan is the most compassionate character, and while Cory makes mistakes, most can be written off as being human and desperate for human contact, or poor decision making, although I cannot see how he creates any sort of positive bond with Blanco.
The world. We are given an interesting world, much like our own with some additions...namely incubus and succubus, but there are some other people who are Sensitives or have similar gifts. The keepers of the cambions, the Wardens, have a duty to have sex just as much as they enjoy it, in order to keep the demon within their ward sated.
Weaknesses
Morals? Some of the characters behave in ways that to the average person will be bothersome/horrifying. Blanco is possibly the bigger example, but depending on what bothers you, Cory may offend you too. Blanco considers himself Tristan's guardian and when we see things from his perspective, he seems like a reasonable man.
However, he often comes across as a pervy old man (he's 60ish while the other two lead males are mid-20s, early 30s). He gets off watching (and narrating) Cory masturbating and presumably watching Tristan and Cory have sex. In addition, there is an event at the end that adds to this, though it was asked for by one of the other leads. All the sexual encounters are consensual, but he still sometimes reads as a perv.
Another element which touched on the questionable morals nerve is the relationship of cambion and Warden. While Blanco insists that the Warden's role is to keep his ward safe (and he feels guilt at his own failings in this matter, so a few points in his direction), the relationships seem off balance. Cambions are controlled by the Warden in where they go (etc), and they can be sold out for sex by their Warden, in order to sate their demon's lust (while bringing profit to their Warden). I buy it, but I'd probably buy it more if the only time we saw a cambion being used thusly wasn't Tristan being horribly abused--it didn't leave a very good impression of the system.
Be sure to check out my other reviews on my blog.
February 14, 2016
I thought this would be a faster read than it was, but wasn't unhappy about it. Lots of things are left unexplained, like this should be a series or just a longer novel. And while the unexplained can be overlooked, it's more about the inadequate explanations for the things that are included that's harder to forgive. It's like stepping into a class and there's an exam, not a quiz, on the second day and only being given the course outline and some old copy of someone's shorthand notes from a previous semester.
That being said, I was rooting for the characters to figure things out together and that Cory would move beyond his motivation of money and pleasing the purse that was Blanco, and they kind of did...which was fine. Maybe for Tristan to live up to all that Blanco was building him up as to Cory too. Apparently that was too much to hope for. Sex scenes were fine, emotional connection was fine even though it felt like something huge (like strength, independence without childish defiance, trust, honesty...the list continues) was missing, and the photography stuff was also fine but felt unfinished and stagnant after the warden thing came to play a role. Speaking of the photography stuff, the comment about using the photos to make a change for good in the world...random. I mean, yeah, that's all great and noble, but there was no hint of it before, no inroads to making it happen later, and literally no mention of it after that moment. What was the point? Seriously, should have just left it as seeing the truth of the soul and giving it form through his art.
My heart aches for Blanco. I want his heart to finally find peace and love. And why is his relationship with Marco, protection, moral uprightness, and leadership relegated to the fringe of the story? Honestly, he should have been the protagonist with Cory and Tristan as a part of his story. I wished for him to be a bit more straightforward with Cory in the beginning about his understanding of his ability. If Cory knew he was a sensitive, even if he was somehow going to end up without Tristan, he would have at least understood himself, and maybe it would have been up to Cory to choose his place as warden for Tristan earlier on. It just felt like Blanco took all the choice out of his hands so he was left to react to everything instead of choosing with a more full knowledge of what the freak he was and what was going on.
Nothing truly outstanding about this book, in my opinion, but nothing horrible or boring about it either. I'm vacillating between a 2 or 2.5 star rating here, but seeing as how the average of 2.25 gets rounded down, a 2 is what you get.
That being said, I was rooting for the characters to figure things out together and that Cory would move beyond his motivation of money and pleasing the purse that was Blanco, and they kind of did...which was fine. Maybe for Tristan to live up to all that Blanco was building him up as to Cory too. Apparently that was too much to hope for. Sex scenes were fine, emotional connection was fine even though it felt like something huge (like strength, independence without childish defiance, trust, honesty...the list continues) was missing, and the photography stuff was also fine but felt unfinished and stagnant after the warden thing came to play a role. Speaking of the photography stuff, the comment about using the photos to make a change for good in the world...random. I mean, yeah, that's all great and noble, but there was no hint of it before, no inroads to making it happen later, and literally no mention of it after that moment. What was the point? Seriously, should have just left it as seeing the truth of the soul and giving it form through his art.
My heart aches for Blanco. I want his heart to finally find peace and love. And why is his relationship with Marco, protection, moral uprightness, and leadership relegated to the fringe of the story? Honestly, he should have been the protagonist with Cory and Tristan as a part of his story. I wished for him to be a bit more straightforward with Cory in the beginning about his understanding of his ability. If Cory knew he was a sensitive, even if he was somehow going to end up without Tristan, he would have at least understood himself, and maybe it would have been up to Cory to choose his place as warden for Tristan earlier on. It just felt like Blanco took all the choice out of his hands so he was left to react to everything instead of choosing with a more full knowledge of what the freak he was and what was going on.
Nothing truly outstanding about this book, in my opinion, but nothing horrible or boring about it either. I'm vacillating between a 2 or 2.5 star rating here, but seeing as how the average of 2.25 gets rounded down, a 2 is what you get.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2011
You know, with the power off at the house for about 16 hours I pulled this book up on my Kindle and read it again. Surprisingly, it was much, much better than I originally thought. I actually have to up my rating considerably.
It's still not the best thing I have ever read, but there is more to it than I originally realized. I think that there were two ideas that I had trouble getting around. One was the awful scene of Tristan's betrayal by Laurence. The other the idea that using any creature, mindless demon or not, to sell sex as the Wardens do with their Cambions is repellant to me. It smacks of sexual slavery and I support activism to end all human trafficking so it was really hard to get around both times I read the book.
Having said that, on the re-read, I found the story internally consistent. And while I have never been to or held an art show where the patrons show their appreciation by jacking off or having sex, I could suppose it long enough to get through to the h/c part of the story. I liked Blanco more this time.
Maybe it was having more time to actually sit down and read the book slowly, or maybe I just turned some corner in my head, but it seemed considerably better this time. I would recommend you take a second look at it if you have already read it and had the same dislike I initially had. If you haven't read it yet, go slow. It isn't half bad.
It's still not the best thing I have ever read, but there is more to it than I originally realized. I think that there were two ideas that I had trouble getting around. One was the awful scene of Tristan's betrayal by Laurence. The other the idea that using any creature, mindless demon or not, to sell sex as the Wardens do with their Cambions is repellant to me. It smacks of sexual slavery and I support activism to end all human trafficking so it was really hard to get around both times I read the book.
Having said that, on the re-read, I found the story internally consistent. And while I have never been to or held an art show where the patrons show their appreciation by jacking off or having sex, I could suppose it long enough to get through to the h/c part of the story. I liked Blanco more this time.
Maybe it was having more time to actually sit down and read the book slowly, or maybe I just turned some corner in my head, but it seemed considerably better this time. I would recommend you take a second look at it if you have already read it and had the same dislike I initially had. If you haven't read it yet, go slow. It isn't half bad.
March 3, 2025
This novella is the story of a Warden, well actually two or three, along with some beings that are not totally human. You see when you have an incubus and a woman who mate, you end up with a cambion. The story starts out in 1987 when Felipe finds an incubus with a young woman who is already pregnant. He kills the incubus and rescues the woman and her son and gets him away to safety.
However, the Warden he gives Tristan to turns out to have as many issues as Tristan does and the whole thing goes dark. After a particularly bad situation, he has to get Tristan away, but Tristan is so damaged that Felipe can't reach him so he has to use a photographer named Cory, who has his own problems but who meets and gets involved with Triston to try to pull Tristan to some sort of wellness.
It ends up being a good romance, same gender but different species, at least sort of. They have good sex and learn to trust and be there for each other.
Another literally one sitting read, and fun for those that enjoy sex and romance combined with a flair or weirdness.....like me.
However, the Warden he gives Tristan to turns out to have as many issues as Tristan does and the whole thing goes dark. After a particularly bad situation, he has to get Tristan away, but Tristan is so damaged that Felipe can't reach him so he has to use a photographer named Cory, who has his own problems but who meets and gets involved with Triston to try to pull Tristan to some sort of wellness.
It ends up being a good romance, same gender but different species, at least sort of. They have good sex and learn to trust and be there for each other.
Another literally one sitting read, and fun for those that enjoy sex and romance combined with a flair or weirdness.....like me.
January 4, 2011
I'm a bit torn on how to rate this book. It was a good read, flowed nicely, had interesting characters and plot, but nothing that really stood out to make it awesome and for some reason I wanted it to be awesome. I guess my best description is underwhelmed.
A quick review: Tristan is a cambian (part human part incubus)that has lead a very troubled life. He comes together with the human "Sensitive" Cory under the watchful eye of the mysterious warden Blanco. We learn a lot about the characters and I love the connection between them all. I am very happy with the way things came together in the end.
Overall I can only give this 3 stars because I did in fact like the story but I feel like I missed the "wow" factor.
A quick review: Tristan is a cambian (part human part incubus)that has lead a very troubled life. He comes together with the human "Sensitive" Cory under the watchful eye of the mysterious warden Blanco. We learn a lot about the characters and I love the connection between them all. I am very happy with the way things came together in the end.
Overall I can only give this 3 stars because I did in fact like the story but I feel like I missed the "wow" factor.
September 28, 2018
This was a great book with an interesting spin on the demon and incubus genre. I loved Tristan and Cory and couldn't get enough of their interactions. The jury is out on Blanco, not sure I liked him or not. The only thing holding me back from giving this a 5 star rating was that it felt a bit choppy with Blanco's involvement and then lack of involvement. But overall, I loved it and couldn't put it down!
January 17, 2011
Review Available At:
http://www.nightowlerotica.com/nor/Re...
Review Excerpt:
"Demon's Dance" by Evey Brett is a tastefully touching tale of healing and acceptance amongst the chaos of duality.
http://www.nightowlerotica.com/nor/Re...
Review Excerpt:
"Demon's Dance" by Evey Brett is a tastefully touching tale of healing and acceptance amongst the chaos of duality.
February 13, 2011
2.5 stars
January 20, 2011
More of a 3.75. It was dark, heart breaking and weird in a good way.
December 11, 2011
The concept of this book is interesting but the actual book was disappointing.
September 24, 2018
This is not my normal read but was a pifm by Nik. I was pleasantly surprised. I was thinking the end was going to get a bit darker but still enjoyed the HEA.
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