Liviania’s review of Demon from the Dark (Immortals After Dark, Book 10) by Kresley Cole
Paranormal romance released by Pocket 24 August 10

In a long-running series like Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark, everyone has their favorites.  (Fans of the series – like Lime and me in this instance – will often debate with each other about whose favorites are better.)  Right now, Demon from the Dark is in my top three.  (By the way, my favorites are better so you should take that statement extremely seriously.)

Cole knows how to create a sympathetic alpha hero.  Malkom Slaine is a vemon, possessed of the vicious traits of both vampires and the worst sort of demon.  (I prefer to call them dempires, but Nïx does not appear in this book.)  Oft betrayed, he doesn’t trust easily.  Also, he needed to grow up deadly in order to survive, so he’s become a bit of a beast in order to keep himself safe and to get revenge on those who destroyed his life.  Yet when he meets Carrow Graie and realizes she’s his mate, he resists his instincts and romances her.  This despite language and cultural barriers.  It’s sweet.

Of course, it’s bittersweet because the reader knows Carrow is going to betray Malkom.  (I don’t think she had to, though I understand her decision.)  She’s been captured by a group of mortals bent on destroying the immortals, as has a young witch named Ruby.  Ruby’s mother died during the capture, meaning that Carrow is her new guardian.  If Carrow doesn’t deliver Malkom, they’ll kill Ruby.  Carrow may party hard, but that’s because the pleasure and happiness incited by revelry increase her powers.  She has a core of responsibility and a desire to be a good parents, as good as her parents weren’t.

Thus, Carrow is the more reticent of the pair.   She has to keep her secrets and thus can’t become too intimate with Malkom, as he can access her memories after biting her. She holds her heart back while Malkom offers his freely.  Cole does a good job of showing how Carrow and Malkom are shaped by their pasts and thus why they choose to behave the way they do.

There’s also plenty of material for fans of the series that doesn’t seem like it would be too confusing to newcomers.  Conrad Wroth’s cameo might cause a bit of confusion, but I like Conrad too much to complain.  Mariketa and Bowen show up often, but it makes sense considering Carrow and Mariketa are close friends.  There’s also tantalizing glimpses of Regin and Aiden.  It definitely challenged expectations I had of their relationship based on information in previous novels.

After the last several installments in the Immortals After Dark followed up on previously introduced couples and storylines, it was refreshing to read about a totally new couple.  While I’m excited about many of the couples we’ve already met, Demon from the Dark pushed the series plot forward.  Unlike most long running series, Cole still feels like she has a finish that she’s pushing towards.

Grade: A

Summary:
A dangerous demon she can’t resist…
Malkom Slaine: tormented by his sordid past and racked by vampiric hungers, he’s pushed to the brink by the green-eyed beauty under his guard.

A maddening witch he aches to claim…
Carrow Graie: hiding her own sorrows, she lives only for the next party or prank. Until she meets a tortured warrior worth saving.

Trapped together in a savage prison…
For them to survive, Malkom must unleash both the demon and vampire inside him. When he becomes the nightmare his own people feared, will he lose the woman he craves body and soul?

Read an excerpt here.

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