Review: Unique but contains disturbing elements...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 3, 2013
“[The hero] is dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that...[He] is as dead as a door-nail.” No, the hero of this book is not named Marley or Scrooge. He is also not a sparkling vampire, drifting ghost, or even the polished up output of a mortuary. He is, in his own words, a re-animated psycho bent of revenge.The book is gritty, frequently painfully, even disgustingly so.  For example, when Tam is discussing his murder:  “Vertebrae pop as I twist my neck to show him the hole, black and sticky with rot beneath my long hair.” The fact that the author writes well, even extremely well, brings the fetid sights and smells into vivid living [or would that be dying?] color. And that didn’t work for me – I’m touch squeamish about the whole zombie thing. Although the author does warn readers about the ‘erotic horror’ element up front.The storyline was interesting enough – can a zombie and a djinni find love amidst the ruins? All while gaining revenge, escaping from demons, and dealing with various personal crises and inter-personal issues? And that’s without the further complications of half-mad Gaivin who’s obsessed with our hero Tam…Jewel is both tough and feisty, she has the Xena in a brass lamp vibe. She knows what she wants [freedom and Tam, our zombie hero] and is ticked when he resists.  Not the he WANTS to resist, really, but figures she can’t be honestly interested in him what with the whole rotting bits issue. Plus he’s trying to save her, most especially from himself and his demon master who has ordered him to fetch her.Sexwise this contains some male/male contact [although not as much as one of the characters would like] plus the sexual antics of the hero and heroine.This is book 5 in the Shadowfae series. I have not read any of the previous ones and Demon Chained didn’t produce any urges to do so. On the other hand, it was really well-written so I might try something by the author outside of this series.I’m not sure I get the whole concept of ‘erotic horror’ although lots of people do. If you’re one of them, go for it. If not, try another book.The Shadowfae Chronicles series:Shadowfae (The Shadowfae Chronicles, #1)Shadowglass (The Shadowfae Chronicles, #2)Poison Kissed (Shadowfae Chronicles, #3)Blood Cursed (Shadowfae Chronicles, #4)Demon Chained (The Shadowfae Chronicles, #5)I received this ARC from NetGalley…