Review: An amusing little story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 7, 2011
I rated this four stars. I think it's between three and four, but decided to round up to four. It's a fun and sexy tale, but it raises some questions in the readers' minds that are left unanswered.Gabriel and Nick are detectives on the police force. During a stakeout, they watch the man they're following enter an alley, and the two split up to keep track of him. When Gabriel rounds the building, he finds a series of huge, muscle-bound men attacking the man, with one of them holding him against the wall and drinking blood from his neck. Gabriel responds with lots of gunfire, but finds that bullets don't really work well against this... vampire thing. Being a trained police officer though, he manages to fight off and beat the vampire before passing out. When he awakens in the hospital, he finds a necklace was placed around his neck, and he has a strong compulsion to aways wear it. It's not until later, when a fire demon named Tehmper returns that he finds out he's Tehmper's mate, and Gabe and Nick need to travel to Jinnistan to escape the returning rogue demons they previously fought (called "Shayatin"). There, in Jinnistan, their romance continues. Gabe is "demonas amate", the fate-chosen mate of Tehmper. The two are made for each other, but like all good romances, there are forces trying to keep them apart (namely, a ruler who decides he wants Gabe for himself).The characters are fun, the setting is interesting, and the pace is swift and pulls you along. The erotica is nicely-written, and all-in-all, it's a pleasant Stormy Glenn tale. But it also frustrates to a certain extent. It introduces the readers to a new culture and location, but never explains it. Jinnistan is deep within the Earth (Gabe mistakenly thinks it's Hell). Yet it's never explained clearly. Jinnistan is one city, and there are other demon "villages", but not enough detail is given for the readers to envision this place in their minds. What does the city look like? What's the architecture? How large is it? In the sequel, "Air Demon", a character is in Jinnistan on a balcony looking up into the blue skies and across the rollling forests. In a location deep underground? What is introduced is supposed to be very different from our above-ground society, but almost nothing is given to let the reader picture this. And the little that is given contradicts with what one would expect.So while it's a fun and sexy Stormy Glenn adventure with interesting characters, it also raises many questions in the readers' minds that are left unanswered. I ultimately settled on four stars (though it really should be three and a half) because the characters are fun and interesting, and some of the quirks of the demons made me chuckle. It was very fun having a serious, protective demon who holds humans in low regard being put in his place by his very alpha and very capable human mate.