REVIEWED by J.A. Kenney

Review: 5.00 Stars

Summary:

Revenant (Demonica #11) is Larissa Ione‘s latest addition to both her popular series “Demonica” and “Lords of Deliverance”. This book and the earlier Reaver combine the two earlier series into one.

Revenant is the final installment in the saga that began with Pleasure Unbound. If you have not read the earlier books I HIGHLY recommend doing so before jumping into the later books!

Revenant is a Shadow Angel, a pure-blooded angel raised in Hell. He spent most of his five thousand-year life span unaware of his true origins or the extent of his power.  Second only to Satan himself, he can destroy enemies with a thought, and heal catastrophic injuries in the blink of an eye.

His twin brother Reaver is a Radiant, his angelic counterpart, raised in heaven and given all the love and care that Revenant was denied.

They are equal in power, but not in purpose. Caught between heaven and hell Revenant must choose to stay loyal to the evil that tortured him and his mother, or serve the “good” that rejects his very nature.

Blaspheme is a vyrm, the forbidden offspring of an angel and a fallen angel.  Hunted by both heaven and hell, she has spent her life in hiding. She was disguised, shortly after her birth, as a false angel (a type of demon who use their angelic appearance to seduce and feed off the misery of males). Her magical camouflage is failing.  Drawing attacks on her life, and on that of her fallen angel mother. The last thing she needs is Revenant trying to get her into his bed.

Positives:

This was a spectacular ending to what is one of my favorite paranormal romance series ever.

Fans of the earlier books will recognize the combination of unique paranormal creatures, and  real world mythos that started with the early Demonica books, and expanded in the Lords of Deliverance.  Demons and Angels of all shapes, sizes, and natures exist side by side with vampires and werewolves.

But it was and has continued to be the unique characters that made this series great.  No delicate flowers or canned heroes exist on these pages, and while the series as a whole follows a fairly standard romance format (a close knit family where each member has a romance in turn), none of the plots or the relationships are standard in any way.

The level of angst is really second only to the underlying drama, which explores escalating threats to the characters, their family, their friends, and the world as we know it (and don’t know it as the case may be).

This final incarnation is the apex of both the emotional drama, and the threats to both demon and human kind.  It also corrected one of the major complaints I had with the book just before this one in the series, Reaver. I commented after reading that story that the hero in question, and his brother were a little TOO powerful and had no real threats.

Revenant turns that observation on its head, as not only are they both challenged in this book, together they are barely sufficient to the monumental tasks.

Negatives:

As is often the case in a series, it would be a mistake to read this book without first reading the other TEN novels in the series, and the handful of related short stories.  Pleasure Unbound is the first Demonica book and still stands out as one of my favorite single paranormal romances.

If this review catches your eye but you haven’t been a fan before, start there, or risk potential confusion. The world building is very complex, the family large and varied, and the overarching plot all-encompassing. This is especially true starting with the Lords of Deliverance sub-series.

Perhaps the only other complaint I can bring myself to voice is that after showing us how powerful both Reaver and Revenant are in this and the previous book, the villain in the book (Satan) is so much more, that without their intervention he would have no threats in Heaven or Hell. Basically, because the religious undertone is (thankfully) down-played, it seems odd that he didn’t take over millennia ago.

But even that can be easily overlooked completely with just a wink and nod.

Overall:

This series as a whole, and as individual books has long been a favorite of mine.

Often as a series develops the individual books rely more and more on the earlier ones to engender interest and sales instead of maintaining the same level of interesting characters and engaging plots.

Not true here, even with the addition of the Lords of Deliverance, and these final two books the entire series shines above the rank and file of paranormal romance.

I’m sad to see the series end, but at the same time thrilled that I got to enjoy it one book at a time!

Keep Reading!

J.A. Kenney

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publication date: December 16th, 2014

Length: 408 pages

Blush Quotient: Wink

Disclaimer: This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair review.