Synopsis
Jewel is a djinni of the lamp, an enchanted slave, bound to her owner by dark magical cravings she can't resist. She burns for freedom, and when her lamp is stolen—by Tam, a hot and dirty bad-boy thief—she vows to be rid of her new master at any cost. Even as she plots Tam's demise, the lamp's dark fascination makes her long to claim him as her own.
But the last thing Tam wants is a spellbound djinni who can't say 'no'. Cursed by a demon to suffer living death, he's tormented by undead longing for pain, pleasure, any sensation he can get. To have this exquisite, besotted Jewel at his bidding is pure torture… because Tam refuses to succumb to her magical allure.
Not when he knows she can't truly be attracted to an ever-dying freak. And not when he’s already on a mission from his cruel demon master: capture and deliver one djinni...
Warning: this novel contains a feisty magical heroine, a besotted fairy best friend and the hottest wise-ass dead-guy hero in town.
Review
“[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
(#1)
Shadowglass
(#2)
Poison
Kissed (Shadowfae Chronicles, #3)
Blood
Cursed (Shadowfae Chronicles, #4)
Demon
Chained (#5)
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