Demonfire: (The Demonslayers) [Mass Market Paperback]

Kate Douglas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2010 | Series: The Demonslayers

Since time began, the Earth has served as a balance between the world of darkness that is the Abyss, and the paradise known as Eden. Now survival depends on one fallen demon--and the woman he cannot resist. Original.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Eddy is a no-nonsense reporter who leaves stories of alien races to her father and scoffs at such notions as the town statue coming to life. Until said statue attacks her home. According tothe mysterious Dax, demons are crossing over to Earth, determined to disrupt the balance between it, Abyss, and Eden, and to destroy them all. Eddy and Dax know they can’t stop this catastrophe on their own, and luckily for them, alien races aren’t merely the stuff of fairy tales after all. A ragtag band of races goes forth to stop the demons, but time is running out. Douglas, best known for Wolf Tales (2006), launches The DemonSlayers series, a slightly different breed. Here she creates a blend of adventure story and light paranormal romance that offers an offbeat take on the popular demon trend without leaning on chick-lit tropes. --Nina C. Davis

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zebra Books; 1 edition (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420109995
• ISBN-13: 978-1420109993
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #209,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been married for almost forty years to a terrific man who puts up with the idiosyncrasies of life with a writer. We raised two really great kids who are now wonderful adults with terrific spouses--and they've produced six grandchildren for us. ALL perfect, of course!

I currently write for two Kensington imprints with my long-running Aphrodisia erotic romance series Wolf Tales (which includes the Sexy Beast anthologies I-VIII) and the new erotic Dream Catchers series, as well as The DemonSlayers series from Kensington Zebra and coming in 2013, a new series called Spirit Wild. This one will follow the lives of the second generation of Chanku shapeshifters, beginning with Lily Cheval's story in TO LOVE A DARK WOLF.

I love to hear from readers and answer all my mail personally. The link with my email address is on the front of my website at katedouglas.com, along with first chapter excerpts of all my books. Please sign up for my newsletter with chances to win books and other goodies by sending an email to [e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Work for Me at ALL, March 9, 2010

By 

Tracy "One Good Book Deserves Another" (Fort Myers, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Demonfire (The Demonslayers) (Kindle Edition)

Wow, okay, I sense an Amazon.com equivalent of an egging or a TP party coming on, because if I am to honestly review Demonfire, it's not going to be NEARLY as flattering as the majority of other reviewers. Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are my two favorite book genres. I read and I review a lot of them. I've come to realize that I'm usually pretty forgiving of minor issues or singular issues - for example, if it's a decent story but not technically all that well told, I may give it a three stars, but explain in my review what the critical aspects are. I understand and accept that I hold my favorite genres to a higher standard - rightly or wrongly - than other genres and that ultimately I want to be entertained. I believe that if I'm not entertained given that the genre predisposes me to being entertained, then there's a big problem somewhere.

I was NOT entertained by Demonfire.

My apologies to Kate Douglas, who I've enjoyed as an erotic paranormal romance author, but frankly, I found the characters in Demonfire to be two-dimensional and the narrative to be repetitive, inexplicable, and at times heavy-handed. Eddy and Dax seemed cardboard and flat, and unfortunately, so did the entire impetus behind their relationship. The abrupt way they were thrown together felt too contrived and put a heavy strain on my suspension of disbelief (not even Dax could understand how he got into Eddy's shed from the portal he came through, so how could I?). When those issues combined with the perplexing mythology of the Lemurians to explain Altan's character and presence, the first quarter of the book felt like a cross between a snore and a quagmire of implausibility. To be honest, the pitbull/poodle mixed-breed canine was more fleshed out with a more believable and sympathetic backstory than two thirds of the book's main characters, and that's a problem.

Dax is a former demon (now reincarnated/reanimated/newly de-demonized-sorta/former soldier boy) with a tattoo on his body that will come back to bite him...or try to again and again and again. Eddy is a human reporter who is willing to toss her job and fight demons she didn't even believe in yesterday. No convincing and little to no explanation needed. She finds out her touch soothes Dax's demonic curse...with no explanation and little to no coherent reason given. Altan is the ancient Lemurian who gave up his millennia-old and immortal life in the caverns of a currently inactive volcano (or other dimension...I wasn't too clear on that - could be both, I suppose, though I'm not sure why the volcano would exist in both dimensions). The parts of the story concerning that race and Altan's decision was anorexic in plot and very nebulous in the narrative, and I had a big problem with Altan's excellent grasp of modern American vernacular, technology, and cultural references, considering the written mythology. Toss in the dog Bumper, a will-o'-wisp tinkerbell-sort Willow (my favorite character through most of the book), and Ed, Eddy's father (by far the most interesting and believable character) and you have the core group that fights the big bad demons...who really aren't so big or bad, given that they're animating garden gnomes and other kitschy lawn statuary...except for the gargoyle - but you'll have to read THAT for yourself.

The problems with the book aren't just in the characters. The world Douglas is trying to create here never really snapped into solid focus for me. Too many shifting descriptives and inexplicable happenstance. The book's main conflict, the threats of the big bad and smaller baddies was bizarrely non-threatening (you could've had a "no humans were hurt during the writing of this book" disclaimer). And then there was the repetition.

Dax was given a human (sorta) body for one week to fight the demons slipping from Abyss. After the protagonists get together, the book counts down the rest of Dax's seven days and at some point in each one of those remaining days the fact he's only got six... five... four... three... two days left is given a lot of room in the story to explain in mind-numbing detail just how sucky it is for all concerned that Dax only has that much time left. And this melodrama went on each and every day, over and over and over again. Repetitively.

I don't think that's compelling plot, nor do I feel that it engenders any sense of true tension, because as the reader I know going IN that it's a paranormal romance and Dax and Eddy are going to get their HEA. Otherwise it'd be called SHAKESPEARE. Lamenting for page after page about them being separated for eternity just becomes tedious and (dare I be repetitive?) repetitive. I've read excellent paranormal romance series that deal with this subject and it's always the ingenuity and originality of HOW the leads get their HEA that impresses me. I already KNOW they're going to. So by the end, when I was at least hoping for a glimmer of originality in the WAY Eddy and Dax stay together, I was ultimately disappointed again. I won't give spoilers...but it was just...not well done.

So why the two stars, given how much it sounds like I hated it? Because I DIDN'T hate it. Maybe I was too ambivalent about it to hate it. Maybe that's worse. But mostly the two stars are because there were a few tiny glimmers of hope. Kate Douglas does write reasonably sensual sex scenes, and what little chemistry there was between Dax and Eddy shined brightest during them. I think it's hard sometimes to go from writing erotic novels to toning down the sex for a mass market audience, and I think that Demonfire was well represented in that regard. I think some people are going to think it was TOO graphic or explicit, but I'm not one of them. I also sort of ended up liking Altan. I still don't get why he talked in such a modern and culturally human fashion, but I thought he was sort of endearing with the sword that refused to speak to him and the crush he gets on Ginny. And THAT is why I will give Kate Douglas another chance. The second book in this series is due out later this year, and according to the sneak peak, Altan is off to Sedona where he sent Ginny to save her from what was going on...only to get a call that things in Sedona are even worse, as live animals are being possessed by demons and attacking their owners and neighbors and the like. And Ginny is stubbornly aware of Altan's machinations with mind control, despite Altan's best efforts. I think it sounds fun. And Ginny, for her few minutes of face time in the book, struck me as a more layered and spunky character than Eddy ever did. I'm looking forward to reading about them. We'll see.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Demonfire: The Demonslayers, February 23, 2010

By 

Kellie Chang (Honolulu, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Demonfire: (The Demonslayers) (Mass Market Paperback)

Kate Douglas' first Independent (full-length General Romance novel by a mainstream publisher) Paranormal Romance is finally here! Kate is the gifted Erotic Romance author of the Wolf Tales Wolf Tales and Sexy Beast Sexy Beast series. With the publication of the first installment of the Demonslayers series, DEMONFIRE, she flings the door open for more readers--who don't read Erotic Romance--to enjoy her talent. I had the privilege of reading an early draft of this book, and Kate has created a fast-paced story where she takes the well-known theme of Hell (Abyss), Heaven (Eden), and Earth and gives it a unique spin. Kate's story flows and before you know it, you are halfway through the book and have missed dinner.

Kate has created characters I fell in love with. The demon-hero, Dax, is intriguing, mysterious, sexy (Who wouldn't find a shimmering, writhing snake tattoo sexy?), and strong, yet vulnerable and looking for a way to survive. The heroine, Eddy, is practical. As a journalist Eddy deals with facts--unlike her father who stubbornly believes the Paranormal is quite real--yet her inquisitive mind overcomes any spark of disbelief and fear, and she embarks on an adventure she cannot resist. Each character Kate has created immediately grabs your attention and you feel like you are with them on their mission to save the balance between the worlds of Abyss, Eden and Earth.

Lovers of Paranormal Romance with a definite sizzle will love DEMONFIRE. Though Kate dialed back a little from the heat of her Erotic Romances, this book is hot. How else can one romance a demon?

I write a weekly romance newsletter, and since the publisher's blurb for DEMONFIRE was short, I combined some of Kate's words (with her permission) with my own to create the blurb below that I used in my newsletter.

Three worlds in separate dimensions, yet irrevocably linked and dependent upon one another for their survival...

Abyss

A world of darkness and pain inhabited by demons who personify evil.

Eden

Exists in the light, a paradise peopled by creatures that are inherently good, incapable of harming other living things.

Earth

A veritable fulcrum maintaining the balance between good and evil--a balance that has begun to come undone as evil triumphs on Earth and the entire world slips closer and closer to the dark.

Demons have found access across the dimensions, and are entering Earth through a vortex located deep in the bowels of the dormant volcano known as Mt. Shasta. Edenites need to find a champion, and they find theirs floating in the void, a timeless, endless space without feature or form where lost spirits of all worlds spend eternity.

Dax is a fallen demon given a human body as his avatar. His time as a human is limited to one, short week. The demonic powers he'll need to fight the demons on Earth are captured in a colorful snake tattooed across his torso. The Edenites have given him a companion--a tiny will-`o-the-wisp he calls Willow.

As Dax enters Earth through the vortex he is met by a demon-powered gargoyle that hits him with a blast of cursed fire. Though not immediately fatal, the curse has the power to turn his snake tattoo--and ultimately his own powers--against him. Dax must battle the pain of the curse as well as the rapidly disappearing days. He is all that stands between life as we know it and utter devastation.

Eddy Marks has lived in the small town of Mt. Shasta all her life. She works as a newspaper reporter, fosters stray dogs for the local shelter, and keeps an eye on her rather quirky, unconventional father. Returning home from a short vacation, she hears Bumper, her latest foster mutt, barking. She lets her out and the dog races to the potting shed in the backyard. Chasing after her, Eddy opens the door to the impossible--a garden gnome armed with a pitchfork and a naked man lying on the stone floor, a huge burn on his chest, four holes stabbed over his ribs and a snake tattoo that almost looks alive.

It takes the combined help of Willow, Eddy and Bumper the mutt to help Dax defeat the demons. After a brief but messy battle, he realizes he's going to need their help to complete his mission.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Redundant Redundant Redundant Redundant, October 10, 2010

By 

Reader - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Demonfire (The Demonslayers) (Kindle Edition)

Wow, I really wanted to like this book but half way through I had to give up, telling myself there are too many great books out there to waste one more moment on this one. The premise of the story, interesting. There is no character development. The beginning of the story jumps into the action and stays there. The same action OVER and OVER! Perhaps this novel would have made a better short story.