Customer Reviews

The Devil Inside (Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist, Book 1)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

"pretty monumentally stupid". That's not me speaking, that's how one character in this book describes Morgan Kingsley. Unfortunately that's a very accurate description of her. Morgan spends more than half the book apologizing for the stupid things she does. She spends the other half continuing to be stupid.

Morgan is self righteous and hypocritical. At the beginning of the book she boasts to the reader how she likes to wear tight leather pants cause she looks hot in them. Later on she is too embarrased to wear a sexy outfit to a club. She is judgemental of the S&M lifestyle of Adam and Dominic and proceeds to make snotty comments about it whenever possible.

The author, Jenna Black, has created some really interesting fully fledged characters. The romantic relationship between Adam and Dominic feels realistic even though one is a human possessed demon. I was really impressed by her imagination and the way she portrayed every other character. I just can't like a book when I hate the main character. I have about 50 pages left to finish this book, and I all I want from the ending is for her to die. So that I can read the next book with only the supporting characters.

If you are interested in this book I recommend that you check it out from the library first so you don't end up in the same situation as me.

The premise of The Devil Inside really intrigued me. It's the story of how Morgan Kingsley, powerful exorcist and hater of demons, gets forced into the role of unwilling demon host. It's the story about a world where demons exist, and where humans can accept them willingly into themselves in order to become stronger, greater and more powerful than they could ever be alone. It's the story of different factions of demons struggling for power- one group in favor of making humans across the world nothing more than puppets, another group in favor of abolishing unwilling demon hosting. With that backdrop, Morgan is placed right in the middle of the action when she returns from an exorcism to find that her world has changed forever, where friends are enemies, enemies are unlikely allies, and where the demons are always two steps ahead.

I really enjoyed reading about all the characters in The Devil Inside, especially Lugh (the dangerously sexy king of demons unwillingly thrust inside Morgan), Adam (a demon who heads the Special Forces and who likes to inflict pain in the bedroom) and Dominic (a former Demon host and overall good guy). Morgan is a very likeable heroine. At first she comes across as rather hard-edged and cynical- kind of like she's seen and done it all. It doesn't take long to figure out that isn't true. Due to her upbringing in a family zealously in support of all demons and demon hosting, and her subsequent rebellion and hatred toward demons, Morgan is in fact rather close minded and naive. She finds out how much she has to learn after she moves in with Adam and Dominic. Her deep seated hatred and fear don't always allow her to make rational decisions, and in fact she makes several that she later regrets. However, I didn't feel like her actions were stupid or thoughtless, but were instead clouded by emotion and for the most part I found myself empathizing with her a great deal.

I was tempted to give this five stars, but after putting the book down I was left with a couple questions. Mostly those questions stem from the fact that the story is told in first person. That means that we only know what Morgan knows, and because of her avoidance of demons her entire life, that's not a lot. For instance, I never felt like I really got a handle on why demons would want to possess humans. Or the other way around, actually. I guess I side very much with Morgan with the view point that it seems completely horrible to give up control of your body for the rest of your life to a demon while you can only watch. How did this become an accepted or a desired thing? How did it all begin? And as I said, I really don't understand why demons would leave their world behind to live inside a human body. Maybe because in their natural incorporeal forms, demons cannot touch, and as Lugh points out, younger demons become rather obsessed with the sense of touch and all possible feelings related thereto. But, regardless, it seems like there needs to be a stronger motive than that. How powerful are demons, really? And if they are that powerful, why would they need or want to possess human bodies?

Overall, I really enjoyed The Devil Inside. The story starts off with a bang, and kept me turning each page, losing sleep so I could find out the conclusion to the story. I really liked Morgan, she loses a lot and has to make many sacrifices, and despite her protestations that she's not a hero, she really is. Unfortunately, some questions prevented me from really loving this novel, but I hope more will be clarified the next time around. Even with those questions, I can still enthusiastically recommend it.

Morgan is an exorcist. Her worst fear is demon possession--and she has good reason to be afraid. She lives in an execution state--yes, if a human is found to be involuntarily possessed and cannot be exorcised, they're burned alive.

The story begins with Morgan being summoned to KS for an exorcism. The victim is a little girl, already strapped to the metal table and ready to go into the oven if the exorcism fails. The demon inside the girl is quite strong and Morgan gets touched by it--she wakens in a containment room herself, suspected possessed by the demon she just exorcised, but she knows that's not true and can't figure out why.

Her sleep's been troubled for a long time. She sleepwalks and now she's writing notes to her waking self from a demon named Lugh, who claims to have involuntarily have possessed her when she was drugged by her family.

This is just the beginning of a tale that takes you to a world where demons are on one side voluntarily hosted and almost worshipped by the Spirit Society and abhorred and abused by the Wrath of God. The hints of world-building in this novel are very interesting particularly in relation to demon advocacy.

The characters show some potential. Morgan is a strong, feisty woman who doesn't always make the best decisions. Still, she is loyal and will risk her life for someone she cares for. I would like to see stronger character development in the future.

Unfortunately, the plot got bogged down in heavy erotic content. When I say heavy, I am referring to whips and chains, etc. Fortunately, none of it was precisely non-consensual; however, I'd have enjoyed the politics and world-building much more than the explicit material.

I'm not sure this first novel actually has a good niche. It's billed as a fantasy, but the erotic content should probably have it shelved in romance instead. However, most female readers of romance I know are not into the 'heavy' stuff. The sequel's concept looks promising, but I'd have to read through a good bit of it before I decided to give it a try.

I plucked The Devil Inside (Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist, Book 1) off the shelf at a mall bookstore while taking a break from frantic holiday shopping. By the time I had finished the first few pages, I decided that I had found a decent new author in the vein of Kim Harrison (Dead Witch Walking (Rachel Morgan, Book 1)) or Patricia Briggs (Moon Called (Mercy Thompson Series, Book 1)).

Morgan Kingsley is an exorcist that runs afoul of a plot to use her extraordinary abilities to contain and ultimately destroy a 'reformist' demon. Apparently, the other demons don't like the thought of human rights, so they implant Morgan with the leading human-rights advocate in the hopes of derailing his campaign. The concept is novel and the writing is witty and fast-paced.

Then, the author channels her inner Laurell Hamilton and ruins the whole thing.

I enjoy contemporary paranormal adventures for the characters, the settings and the unique universe an author creates. I don't mind the occasional love interest or even some steamy prose. I object when the plot is demoted to a vehicle the author uses to shuttle his or her character between torrid sexcapades. I stopped reading Anita Blake (Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter: Book 3)) because the author lost the focus on action that I enjoyed. I expect Jenna Black may be headed down the same path, and I think her interesting fantasy series will suffer for it.

Buy the book. Read it, and perhaps you'll decide to pick up a sequel. I'm not convinced that I'll be joining you in book two yet.

The basic plot to the story was good and there was plenty of action that helped me get through it, but overall this book did not impress me.

At first I thought I was going to enjoy the book (even w/ a dull, vulgar phone sex conversation pretty close in), but it wasn't long that I started getting really disappointed. Too much of the behavior in this book was unbelievable and senseless.

The word I can best describe the main character is "stupid". She's comes off as weak in every sense of the word. I don't feel the author did a very good job making the reader feel what the characters were feeling. An author can't just write that a character feels a certain way and expect the reader to believe it. He/she needs to lay a foundation, and when the main character flip-flops all over the place without it being properly justified or resolved it fails to allow the reader to become involved.

The book is heavy on the S&M/gay erotica. I don't mind a few sexy scenes in book, but these just bored me or disgusted me. I simply didn't find the sex scenes "sexy".

It's hard to write a review w/o giving too much a way. I really don't want to ruin the book for anyone who may still want to read it. Basically, what I most disliked about the book was the how the main character reacted to everything. Her behavior was almost embarrassing to read. She'd get upset, throw a fit, then back down. There were reasons for her to be upset, but none of the intelligent, moral arguments were ever brought up. She'd just apologize. Also, it made her seem even worse the way she dealt w/ the erotic content. She acted like she thought is was wrong, but it was a blatant case of "the lady doth protest too much".

The Devil Inside is the first book in a new series, staring Morgan as the demon exorcist extraordinaire who found herself the unwilling host for the demon king. After finding this out, suddenly a punch of people/demons are trying to kill her to get to the demon king. At first glance, the book sounds intriguing. But the plot was weak and our heroin kept floundering, making one mistake after another throughout the book. Mostly, it was less about the world developments and the demons, and more about how confuse, how hurt, and how helpless Morgan felt.

Another thing that puts this book off is the excessive use of S&M and "man on man" actions as a "turn-on" mechanism and character development for Morgan. This was unnecessary since I didn't see how it helped the plot at all. On the contrary, the author had full blown scenes of S&M that doesn't connect at all to the story. It felt more like the author is trying to fill in the pages than anything else. I don't have a problem with authors exploring new realms to add to the characters and plots, but this isn't one of them.

I gave this book one star because it is the first book in a series, and it is a fresh view on demons. After waiting and anticipating this book, I was so disappointed with how it turned out. I'm skipping the second book and this series.

I love the premise of the book and the world-building was excellent. And then the weird stuff started happening - Morgan got caught up in some gay S&M and the book went downhill in a hurry. In the first few chapters, Morgan is portrayed as a brash, forthright, outspoken, independent, interesting woman. Then when the plot picks up speed, everything that Morgan was portrayed as gets her in trouble - she's constantly apologizing for everything she does and says. A character can be blunt and outspoken as long as she isn't apologizing for it - takes away the charismatic aspect. Morgan is quickly sidelined from being a major player to a pawn - told where to go and what to do, and anytime she deviates from that, she gets herself in trouble and has to come back apologizing again. It's fairly frustrating to read about a main character that doesn't really drive the action herself - the plays are made by the people around her, through her. The demon in her head is also a fairly passive character as far as the main plot is concerned. The gay S&M is annoying - it didn't offend me, I'm just not into it, so I skipped through a good portion of the book. When Morgan's team uses S&M as part of their masterplan to save somebody, it really did call up memories of Anita Blake on her downhill slide.

I'll buy the sequel but I'm praying Morgan and Lugh became stronger players in the action and the S&M isn't a major part of the story.

Morgan Kingsley's world seems to be full of fanatics when it comes to their views on the Demons that live among them. Some believe the Demons are creatures from Hell, sent to plague mankind. Others believe they are enlightened higher powers and willingly volunteer as hosts for the demons.

Morgan was raised in a very pro-demon family and while she doesn't buy into the extreme of Demons being creatures from the fires of Hell, she is adamantly anti-demon and has dedicated her life to her beliefs. As one of the world's best exorcists, it is her job to help eliminate "illegal" demons, those who posses unwilling hosts.

Unfortunately, Morgan's anti-demon viewpoint is about the only thing that she is consistent on throughout the book. She is inconsistent and flip-flops on almost everything else.
- She brags that she wears leather pants because they make her look hot, then is embarrassed about wearing a sexy outfit to a club.
- She is embarrassed and uncomfortable regarding the relationship between Adam and Dominic. She blushes at their public displays of affection and makes small-minded comments about their S&M lifestyle.

The majority of the book is focused on how hurt, scared, confused, and helpless Morgan feels as she tries to put on a "tough girl" facade. She stumbles through one stupid mistake after another, only recognizing her mistake long enough to whine about how sorry she feels. Then she's back to good ole Morgan... lashing out, making everyone else pay for her mistakes, and jumping head first into her next screw-up. As Adam says, she's "pretty monumentally stupid".

Before I purchased this book, I had read reviews criticizing the excessive amount of S&M. I put off buying this book based on those critiques. I was also told to stop reading the Anita Blake books at about book 8, but since I enjoyed a couple after that, I figured I'd give this one a shot.

The author sets up justification for the S&M in the world she creates. Demons are incorporeal in their own realm and do not have a sense of touch. Demons who have not spent a lot of time on the Mortal Plain can become so fascinated with the sense of touch that they enjoy sensations that humans would find unpleasant. Even though there is justification for the S&M, it doesn't enhance the story. It doesn't develop the relationship between Adam and Dominic. It doesn't grant further insight into the Demon psyche or their fascination with the sense of touch. The only apparent purpose for the full blown, explicit, "man on man" sex scenes is to setup additional situations where Morgan can experience conflicted feelings... mortification for being in the room next door and listening to Adam and Dominic... then suddenly... she's so turned on by it that she just can't help getting off to the "forbidden erotic images".

Even though there are only 2 detailed S&M sex scenes, I felt the book crosses the "erotica" line much more than LKH's Anita Blake books (I read through Dance Macabre, book 13). If you didn't like the level of S&M erotica in the later Anita Blake books, you probably will not like this one. There is also quite a bit more Male-Male sex than there is Male-Female sex. If you have issues with explicit Male-Male sex scenes, you'll want to skip this book.

In spite of the negatives mentioned here, I gave this book 2 stars because I felt that the world Jenna Black created was unique, interesting, and had the potential for some fabulous story telling. I even started the 2nd book in the hope that it would be better than the first. I've read about 120 Urban Fantasy books in the last 18 months. The 2nd Morgan Kingsley book now has the distinguished honor of being the first Urban Fantasy book that I will not finish. I'm about half way through it and just can't bring myself to finish it.

Like most fans of the dark fantasy genre, I've read through most of the star writers (Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs) and am now taking chances on the various second stringers. This is one that is not worth the experiment. Uncomfortable bondage scenes, logical flaws (the character grew up on the east coast and yet has only driven in snow twice???) and uniformly uninteresting characters, including the protagonist. As other reviewers have covered the problems in detail, I'll just add my voice to their warnings and skip anything further from this author.

I had a lot of problems with this book, including the amount of sex, and some of the torture/S&M scenes. There was just too much of it for it to really be a mainstream novel, as S&M lifestyles aren't really mainstream... I don't have a problem with sex most of the time, but I didn't like being less than 20 pages into the book or 40 pages or whatever and hitting a sex scene... I didn't know the character well enough to enjoy reading about her having phone or in-the-car-while-driving sexual encounters. I also didn't like that the main character was attracted to everyone *rolls eyes*. I'm tired of paranormal/dark fantasy books turning into hisem or harem type stories where everyone wants to be with the main character or the main character wants to be with everyone. Way too many are following that trend and too much sex actually gets boring.

SPOILERS

Ok, not counting the sex there was also a huge loop hole in the book's entire plot premise. The main character is posessed by the king of the demon world, right? And he's not powerful enough to posess her.... and yet he's supposed to be too powerful for her or anyone else to exorcise. (I apologise if I spell things incorrectly, I'm not really in the mood to check to make sure I get them right.) Ok, so it seems the main character is stuck with this demon inside her and yet he's supposed to be more powerful than her exorcist powers, which would also imply he could take her over right? Nope. He can't for whatever reason. My OTHER big problem with this is part of the rules for this world: demons are supposed to be able to transfer to another human host after they've already been called onto the Mortal Plain and inhabited someone else. So, why didn't this king of the demons do that... because if he did, the entire story would fall apart? Or does he have to be in control of the host before he can do that? That's another thing the author doesn't explicitly state. Near the end of the book he does transfer to someone else temporarily but moves back in... but at the time he was in control of Morgan because she let him. SO maybe that IS it. I just wish it had been said for sure, because I don't even remember the question being addressed. If he transfers to someone else and takes over, would the other demons even be able to find him? I would think that would make him safe until he could return to the Demon Realm or whatever if that's what he wanted.

Also, if the demons were really wanting to kill him, why did they let Morgan go at all? Why didn't they just burn her to death as soon as they had her as a container for Lugh? I don't understand how someone wanting to kill Lugh would allow any chance for him to live.

Another problem is the main character... I have problems with her because she does some pretty stupid things, doesn't really think things through, and she says a lot of mean things during the course of the novel to people who are trying to help her. Part of this just grates on me as a reader, but I understand that it's part of her blunt truthfulness I guess. I just found most of the characters unlikable.

I don't know exactly what parts I liked, but I liked it enough to not give it a 2... and I did finish the book. I think I liked Lugh. I liked the idea of the demons not being too different from humans, except in psychology.