Legacy of the Demon

Kara has had her power cut and is isolated away from the demon lords (except one). But she has no time to just sit back without power – her best friend is bereft, her baby is missing

And the world is under siege – there are rifts appearing everywhere, spewing out demons, some of them completely unlike anything Kara has seen before. The world knows about demons – because they’re under constant attack and have very few experts who can actually fight back.

While the demon lords are overwhelmed trying to stop the end of both their worlds.

I actually had trouble getting into this book. Because it’s all there! This book series is now eight books long and it’s all in this book. All of it. Things that happened in all the seven books show more before this, all that rich world building, all those dramatic events, all of those amazing storylines and characters and world building – it’s ALL THERE

Honestly, I wish, sincerely, that I had the time to start again on book one and appreciate every little part of this amazing story because I think this is really the only way to truly absorb the hugeness of this book. Especially since it has been a year since I last read this excellent series.

This reminds me of just how very rich this world is and how much has grown from the very beginning and is still growing. This book contains so many absolutely amazing developments, revelations which builds so much more on this word. I love that there is more to develop, I love that there is so much more to this world than we have seen and that when we finally thought we had so many answers it actually turns out…

Yes I was always going to use this gif

In any other book I would yell “too much!”. And I’m not even sure why I don’t on this one. There’s so much here. The world building grows exponentially with revelations about the demon world, the nature of potency, the nature of the Demon Lords, the rifts, the demon clans, the history of the demons – that’s all huge world building developments. It’s immense and makes the whole world look so much different and have so much potential for more stories. Then we have Kara’s relationships, Mzatal, her aunt, her own history, her power, her new friends, her old friends. There’s amazing complexity like how she deals with Rhyzkhal.

And oh how I was suspicious about this because it looked like we were going to go down that horrible redemption train route with this utter villain – but even while he was humanised and Kara saw more to him than the many who persecuted and tortured her, she still also maintained her anger. Ultimately her decisions and evolution towards him felt a lot more like her own growth and revelations than ever it was actually about him – yes, it felt like a quasi-forgiveness path that focused more on the victim. I still can’t say I was happy by it but it was far more substantive than a standard rapid redemption pathway.

Then there’s her relationship with Jill which is PERFECT. I mean they’re not perfect – they’re sometimes short with each other and say careless things and they understand they forgive and the apologise and they love and care for each other and it’s just such an awesome, amazing friendship.

There’s some really excellent, complex biplay between Kara and Idris (because every relationship here is complex and excellent) and some great interactions with people she doesn’t get on with but is willing to work with.

Oh and Kara is badass and totally in charge. She’s an expert, she knows it and she is respected for it.

On top of that we have some really great action scenes and a whole demon invasion and Kara taking point and control above and beyond the Lords or anyone else. And a demonic mutation plague. And kittens!

All of this? It should be too much!

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This is definitely a series for you if you love:

A: Insane powerups
B: Enormous changes in the world thanks in part to the efforts or mess-ups surrounding the characters we know and love and those we love to hate.
C: Hybrid UF/Epic Fantasy.

Much has been said about how this series starts off as a cool UF with a cop who can summon demons and how it becomes an epic nightmare between the demon world and Earth and now the Core with immense magical and racial reveals. It starts out usual and then becomes something really big, with Kara Gillian leading the defensive charge. Add a war between Demon Lords and the WORSE enemy from the Core and we have the stakes all the way up to utter destruction of both the Earth AND the beautiful Demon World. show more (Yeah, I know, it's beautiful. Get over it. ;)

Kara's abilities are on par with those of Demon Lords now and most of that is thanks to the capture and harnessing of the jerk that tried to turn her into a meat puppet. I really enjoyed how she grew as a person, too, while having her enemies in her power. She didn't succumb to a rage-filled torturesque montage no matter how much we as readers *MIGHT* have enjoyed that. :)

And as for action and worry and the twists and turns of WAR, the plot was fascinating and dire. Rifts opening up all over the world with demons pouring through is kinda bad, after all. The end is cool as shit.

My only complaint is probably a personal one. Maybe it's a lazy thing. But there's a lot of names that start with Z and enough weird demon names throughout the text as to give me a minor headache trying to sort them all out and keep the connection. I can understand the need for a big cast of characters when we're dealing with an incursion on a massive scale, but things like this can annoy to the point it pulls me right out of the tale. Fortunately, it's not bad enough to make me lose any real threads, but it is a bit of a WTF moment unless you're actually good at long lists of names along the line of the Iliad. :)

Regardless, the tale always focuses on Kara and keeping her as an anchor was an excellent call. I had a great time with the entire novel and I'm astounded at just how many changes have come over the worlds. War-torn Earth, indeed, with gigantic monstrosities lumbering across cities. Hell ya! Wooooooo! :) show less

The Kara Gillian series has its ups and downs, fortunately mainly ups.

This time the book jumps a few months ahead right in the middle of action sequence, literally, and apparently Kara has been promoted to something akin to world leader of fighting the supernatural. Everyone knows her connections to the realm and what she's about, so she has the edge when ridges start opening over the world and Earth starts going to literal hell. She even talks to the president at some point, although the reader just gets the one-sided phone call gist of the conversation. Rhyz is still in the backyard contained, Mzatal and she stay on good terms but again illustrate the absence makes the heart grow fonder mantra, Jill is still pining for her child, and show more there's all sorts of unsettled situations in both world.

No one can accuse this story of not being creative and intricately structured; in actually it's so detailed it's almost confusing. I admit to never knowing the full picture. There's twists and turns classic Kara Gillian style, although no big shockers this time. That's okay, the story didn't need another yet.

Fans of the original Rhyz will be perhaps surprised but maybe happy that the man reaches some redemption. More light is shone on his former sins, bringing them into news angles and explanations. Turns out some of his past follies weren't so bad after all. Not only that, but Kara reaches inside herself for some forgiveness to let a certain hatchet bury itself. I liked the change and not just seeing him as the big-bad all the time.

Kadir is a fun return, creepy and a little cliffhanger. Others return and intermix, although there's a sad sort of ending for an old series regular that hasn't seen the light of page the past few books.

Ultimately it's a good story and addition to the mythos, but it's so action packed and filled it loses steam only because it overdoes it. Over-hammer something and it eventually grows blunt. I grew bored with too much action, drawn out battlefield plays, hyped up stressors and constantly appearing/twisting demonic enemies. Kara remains likable - more so than she used to be even - but even the small doses of her internal humor cannot calm down the over-hyped up story.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC show less

I gave it 3.5 stars

I won't lie, I was completely lost when I started reading LEGACY OF THE DEMON. You find out pretty quick that there was a lot of information missed between book 7, VENGEANCE OF THE DEMON and now. In fact, months have passed, Kara is part of a new team and her new job title is a pretty big deal—the president calls her big—, demons are causing major havoc due to the dimensional rift that happened at the end of VENGEANCE OF THE DEMON, and on top of that, she is dead set on finding Jill's daughter, Ashava, Zack and Ryan.

There was a lot of action in LEGACY OF THE DEMON. So much that it really overpowered the storyline in some spots. I don't think I have ever said that before. We find out a lot more about the show more Elinor/Rowan story and it was pretty shocking to learn that Rhyzkahl isn't as bad as I thought he was. In fact, a lot of secrets were revealed from front to back of LEGACY OF THE DEMON.

I have no clue how I feel about Kara and Mzatal anymore. They don't have a lot of time together in LEGACY OF THE DEMON and it's hard to feel their connection when they aren't together. Then again, this is an urban fantasy not a paranormal romance. I just like romance.

I really miss the feel of the early Kara Gillian books, I really loved the police work and the investigating. I think LEGACY OF THE DEMON moved a little more in that direction, so maybe it will move even farther there in book 9. One can hope.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

I am mildly boggled at how much this series has evolved as it went. From a relatively simple paranormal romance crossed with police procedural, and now it has more of a supernatural military superhero vibe to it.

DNF. This is so far from the series I began. I'm not interested in soldiers in a demon war.