The Devil's Playground

It’s difficult to be completely fair and non-biased when reviewing a series sequel when you love the world created and the characters so much. You may miss tiny nuances or weakened plot points because you’re so thrilled to finally see everyone again.

This is the fifth book, the last book, the wrap-up of all ties novel. It was a good one too, even though I felt more needed to be said about certain situations and I wish more had been explored with Lugh.

The whole Lugh reveal to Morgan about Brian, and Brian’s reaction to that, is suitably hilarious. Lugh is yummy as always but again, so much unexplored potential. Adam was the major problem for me as he’s been one of my favorites from the start, but he feels off this edition. Just show more not the same. Almost like a former shadow of himself, he was in the background a lot, it’s difficult to put my finger on.

Morgan has grown as much as she’s going to and it’s come to an acceptable enough conclusion. I do think the repetitiveness with trusting Raphael grew old and obnoxious. Some of the bigger changes erupt from some of the badder characters, such as Raphael.

It took a bit of time for the action to really kick in but once it did, pacing remained pretty consistent. At times there seemed to be too much talking and not enough action, but the ending was a grand finale battle and left me wanting more books and further adventures with the group, although sadly that won’t be coming since the series is complete.

I think Black focused on tying everything up as well as she possibly could to say goodbye to the series and its characters, but in doing so some of the sparks and spunk was lost.

Even if I enjoy this less than the others, it’s still an enjoyable book and I wish there could be more of them. show less

I just finished the book and have no idea how it spanned 380 pages (in a good way though). The story is very fast paced and seems a bit rushed at times but the story is engaging pulp fantasy throughout. There are some sexual situations and BDSM references but it has been greatly toned down from the previous novels. Recommended if you've read the previous four books. Won't make a bit of sense if you haven't.

I ended up liking this series a lot more than I thought I would. The books improve after the first one, and the characters really grew on me. This book as the finale is a little anti-climactic, but I appreciate how the ending does not tie things up in a cutesy or overly neat fashion.

This book was very good. There were several surprises that I did not see coming. I am very curious as where Morgan goes from here.

It feels like the wrap up of the series but has an opening to continue. Hope it does continue!