My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The darkness is rising and one man stands against it: the exorcist mage Simon Alliant. But in Baltimore, he finally meets his match...a part-mortal divinity with the power to whisper away demons.
Simon Alliant is an exorcist who battles demons, whether he wants to or not. Sometimes it's not so bad...he gets to play with magic, after all. But for Simon, magic represents a demon of another kind. He's addicted to magic and it takes more than a handful of charms to keep that particular demon at bay.
Chiara is part Light, part Dark, and stubbornly mortal. The woman has a way with words: she literally talks demons into abandoning their human hosts. Simon thinks that's not the only trick she has up her sleeve-and that's pretty high praise coming from a mage like him.
As intriguing as that may be, Simon has too many reasons to distrust her...one of them being his more-or-less partner, an angelic Watcher. Amidst all the celestial warnings of the rising dark comes a new prophesy that makes him wonder: is Chiara a threat to him and all of mankind?
Or will she be his salvation?
My Review:
This was such an entertaining story! I loved it! It is dark, gritty and emotional with delightfully superb writing, just what I expect from a novel by Ash Krafton. Simon Alliant is a man tormented by his past. He struggles to right a wrong doing the only thing he knows how to do. He exorcises demons to save human lives. And in doing this, he meets Chiara, a woman unlike any he has ever known. When he first meets her, he thinks he's saving her from a demon, but she, in fact, is trying to exorcise the demon in her own unique way. She whispers to it until the demon listens to her, sending it back to Hell. She is a powerful ally and amazingly strong woman. But, she's more than that. She's a mystery to Simon, one that he needs to solve along with his pursuit of defeating the rising darkness.
Simon pulled at my heartstrings in a way few characters do. He is a complicated man who fights evil while guilt eats away at his soul. As Chiara (and I) learned about his past, it explained his current dark attitude toward life and his existence.
Oh, and I loved the dialogue! Sarcasm oozes from this guy and Chiara is sassy on her own terms. This was a fun book to read! It was full of action, magic and mayhem, mystery and suspense and since I'm really a romantic at heart, I wonder if perhaps there may be a little romance between Simon and Chiara in a future book. This tale is a page-turner! And the ending hits like a fist, leaving the reader gasping with surprise. I'm eager to keep reading this series to find out what happens next.
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