Rating: 2 1/2 stars
Karalynn Lee’s novella begins with Kenan, an incubus in human form, walking through the marketplace of Hellsgate when he comes upon a rare sight—an angel collared and caged.
Thinking the angel’s soul would be the perfect addition to his already impressive collection, he buys her.
Learning the angel’s name and how she came to be in Hellsgate, Kenan plans to make Jahel his sweetest conquest and so begins to earn her trust and assists in the completion of the mission she had begun.
When Kenan finally has Jahel exactly where he wants her, he has only to let his demonic instinct take over to finish her off. However, in his game of cat and mouse, Kenan wonders if the angel hasn’t snared the incubus instead.
Karalynn Lee does a good job in setting the tone and building a world through the rich imagery of her descriptions. However, for reasons unknown, the story is rushed. Whereas many authors try to wring blood from a stone by squeezing out novel lengths from their already-lacking short-stories, Lee somehow fails to see the great potential in hers.
The author introduces interesting characters that only scratch the surface of who they are and how they came to be and careened through an unlikely—yet very intriguing—coupling of an angel and a demon; which, only makes the fairly-hot sex scenes seem more stark and gratuitous, rather than the satisfying free-fall they could have been had it had the proper context surrounding them.
Karalynn Lee did a good job of blurring the line between angel and demon, making it unclear as to who was seducing whom. The author also managed to weave-in a nod to Snow White whose concept alone could have been the catalyst to begin this imaginative and interesting tale; a tale that already encompassed a menagerie of characters ripe to create an epic story replete with potential.
Though Demon’s Fall may have been a missed opportunity, Karalynn Lee does succeed in leaving her readers wanting more.
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Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 194 KB / approx 70 pages
Publisher: Carina Press (October 25, 2010)
ASIN: B004322FEA