Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian, Book 1)
by Diana Rowland
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Book Summary Information
Author: Diana RowlandEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-06-23
ISBN: 0553592351
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Bantam
Book Reviews of Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian, Book 1)
Book Review: A Few Rough Edges But A Very Promising Series Debut
Summary: 4 Stars
After years of working her way up from street cop, Kara Gillian is a newly minted police detective by day. By night she embraces her family heritage as a "summoner" by summoning demons to her basement arcane workshop. After years of work she is finally ready to complete her training by calling up and binding a demon of the highest level. Unfortunately something goes wrong with the ritual, and instead of a demon, a demon-lord steps into her basement. Surprisingly, instead of killing her immediately, he contents himself with a sensual encounter and informs Kara that in the future she may "call" him rather than "summon" him and he will come.
Still somewhat shell-shocked from the encounter, she next learns that the local serial killer whose arcane traces she felt as a street cop has started striking again and if he is not stopped, the consequences will go well beyond simple loss of life.
Kara's story is told in the first person, and is often vividly described (the author has worked in a morgue, so the autopsy scenes seem very unsparing and true to life). All the book's write-ups describe it as a combination of police procedural and urban fantasy, and I believe that was the goal, but I have to say that the police narrative is a little bit shortchanged, and was one of the factors causing me to give the book 4 instead of 5 stars. In particualr, Kara seems to operate in a very free-wheeling manner, keeping her own hours, rarely checking in at work, doing paperwork, or coordinating with her serial-killer-taskforce. For that matter, we never get a clear picture of why summoners call demons other than that they can. I'm left almost with the feeling that it's a hobby like being a HAM radio operator. There is a bit much co-incidence as well, with 30 year old events dovetailing too neatly into the present. Still this is a very good start to a series, and the author has obviously left open possibilities similar to Richelle Mead's Thorn Queen/Dark Swan books for Kara to be involved in events both in our world and the demon land.
A SPOILER HERE
I did feel it was a bit odd that Kara never confronted the demon lord over his murder of her grandmother, or re-evaluated her tryst with him in the light of that information. Granted she never knew her grandmother, but he was the reason for that as well..
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