From New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole comes this scorching tale of a demon outcast poisoned with vampire blood and the vulnerable young witch he vows to protect-even from himself. Malkom Slaine: tormented by his sordid past and racked by vampiric hungers, he’s pushed to the brink by the green-eyed beauty under his guard. Carrow Graie: hiding her own sorrows, she lives only for the … lives only for the next party or prank. Until she meets a tortured warrior worth saving.
In order for Malkom and Carrow to survive, he must unleash both the demon and vampire inside him. When Malkom becomes the nightmare his own people feared, will he lose the woman he craves body and soul?
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A very exciting book filled with characters that I loved. This author is great!!!
Super double-plus good. LOVE Malcolm (who is a DEMPIRE, not a Vemon. A vemon is when a vampire and a demon make a baby together. A DEMPIRE is when a demon gets turned into a vampire. Ask Nix the ever-knowing to confirm this.)
At first I wasn’t thrilled about the introduction of a side character kid to the plot line because it sort of slows down stories but she was cute and called Malcolm her “StepDemon”
I also loved how he got back to Carrow at the end.
Way back in book one of this series, A Hunger Like No Other, the main character had to deal with the fact that he’d been a prisoner for so long that the world had moved on without him. He wasn’t around for the advent of planes, trains, and automobiles. It was disorienting for him and a joy for me, as a reader, to see his fascination and distaste war with one another. With this story, Malkom is at an even bigger disadvantage.
It has been at least a thousand years since Malkom has held any type of conversation with anyone. Before he escaped his imprisonment, he had lost his only friend and ally. Malkom was changed by his enemies into something he abhors and, as time passed, willfully made himself forget their language. To top it off, he’s from a different plane of existence than that where the majority of these stories take place. He is aware of that fact and that there are portals that are opened once in a while, usually to banish somebody or something to his desert hell world. But he knows nothing of what things are like on the other side of those portals.
This all means that when the other main character, Carrow, arrives on his world he is fierce and uncivilized. Which makes for some scenes that vary from very intense to extremely comical. One thing is for certain, Malkom immediately knew Carrow to be his mate before he even set eyes on her. As soon as she arrived through the portal, he was all in on protecting and claiming her. As you may imagine, those things don’t hold a lot of water for a strong, independent woman from the 21st century in our world. Especially when there is a communication barrier. Boy, these two were a lot of fun.
There are plenty of times where I felt Malkom crossed a line. At the same time, I was trying to see things through his eyes and know how he had grown up and the beliefs of his people, especially when eons have passed. And while there were iffy lines of consent in things he did along the way, he learned from Carrow’s reactions and set out to do better each time he made a mistake. His intent was never to harm Carrow, he truly didn’t understand that she didn’t have the same visceral reaction to him as her mate or that she wouldn’t follow the same customs as he was used to. Through all of his baser instincts, he wanted to protect Carrow above all other things, even if he had to protect her from himself.
I’ve been reading these stories along with listening to the podcast Fated Mates and was pre-warned that this book kicks off what the hosts call “Torture Island”. There is a lot to take in when it comes to Carrow’s captivity, why she goes after Malkom in the first place, who is behind the disappearance of creatures from the lore, etc. This is our first peek at the island and who is being held there. Things are crazy and terrible and intense. In other words, not for the faint of heart.
As for Malkom and Carrow, they have their ups and downs as all couples do. They each make questionable decisions and assumptions without bothering to fully understand the other’s motivations. Yet they also have great chemistry and a need to make sure the other is happy and satisfied.
With this “Torture Island” arc of the series and what we’ve learned so far, I find it hard to believe the next book will be able to redeem a certain character. But I’m sure Kresley Cole will make me fall in love with the Regin’s love match. It should be interesting.
Ohhhh…..this one was good! I loved everything about this! Carrow and her journey from being rudderless to ruddered. Finding the hot guy under the dirt. ALL the descriptions of Malkom’s body (especially THAT part of his body that always seems to be poking out of his pants ). Carrow rescuing Malkom. Ruby and her future badassness. What the hell are those mortals doing to my Loreans??? Regan . Lanthe. Lothaire. EVERYTHING.
My only complaint was the ending. I needed more. Just a little more. Maybe an epilogue? Hopefully, we will see Carrow and Malkom in future books. I want to see Malkom in Carrow’s world.
To try to not give any spoilers… This Demon loving witch affair was a decent book. I enjoyed the plot and setting. The twists and turns and the heart wrenching turns that make you want to yell at the book like the characters can hear you… (Anyone else do that??) There were plenty of neat things that I haven’t seen before and maybe that’s because I’m just getting into paranormal romances but I thought there were several interesting world building things thrown in there though that’s not generally too much of a point in romance books. I was happy to see the inventiveness in it. I thought the collars were neat touch.
bookshelves: adult, paranormal, romance, 0-n-order-by-athr, shared-2-facebook, 2shr2bkbub, 2shr2google, shared-2-amazon, suspense
Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
4.75 Stars
Full of suspense & hot, steamy romance.
I get more addicted to this series with each book!
Every element you need to make a great story is here.
Absolutely DELECTABLE!
(I originally read/reviewed Demon from the Dark on my previous blog ‘Mrs. Papillion aka “The Book Worm” back in 2010, so this is a revised version after reading/listening to it a second time in 2019.)
The first time I read Demon from the Dark I fell for Malkom Slaine immediately since his story touched my soul. Here he was a male character who had gone through a lot like a blood/sex slave and being betrayed by his mother and then his own best friend. He has to be one of my favorite male characters of the series, and I can understand his trust issues after reading/listening to his book.
Then there’s the female character in the story who happens to be his mate, Carrow Graie, who has been kidnapped by some humans. She’s with other lore characters on ‘Torture Island,’ but instead of torturing her they have tasked her to bring back someone to the island, which happens to be Malkom. If she doesn’t then, they will harm someone she cares about dearly and when she meets Malkom though she never expects though he’s her destined mate in the story.
My thoughts about Malkom and Carrow: All I can say is that they are in love and they are PERFECT for each other. From the moment Carrow and Malkom meet each other, it’s a match made in HEAVEN. And yes I said, Heaven.
Malkom is the tough-loving guy who will protect you to the very end, even though he’s been through a lot. Carrow is the same way. Although, she is keeping a secret from Malkom and I wish she would’ve just been upfront with Malkom.I loved this story though because these two were meant for each other. Carrow is the mischievous witch that everyone knows about, and Malkom is the one everyone fears for what he is, but he’s not a scary lore creature at all. I don’t think he is at all.
Be prepared to have some reunion of characters come together from previous books in this book. I love how Kresley has everything come together in this book. This book focuses a lot on ‘Torture Island’ and bad guys being humans torturing the lore and a lot is going on and I know there is a lot more going to be told.
I only have a couple more books that I read in the series, and then everything will be new to me. I love this series! Every book gets better and better, and I swear Kresley Cole’s storytelling gets better and better too.
Story Rating: 5 stars
Steaminess Rating: 4 stars
Standalone or part of series: Part of the Immortals After Dark series and I highly recommend reading in order.
Do I recommend this book? Yes.
Will I read other books from the author? Yes. She’s one of my auto-buy favorite authors.
Tropes/Elements: Fated Mates
Hero: Half-Vampire/Half-Demon; Tortured
Heroine: Witch; Mischievous
For me, this has to be my number one novel to read. I just love how dark and brusque Malkom is. The characters just come together so well, yet not well enough that the book is boring. The clashes between the two main characters is just splendid. Kresley Cole did a marvelous job writing this, and I would be happy if she would write some more like Demon From the Dark.
This book was considerably longer than the rest in the series so far. This was not a bad thing. I became very invested in the characters and was even moved to tears on a couple of occasions. As in any novel in this series, the couple had their struggles to get through to be together, but in this you almost wonder if they are insurmountable. I was happy with the return of other characters that I enjoyed from previous books, and loved the entrance of the new characters we met. The end was very satisfying, this is probably one of my favorites in the series this far.