Daimonion by J.P. Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"But this is what I am bid to do. I am Dati Amon, a D'Alae, and we gather back the children who belong to us."

This is a well-executed story of conflict, horror, magic, and desire. Shape-shifters, witches, demons, creepy burrowing insects, elementals, satyrs and even a deliciously evil succubus make for a colourful cast of characters to guide readers through a beautifully described series of paranormal events, culminating in a satisfying end to Book I of the Apocalypse series.

I was most impressed by the skillful manner in which imaginative and unique magical goings-on were described. Certain paranormal tropes and clichés were explored in new and creative ways. Without giving too much away, I was particularly amazed by the wonderful descriptions of what happened to a certain character when encased in a demonic cocoon. Yes - the action and the magic are where words were extremely well spent in this novel! Bravo to the writer!

For me, the characters were solid but they didn't totally engross me. I didn't find myself emotionally invested in any one of them in particular. I enjoyed them well enough, but I didn't find a strong connection that had me dying to see what would happen to any of them in the future. The plot itself had me turning the page though, so this wasn't a major issue overall. I also think that as a reader who doesn't normally read this genre, I'm not quite the correct target audience for this cast of characters. I also suspect that most of the characters have a great deal of development ahead, so the author needed to save some of that for the next book, especially with Jenae.

The story feels well-planned. There's a strong sense that the author knows exactly where it will all lead in the future books, each thread weaved purposefully.

Overall, Daimonion is intriguing, confronting, action-packed, and intense.

​"Perception and assumption ruled the human thought processes, and in their minds, they saw what made them comfortable."

As I said, I don't usually read horror, so I apologise if my review and rating were coloured by my own natural tastes/preferences.

A few warnings in case they're relevant to anyone: high level of gore and violence (really well written gore, I might add!) and some sexually confronting themes (they're not depicted, but referred to) such as incest.
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I was provided with a free ARC in exchange for a review. The author was keen for me to be very honest in my comments.

The Awakening by Yvonne Heidt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
My rating (3 stars) reflects, to a degree, a personal frustration I've developed with lesfic in recent months. I would have rated the book at four stars if it didn't happen to push those 'pet peeve' buttons. So please, take my rating with a grain of salt, it probably deserves higher - and if I could click 3.5, I certainly would. The novel is well-written, delivers what it promises from the beginning, and does an excellent job of exploring the paranormal world without bogging us down in unfamiliar language or concepts.

So, to the author, please forgive my rant below. It's not about your book as such, it's more about the trend I can't seem to escape in my reading. Trends that were present in this book.


*SPOILERS AHEAD* - So what is 'the thing' in lesfic that is starting to bother me?
I've read lots of books in the last six months with two common plot points, both of which are in this book.

1. Foster carers are ineffectual and do more harm than good.
I know this can be the case. OF COURSE! Like any group of human beings, some carers are not good people. But, for once, I'd like to read a book where a foster carer is a half decent person. As a disclaimer here, I've been a foster carer for nearly 10 years. I'm just sick of seeing them vilified, being used as faceless characters that add to the overall traumatic background of a character. Most foster carers I've met (*MOST*) are doing the best they can whilst trying to raise someone else's children, children who turn up on our door steps with a lot of trauma and a variety of high needs. Most carers want to help children heal as much as might be possible given the circumstances.
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2. Rape.
There's so much rape in lesfic. Or at least, I've somehow managed to pick up one book after another where a woman is raped. It's subtle in this book, there's no graphic sexual assault, but it's clear through several references that Jordan was sexually assaulted by men, and that it's largely her mother's fault for not protecting her or putting her in a position where it was easy for unsavoury characters to access Jordan as a child.

I know these things happen. Someone very close to me is the survivor of ongoing childhood sexual assault. But I can tell you, they get sick of reading adult characters who seem to be close to broken because of those experiences and so do those close to them. That version of the story is told often enough. Can we see a character who went through those experiences, it's a shadow in their experiences, but it doesn't characterise their entire life or colour their entire personality and even make it impossible for them to life a 'functional' life? Or, perhaps a character may experience something that was challenging, difficult and extremely hard to life with, that ISN'T a rape? It feels like it's become an almost "go-to" style of plot point with how often I've seen it lately. And that trend doesn't fall to this book alone, of course not! I just didn't enjoy seeing it yet again.