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thegeekyblogger's review
4.0
Read/Listened for Fun (Audible/Paperback)
Tracking Books Read Review (Short)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: I was thrilled to see that Mark of the Demon was a little bit Urban Fantasy and Mystery/Thriller! Glad I have 3 more of the series ready to go!
Overall Thoughts: I love Diana Rowland's White Trash Zombie series and have owned these forever. I was not disappointed. I really liked Kara--she was smart, interesting, quirky, and can kick butt. I loved that she was cop and has a past that makes her a better cop. The mystery was strong. I am very interested to see how things play out with Kara and all the craziness that is going on in her world. I have to say that last little bit about the naked pictures on the internet made me laugh out loud. You will just have to read it to figure out what that refers too!
Audio Thoughts:
Liv did an excellent job with Mark of the Demon. I have never listened to her narrate a book before but I was impressed. I will be watching for books narrated by her in the future.
Final Thought: Need to squeeze book 2 in soon!
Tracking Books Read Review (Short)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: I was thrilled to see that Mark of the Demon was a little bit Urban Fantasy and Mystery/Thriller! Glad I have 3 more of the series ready to go!
Overall Thoughts: I love Diana Rowland's White Trash Zombie series and have owned these forever. I was not disappointed. I really liked Kara--she was smart, interesting, quirky, and can kick butt. I loved that she was cop and has a past that makes her a better cop. The mystery was strong. I am very interested to see how things play out with Kara and all the craziness that is going on in her world. I have to say that last little bit about the naked pictures on the internet made me laugh out loud. You will just have to read it to figure out what that refers too!
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Liv Anderson / Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
Liv did an excellent job with Mark of the Demon. I have never listened to her narrate a book before but I was impressed. I will be watching for books narrated by her in the future.
Final Thought: Need to squeeze book 2 in soon!
bookworm1912's review
adventurous
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
feelingferal's review
3.0
3.5 stars. Police procedure urban fantasy that succeeds despite having a generally unlikable MC who is weirdly obsessed with describing exactly how far everyone's stomachs are. Some plot holes and shallow characterizations and things that make no sense....like going on for chapters about the need for secrecy and then just deciding to tell a bunch of people she just met about all of this too secret stuff. But it's a satisfying, fast UF read
eb00kie's review against another edition
2.0
I soo liked the abriged version. This book is so damn long, long... long.
kblincoln's review
4.0
Kara is a police officer in a small town in Louisiana trying to find a serial killer. She also happens to be a summoner, one of a secret, small number of humans genetically gifted with the ability to open a portal between our world and a world of "demons" (not judeo-christian, really, just a handy term)and summon the inhabitants into our world.
Of course, the serial killer turns out to be a summoner, too. And of course, Kara tries to summon a demon to help her catch the killer and ends up summoning a demon lord who haunts her dreams in a sexual manner.
This book had awesome, convincing, fascinating police/coroner procedures mixed with likeable characters. However, the reason it doesn't quite get the full five starts from me has more to do with picky little writing things I felt could have been addressed better, along with the unsatisfactory nature of the sexual relationship between Kara and the demon lord. I counted three "sour faces" within two pages, and that wasn't the only use of that phrase. Kara also tends to describe Every. Single. Person. she encounters by how much pudge they have over their midsection. Choose a different feature! Finally, the demon lord and she have instant sex in the beginning of the story. While some people may describe that as HAWT, I felt the use of the sex was very unsatisfactory becaue of the lack of emotional attachment, the lack of knowing enough about Kara before it happens to really understand why she decides to have sex with a dangerous demon she accidentally summoned, and because I felt just the seduction itself could have been as effective without the sexxoring.
However, despite these quibbles, I'll definitely keep an eye out for any further installments as the combination of well-thought out magic and believable crime investigation was fantastic.
Of course, the serial killer turns out to be a summoner, too. And of course, Kara tries to summon a demon to help her catch the killer and ends up summoning a demon lord who haunts her dreams in a sexual manner.
This book had awesome, convincing, fascinating police/coroner procedures mixed with likeable characters. However, the reason it doesn't quite get the full five starts from me has more to do with picky little writing things I felt could have been addressed better, along with the unsatisfactory nature of the sexual relationship between Kara and the demon lord. I counted three "sour faces" within two pages, and that wasn't the only use of that phrase. Kara also tends to describe Every. Single. Person. she encounters by how much pudge they have over their midsection. Choose a different feature! Finally, the demon lord and she have instant sex in the beginning of the story. While some people may describe that as HAWT, I felt the use of the sex was very unsatisfactory becaue of the lack of emotional attachment, the lack of knowing enough about Kara before it happens to really understand why she decides to have sex with a dangerous demon she accidentally summoned, and because I felt just the seduction itself could have been as effective without the sexxoring.
However, despite these quibbles, I'll definitely keep an eye out for any further installments as the combination of well-thought out magic and believable crime investigation was fantastic.
itabar's review
Couldn't finish. A body is discovered and the torture and long, drawn out murder is described in more detail than I cared for. Then a second body is found and we get more delightful descriptions of torture and murder. I have no idea how many more bodies are going to be found but I don't want to read any more graphic and loving details of *any* slow tortures and drawn out murders. I'm done.
I listened to it and found several places where I was just shouting "GET ON WITH F**ING PLOT, ALREADY!" There was a particularly annoying bit where the heroine asks her aunt about the mysterious demon. Her aunt knows what/who the demon is, but shows her one picture after another after another AFTER ANOTHER of demons which she KNOWS are not the demon her niece encountered. What was the f**king point of that??? Maybe reading this book would have been less frustrating because I could have skimmed it, but listening, not so much.
And the sex. Please. She encounters a studly demon and decides to have sex with it. Not likely based on her previous love life.
I listened to it and found several places where I was just shouting "GET ON WITH F**ING PLOT, ALREADY!" There was a particularly annoying bit where the heroine asks her aunt about the mysterious demon. Her aunt knows what/who the demon is, but shows her one picture after another after another AFTER ANOTHER of demons which she KNOWS are not the demon her niece encountered. What was the f**king point of that??? Maybe reading this book would have been less frustrating because I could have skimmed it, but listening, not so much.
And the sex. Please. She encounters a studly demon and decides to have sex with it. Not likely based on her previous love life.
htb2050's review
3.0
I didn't find it as good as white trash zombies. Lets hope the next few books pick up the pace.
theladygonzalez's review
3.0
Mark of the Demon is an extremely ambitious debut. Rowland setup an intriguing storyline that keeps you guessing until the last page. The main character, Kara is also a rather unique heroine. She is equal parts demon summoner and cop - which gives her an interesting take on things. Because of Kara's occupation the reader is given a first hand look at the Police business, which I found incredibly interesting. The only problem with this is that it tended to slow the book down. While the idea of the book was wonderful, the plot line was chunky at times, which is never a good thing.
While the plot was sometimes chunky and the pacing was a little out of whack, I honestly enjoyed the characters. Like I said before, Kara is a demon summoning cop - how awesome is that? She is tough and determined, but also lonely. Because she is a summoner, she has kept her relationships at a distance. That is until, Ryan Kristoff shows up. Ryan is a FED that is assigned to Kara's symbol man case and he quickly knocks down her barriers. At first he and Kara butt heads but they soon develop a friendship. With Ryan, Kara can finally let someone in and she becomes dependent on this friendship and finds herself craving his attentions.
Then there is Rhyzkahl; a demon lord. Early on in the book, Rhyzkahl comes through one of Kara's portals when she is trying to summon a lower level demon. He quickly takes an.... interest in her and kind of begins stalking her. He appears within her dreams throughout the book urging her to "call him to her". Kara is understandably frighted of him - he is one of the most powerful Demon Lords, and she refuses to do what he asks. Rhyzkahl claims that he is merely infatuated with her, but she knows that he must have ulterior motives.
Rhyzkahl is a fabulous character. He is terrifying, addicting and infatuating. He is made out to be extremely gorgeous and powerful - it is easy to see why Kara is attracted to him. I am not saying that she should go play house with him, but he is definitely a great character; I found myself eagerly anticipating his scenes. Hopefully we will see more from him in the next book.
While I enjoyed aspects of this book, there were a lot of problems with the pacing. Hopefully Rowland will work out the kinks for the next installment. The storyline and characters have such great potential, I am eager to see where Rowland takes them next.
While the plot was sometimes chunky and the pacing was a little out of whack, I honestly enjoyed the characters. Like I said before, Kara is a demon summoning cop - how awesome is that? She is tough and determined, but also lonely. Because she is a summoner, she has kept her relationships at a distance. That is until, Ryan Kristoff shows up. Ryan is a FED that is assigned to Kara's symbol man case and he quickly knocks down her barriers. At first he and Kara butt heads but they soon develop a friendship. With Ryan, Kara can finally let someone in and she becomes dependent on this friendship and finds herself craving his attentions.
Then there is Rhyzkahl; a demon lord. Early on in the book, Rhyzkahl comes through one of Kara's portals when she is trying to summon a lower level demon. He quickly takes an.... interest in her and kind of begins stalking her. He appears within her dreams throughout the book urging her to "call him to her". Kara is understandably frighted of him - he is one of the most powerful Demon Lords, and she refuses to do what he asks. Rhyzkahl claims that he is merely infatuated with her, but she knows that he must have ulterior motives.
Rhyzkahl is a fabulous character. He is terrifying, addicting and infatuating. He is made out to be extremely gorgeous and powerful - it is easy to see why Kara is attracted to him. I am not saying that she should go play house with him, but he is definitely a great character; I found myself eagerly anticipating his scenes. Hopefully we will see more from him in the next book.
While I enjoyed aspects of this book, there were a lot of problems with the pacing. Hopefully Rowland will work out the kinks for the next installment. The storyline and characters have such great potential, I am eager to see where Rowland takes them next.
eloiseug's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5