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A review by maddyd51
Devil's Daughter by Paul Marquez, Hope Schenk-de Michele, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
4.0
Just released in paperback today, Devil's Daughter by Hope Schenk-de Michele and Paul Marquez is the first in the Lucinda's Pawn Shop series. The premise here is that Lucinda is the daughter of Satan. She runs a pawnshop that flits through space and time to deliver artifacts imbued with evil in an effort to promote the Devil's work.
The publisher categorizes this book as a contemporary, urban fantasy, but I'd call it a supernatural fantasy due to the focus on the battle between God and the Devil through the vehicle of the human race. Specifically, the vehicle is Lucinda's Pawnshop and Lucinda herself, who struggles with balancing her mortal and immortal selves.
With a cast of demons and fallen angels, along with mere mortals, Devil's Daughter imagines a world where scheming and backstabbing isn't done just by Satan, but among his own followers in a battle for power. The story develops with just enough background and explanation sprinkled in to provide context, but not bog down the storytelling.
On a personal note, I was a bit put off by the first chapter, where a lawyer two years out of law school is promoted to junior party at a fancy Manhattan law firm (as a lawyer myself, this struck me as implausible, so was a credibility issue!) However, the plot gave some explanation for this oddity, so I got over it (eventually).
While I'll read anything with a spaceship or dragon on the cover, this isn't a sub-genre that I usually read, but I found the characters and plot engrossing and will definitely pick up the next book in this series.
{Netgalley provided me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - all opinions are my own! See more reviews and what I'm reading at www.plantohappy.com}
The publisher categorizes this book as a contemporary, urban fantasy, but I'd call it a supernatural fantasy due to the focus on the battle between God and the Devil through the vehicle of the human race. Specifically, the vehicle is Lucinda's Pawnshop and Lucinda herself, who struggles with balancing her mortal and immortal selves.
With a cast of demons and fallen angels, along with mere mortals, Devil's Daughter imagines a world where scheming and backstabbing isn't done just by Satan, but among his own followers in a battle for power. The story develops with just enough background and explanation sprinkled in to provide context, but not bog down the storytelling.
On a personal note, I was a bit put off by the first chapter, where a lawyer two years out of law school is promoted to junior party at a fancy Manhattan law firm (as a lawyer myself, this struck me as implausible, so was a credibility issue!) However, the plot gave some explanation for this oddity, so I got over it (eventually).
While I'll read anything with a spaceship or dragon on the cover, this isn't a sub-genre that I usually read, but I found the characters and plot engrossing and will definitely pick up the next book in this series.
{Netgalley provided me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review - all opinions are my own! See more reviews and what I'm reading at www.plantohappy.com}