Book Review: Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

5 Stars

At the end of Pleasure of a Dark Prince, we saw three separate epilogues where several creatures from the Lore were captured- one of whom was Carrow the Incarcerated. Which brings us to Demon from the Dark.

Carrow is put in a cell with Lanthe (remember her? Sabine’s sister…the one who creates portals) and a 7 yr old witch named Ruby. Ruby’s mom was Carrow’s cousin and coven-mate Amanda, and the Order has just killed her! So Carrow stepped up to the plate and adopted Ruby. Unfortunately the Order (the jerks kidnapping the Immortals to experiment on them, vivisect them, and kill/torture them) uses Ruby as leverage against Carrow. Carrow is to go the the demon world of Ash courtesy of a portal from Lanthe, and bring back a vemon. Now, you might be wondering just how 2 witches and a sorceress can remain in captivity? The Order put collars on them that mute their powers. Tricky. And Carrow’s would be deactivated for the duration of 5 days so she could capture Malkom, a rare vemon (a demon-turned-vampire), and also very dangerous. Doing this would secure Ruby and Carrow’s freedom. The problem with that little plan is that Carrow’s energy source that fuels her powers is happiness and revelry. That’s why she’s such a party girl-she’s charging her batteries, so to speak. She can’t charge herself with her own happiness, though, because as Mariketa tells us, she’s actually not happy. And what are the chances of a happy happy joy joy fix in a remote demon plane?
Malkom is amazing. As a young boy his mother sold him as a blood slave to a vampire master. Of course the sicko used him sexually too until Malkom hit puberty, then kicked him out. So Malkom scrounged on the streets until he was old enough to kill the vampires that had taken over his world. He was so vicious and so brutal that their prince, Kallen the Just, found him and brought him into his army. They fought together for many years, until for the first time in his life, Malkom had a friend, a purpose, and a full belly. Until the Viceroy captures Malkom and Kallen. He turns them both into vampires, and locks them in the same cell until the thirst takes over and Kallen can’t not drink Malkom. Malkom sees it as yet another betrayal, and kills Kallen first (important to note, Malkom does not drink from him). So Malkom then survives. And that is his existence-survival. For centuries. Survival, nothing more.
Enter Carrow.

Malkom recognizes her as his fated Female and his vampiric Bride. This is where the real story begins. The two couldn’t communicate. Carrow only knows a few naughty phrases in demonish, and Malkom has blocked out the English his master taught him through torture and sex.

I found this to be the absolute sweetest love story. With few words, and body language the two found a way to communicate, and to love. Unfortunately, though, Carrow was planning on betraying him to the Order. At one point he bites her after promising not to, and she panics-what if her gets her memories, but out of context? What if he figures out she’s leading him to his imminent torture, and possible death? So he storms out of the cave, and then when she goes looking for him, he lets himself be taken to protect Carrow.
Not only does Carrow save him from a gruesome death, she takes him to the Order as planned, and of course, they don’t keep their word and she and Ruby are still stuck.

Poor Malkom-it was the ultimate betrayal. And the final straw. Any sliver of happiness or trust died when he realized Carrow had betrayed him. She’d lied. He promised retribution every time he was dragged past her cell.
At this point, Lothaire is being cryptic, and trying to get Malkom to help him-remember Malkom was tortured by vampires so he has no love lost when he leaves Lothaire to…wait for it…La Dorada!!! Remember her from Pleasure of a Dark Prince? yep, she’s the slimy, mummy-looking thing that unlocks all the collars of the beings she deems “evil” (Malkom included) and leaves all the “good” immortals collared and powerless. I think this is almost like a forced-Ascension. Malkom finds Carrow who is trying to escape with Lanthe and Ruby when Thronos finds Lanthe, and she sacrifices her freedom to go with him, as long as Carrow and Ruby escape. Malkom sees Carrow trying to save Ruby and understands immediately that she was forced to bring him in, but that doesn’t excuse her emotional betrayal, or making him care for her. So while he helps keep Carrow and Ruby safe, he still doesn’t trust her.

The rescue by Conrad Wroth was awesome, and the scene including the cat fight between Sabine and Carrow was hysterical! I love Rydstrom…love him! And watching Malkom find his woman and I’ll stop the spoilers now, and just say that the ending has Carrow and Malkom in bed, and preparing to go back to the island to retrieve their powerless friends. I so can’t wait for Dreams of a Dark Warrior.

I love how we watch Carrow go from raucous party girl to caring female. I loved watching her grow, and in the end, she actually feels an small burst of joy from herself! For the first time in her life, she was happy.
And I loved watching Malkom rise from his past and overcome everything else, including his reasons not to trust or love Carrow.
There’s a slight cliffhanger but it’s only in the sense that no one else has been rescued or found.