Dire Blood (Descent #5) by S.M. Reine – Narrated by Kate Udall

Elise Kavanagh died while killing the mother of all demons, and her fight should be over. But nothing is ever that easy where the Godslayer is concerned. Elise has been resurrected–and she came back as a demon.
Now the most powerful witch in the world, James Faulkner, has been dragged to Hell and accused of violating an ancient treaty. The punishment is eternity in Hellfire. Elise is the only one who can save him. But it means following him into Hell to face inhuman urges, the secrets in her past, and the horror in her future.
The Godslayer’s fight isn’t over yet. It’s only just beginning…

It’s been almost exactly 5 years since I read Dire Blood the first time as an ebook and I forgot how intense it was. I think listening to it this time instead of reading it upped that intensity…

Even given the length of time that’s passed since I last read Dire Blood, I was still kind of surprised about how much I forgot. I honestly shouldn’t have surprised me that much though because a LOT happens in this book. There’s also a lot of back story, which I really loved. It gave readers a glimpse of where Elise and James came from and how they got to where they were.

Dire Blood is a book of loyalty and betrayal. It’s also about love and family and how the two don’t always go hand in hand. There’s also not a lot of down time. Elise, James and everyone around them spends most the book literally fighting for their lives.

If you haven’t read Dire Blood yet, brace yourself for one heck of a cliff hanger. This book was kind of a turning point in the Descent series for me. It made me admire one character even more than I did before and it was the beginning of my extreme dislike of another. That character eventually won me over – but it took a couple more series in the Descentverse for that to happen.

Once again, if you haven’t read any books by this author, there’s pretty much something for everyone. If you’ve been here before, you probably already know that I started with the Seasons of the Moon series and have read pretty much everything in the Descentverse and beyond. Next up in the Descent series is Defying Fate, which I picked up again. If you want to see what else S.M. Reine has to offer readers, she has a complete printable list and reading order on her website. You’re welcome! 😉

Damnation Marked (Descent #4) by S.M. Reine – Bout of Books 13 Review

There’s something in the earth deep below Elise Kavanagh’s territory. A shadow is devouring demons and harvesting their souls, and it’s coming for Elise next.
The Union has an easy way out. They want to send Elise into hiding again with James Faulkner, a powerful witch and the man she’s loved for most of her life. All she has to do is surrender the territory and trust that the Union can protect the ethereal ruins, the dark gate, and the city she’s come to know as home.
Greater powers have other plans for Elise and her fabled power as Godslayer–plans that mean surrendering her life and blood to the most powerful demon alive. But if she descends, there’s no turning back. Once she gazes into the abyss, it will gaze back into her…and Elise will be damned forever.

So yeah, you already know that I’ve read the books in this world totally out of order. I didn’t pick up the Descent series until I started the Ascension series. For the record, I don’t recommend reading the books that way. I see a major re-read in my future – from beginning to end. So much happens in each and every one of these books and they all intertwine with each other. My bad reading habits can’t be done though, so I’ll just keep plugging along discovering what I missed. 😉

I think it’s safe to say that Damnation Marked changed pretty much everything. I’ve read a few books in other series since I finished the Ascension series and I forgot how intense things got when Elise and James were together. I doubt if I forget that again.

Damnation Marked switched POVs between several different characters, but the focus was Elise and James. It also switched back and forth between time frames. That may sound confusing, but it wasn’t. For one thing, both James and Elise were totally different people in their present than they were in their past. The story follows Elise and James in a time that they formed a magical bond that made them stronger to a time that that same bond was pulling them apart and making them weaker with the distraction.

There were several revelations in Damnation Marked. James discovered a secret hidden from him for years and it became pretty clear that he’s hiding something dark from everyone he’s close to. Elise spent most of the book dealing with the guilt she carried for causing so much pain and destruction. She also discovered secrets from a past that she really didn’t want to remember. Her final decision on how to make things better for everyone was gut wrenching… and then….

Okay… so can you guess which book I purchased as soon as I could once I was finished Damnation Marked? You guessed it. Dire Blood is now ready and waiting for me on my Kindle. Once again, if you haven’t read any books by S.M. Reine, you need to. Especially if you’re a fan of Urban Fantasy. Descent is dark, violent and intense and Reine sugarcoats, NOTHING. Don’t expect a HEA either… at least not yet. The writing is smart, the descriptions are detailed and the characters are as witty as they are intense and broken. Definitely broken… My first love in this world were the wolves in Seasons of the Moon, but it didn’t take me long to discover why James and Elise fans are just as loyal to them.

Dark Union (Descent #3) by SM Reine

Every fifty years, the most powerful ethereal and infernal beings convene on Earth to resolve conflicts with mediation by kopides–humans born to police relations between Heaven and Hell. They’re meeting in Elise Kavanagh’s territory this year, and she used to be the greatest kopis in the world. But she’s not invited.
An old friend, Lucas McIntyre, asks her to attend the summit in his place. But when she arrives, she discovers that a human faction called The Union has taken charge of the summit, and they’re not playing nice. Worse yet, someone has killed a prominent Union member, and now they’re demanding blood.
Elise has to bring justice to the summit in DARK UNION, a 33,000-word (120 page) urban fantasy novella featuring a decrepit ghost town, angry men with guns, and even angrier angels.

Sometimes I wish I would have read these books before I read the Ascension series. It’s giving me an interesting perspective though. I’m getting re-introduced to characters. I’m also picking up on hints of things to come that I probably never would have noticed. It’s also reinforced how complicated this world is and exactly how interwoven the Descent, Seasons of the Moon, Cain Chronicles, Tarot Witches and Preternatural Affairs series actually are.

Dark Union introduces readers to the Union. There’s more to their agenda than meets the eye and they’re not a group that you want to antagonize…. so of course, Elise does just that. Not without good reason though.

There are a lot of turning points in Dark Union and deception comes from unexpected places. A couple of characters come to realizations that they weren’t exactly ready for and more than a few secrets are revealed. There was so much going on that it didn’t even matter that James wasn’t around… well, maybe he was missed just a little.

Even though I know where the story ends up, I can’t wait to see how it gets there. I love getting to know these characters even better than I thought I did. James and Elise have a lot to go through, as well as the rest of the characters. I can’t wait to finish my game of catch-up so I can start the whole thing all over again. 😉

The Darkest Gate (Descent #2) by S.M. Reine – Bout-of-Books 10.0 Review

When Elise Kavanagh retired from demon hunting, she swore it would be permanent. But an attack from a powerful necromancer forced her back into the business, and now she’s trying to balance her normal boyfriend and normal job with everything supernatural.

Mr. Black is a demon hunter gone rogue. He’s enslaving angels and stealing ethereal artifacts in pursuit of forbidden immortality. An old grudge drives him to make his final stand in Elise’s territory. Destroying her life and killing her friends isn’t the goal, but it’s a definite perk.

A demonic overlord offers to join against Mr. Black and protect Elise’s loved ones. All she needs to do is ally with the demons she’s sworn to kill, at the cost of her morals–and maybe her immortal soul. But once she crosses that line, there’s no turning back.

Nothing is sacred when Heaven and Hell collide on Earth.

I’ve learned a couple of things while reading S.M. Reine’s Descent series. The first is that I should have read this entire series before starting her Ascension series. (That ship has sailed, so I’m really only making this point so readers won’t make the same mistake that I have.) The second thing is that there is no way that I can possibly stop now. (Not that I am even considering it, but again… I needed to make a point.) Honestly, I’m not trying to discourage anyone from jumping in the the S.M. Reine universe, but it’s a complex, involved, intense and emotional place. Consider yourself both warned and tempted.

So much happens in The Darkest Gate that I’m not sure quite where to start. Not a lot of time passes between Death’s Hand and The Darkest Gate, but there’s enough. This one jumps back and forth between the past and present too, but it wasn’t quite as disorienting as it seemed to be in Death’s Hand. That might be because I expected it. Some readers may not like the time changes, but there is so much back story that it is almost necessary. I kind of liked getting Elise and James’ back story. Who they are now is defined by who they were and even more important to who the eventually become… but that’s another story (and another series) entirely.

Elise makes some decisions in The Darkest Gate that will affect everyone she cares about. She ends up doing the wrong things for the right reasons. She’s a physical and emotional wreck. She has grown to care about people she never expected to and the one person she has ever been remotely attached to seems to be moving on. Elise pretty much broke my heart in this one and it was totally unexpected. *sigh*

Then there was James. I’m an emotional roller coaster when it comes to him and most of that is because I was first introduced to him in the Ascension series. He’s as confused about his feelings as Elise is and not in the way that you would expect. It’s obvious that he cares about Elise but he doesn’t know how to… at least that’s the way it seems to me. There relationship is beyond complicated… way beyond.

Add to all of that the past enemies, new enemies, borderline enemies, friends, loved ones and characters that haven’t quite been classified yet and you can just imagine… or maybe not… how intense things get. The supporting characters are just as important as the main characters and you can’t help turning the pages just to see who survives, who doesn’t and what lengths people will go to get what they want. It’s not just the bad guys who straddle the line between good and evil. In true S.M. Reine fashion, no punches are pulled, there is no black and white, true good and evil or right and wrong. No one is immune or safe. This is one author who definitely keeps things interesting.

As much as I wish I would have started from the beginning of this series before I started the Ascension series there’s not much I can do about it now. I’d also like to say that I will finish the Descent series before I continue the Ascension series but I know I won’t. I’m already immersed in both past Elise and future Elise and there’s no turning back. I’ve said it before – if S.M. Reine writes it, it will be read – regardless of where in the progression of things those books fall.

Death’s Avatar (Descent #.05) by S.M. Reine

For five years, Elise Kavanagh and James Faulkner have policed relations between Heaven, Hell, and Earth with blood and blade. They’re notorious as heroes and killers—the greatest demon hunting team to ever live. But they’re getting tired of fighting.
Now a Goddess of Death is driving the world toward destruction. When her doomsday clock reaches twelve, the barriers between Hell and Earth will be ripped away and bring humanity to extinction.
The clock just struck nine.
The world is running out of time.

For such a short book, this 79 page novella packs quite a punch. However, from S.M. Reine, that is no surprise.

This was just a taste of what’s to come in the Descent series and not a page or a word was wasted. This was more than an introduction, it was impossible to put down. The action was intense, the characters were layered, the world building was amazing and nothing about any of it was sugar coated, which is what I’ve come to expect from S.M. Reine.  She doesn’t pull any punches with her characters or what she puts them through. I kinda like that 😉

Elise and James are definitely characters that I want to get to know better and there’s 7 books in this series that will help me do just that, plus one more novella, Deadly Hearts. The first full length book in the series is Death’s Hand.

I picked up Death’s Avatar as a free download from Amazon on December 6, 2012.