Kane, Stacia: Personal Demons
Personal Demons
Writer: Stacia Kane
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Pages: 303
Save for Steering the Craft, which was required, and Magic's Child, which I sort of forgot about reading until I perused my journal, I've been reading NOTHING but rather heavy, serious SF for the past couple of months. Not that that's a BAD thing, mind you, but I really, really needed a break, especially given the choice of mine and digitalclone's April challenge, which I'm reading next.
Lucky for me, I've got lots of urban fantasy/paranormal romance waiting on the shelves, and I decided to read the most recently published for a couple of reasons. 1) It's recently been published, so people deserve to know it's out there, and 2) it's an urban fantasy of the pop-horror sort that utilizes the third-person POV, which--if you read the urban fantasy of the pop-horror sort, then you know--is kind of rare. One of my crit partners is also writing her UF in third person, so I wanted to get this book under my belt and know whether or not to recommend it to her (and for that matter, others).
The premise is simple: personal demons, the little guys who hop up and down on your shoulders and make you do bad things, do exist, and everyone has them, except our heroine, Megan Chase. Megan's a therapist who's got psychic abilities, which she uses to help and understand her patients better. Things go to hell, though, when she gets a radio show where she promises to slay peoples' personal demons, not knowing that personal demons really exist, and they think she's serious.
What ensues is Megan's discovery of a world she didn't know existed, where demons and witches try to help her, and other demons and zombies try to kill her. To make matters worse, she's attracted the attention of a very powerful demon known as the Accuser, who essentially wants to take over her body.
Spoilers to follow.
Let's get some of my complaints out of the way first off.
1) A radio talk-show? With the hostess trying to counsel people? Somehow relating to the paranormal? REALLY? I'll admit I'm biased: the first urban fantasy I ever read was Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour, and I fell in love. She's the reason I read more urban fantasy now. And I know, you can't copyright an idea, but it still irks me that since the Kitty books have gotten so popular, I've seen not one, but TWO urban fantasy books use radio talk-shows as their main premise (Kane's Personal Demons and Jeri Smith-Ready's Wicked Game). Granted, the plots all sound (and in Kane's case, definitely IS) different, but I'm irked nonetheless, especially since Kane really didn't do much to play up her radio talk-show. We hear one session, get the idea it's Megan's debut, and somehow, it's already a MEGA-HIT even though what I read of it didn't sound all that fascinating, and already Megan's got interviews and television offers thrown her way. Not that she wants any of this, of course. She hates the cheapness of it, the taglines her bosses make her use, and just wants to help people. Commendable, but still. The radio talk-show bookends the story itself. We begin with it, and we end with it. Nice symmetry, but dang, it would've been nice to play it up a little more, even though doing so would've probably made me bitch that the book was a little TOO much like Vaughn's. ;)
2) Setting. Call me crazy, but I thought part of the point of urban fantasy was that the fantasy was, you know, URBAN. That the setting was just as important as the paranormal, and the setting was almost a character in and of itself. Not that I'm a big setting person, mind you, but even I was aware of uber-generic descriptions of place, and not once did I pick up the actual NAME of the city, town, state this book took place in. Not to say it isn't there: I read this book in less than ten hours, so I could've easily missed it, but still. Maybe I'm subconsciously and perhaps unfairly comparing this book to the Kitty books again, but at least in the Kitty books, you never NOT know where you're at. The setting is just as important as everything else, because part of the point of urban fantasy is to take the unreal and make it as real as possible in as realistic setting as possible.
Hard to do when the setting is so generic.
The other reason it irks me is because as a writer, I have trouble making my settings vivid and THERE on the page, and resort to generic descriptions myself, so I'm very aware when others do the same thing, because it's a flaw in my own work I'm trying to correct. That crit partner I mentioned? Has the same weakness. Reading this book, which is so similar to hers in voice and style and in some ways, content, annoys the crap out of me, because I've been pushing her to make her setting more alive and more detailed, and then I read something like this that isn't. That's been published.
Grr.
Not that every book, let alone urban fantasy, published should have strikingly detailed and clear settings. All books have their strengths and weaknesses, and clearly, setting was a weakness in this one. I just wish the weakness wasn't so glaringly obvious (to me).
One more rant, and I'll be done. The cover. This is my least favorite Juno cover EVER. Granted, it sorta captures the fun of the book, but I almost didn't pick it up because of the cover. The only reason I overcame my dislike was because I'd heard good things about it. That's it.
Now, let's be done with the ranting. :)
Though I will say I wasn't crazy with the choice of the third-person POV. It didn't grab me at all, and in some ways, I think it hurt the voice of the book, because Megan's voice was restrained in the narrative. At least, that's how I read it. When I read urban fantasy, it's usually the voice that sucks me in first thing, and since voice didn't suck me in right away, I was left looking for something else. Took me a little while too, not that that's Kane's fault. I just wasn't fully engaged until the plot pieces started coming together.
But I will admit: the chemistry and sex scenes were HOT. Great work, there.
And while it took me a while to get engaged, I have to admit that what I thought would be a string of random events solidified into a rather strong plot. I liked how all the story elements came together, and I like that Megan finally was able to save the day on her own terms, albeit with a little help from her friends. She didn't make her own choices for most of the book, but by the end, she takes some control, and that's laudable.
I loved the demon bodyguards. They cracked me up, and I knew at one point they'd give her a make-over of sorts, so I was thrilled to see them do it.
And I really loved how the personal demons became a kind of cute, sympathetic thing towards the end. And it's amusing that Megan started out without a personal demon and ended up with the whole host of them under her control. How she got rid of her own was particularly interesting, even though I was a little fuzzy on the details of how it all happened, as well as how she defeated the Accuser the first time. Still, good stuff.
Overall, it's a fun read, but it's not addictive. For me to love an urban fantasy, it must be addictive. That said, I'm not adverse to reading the next installment. After all, this book did what I wanted it to: gave me a chance to lose myself and unwind and not think about anything for a little while, and after all, it was fun. And I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble Megan will get herself into.
Plus, I don't want to miss out on what else Kane has planned for her heroine and hero, because like I said, the paranormal romance of it all was hot.
Oh, and dear critique partner of mine? You know who you are. You need to read this book. If you don't read it before next term, have your mentor put it on your required reading list. This book has more in common with yours than you realize it's not even funny. So read it.
Next up: The Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn Time to Write by Kelly L. Stone