#93 Shadowfae by Erica Hayes
Jade has spent the last 140 years as a succubus. Under the control of a demon named Kane, she has no choice but to obey his 
commands, and desires nothing more than her freedom. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus also bound under the same demon. In him she finds a kindred spirit and before she realizes it, they have fallen in love. She is shocked when Rajah reveals that he has a discovered a method to earn back his mortality, breaking Kane's control. Jade is eager to try as well, but through some cruel twist of fate she discovers that her freedom will bar Rajah from ever obtaining his. Will she be able to sacrifice someone she truly cares about in order to obtain what she's always desired?
Shadowfae is a gritty little novel about that takes place in a magically enhanced Melbourne, Australia, where faeries inhabit night clubs and vampire gangsters run the underworld. The thing I found the most interesting about it was the fact that almost all of the major players are predators in some way. Sure, Jade and Rajah had their fates forced upon them, but as a incubus and a succubus they are required to have sex to live, and send the souls of their bed mates to hell. This definitely puts the novel into a very gray area, as none of the characters are completely good. I also liked the fact that the bad guys (and boy, can they be bad) have layers, and aren't just stock villains. One thing that surprised me a lot about this book was the abundance of sexual content. It can be said that I should have expected this, since I was reading a book where the main character was a succubus, but I was taken a back at first. Fortunately, Hayes is quite skilled at writing sex scenes, so this wasn't a problem at all. The author is also not afraid to go into some darker territory. Although the scenes with Jade and Rajah are quite romantic and passionate, some of the sex scenes can be more disturbing than tantalizing. The life of a succubus is not glamorous, and Hayes is not afraid to examine some of the psychological results that Jade suffers from. I also appreciated the fact that Hayes goes for an unconventional ending, refusing to twist the plot to into illogical conclusion, as a lesser author would have done.
There were a couple issues that did mar my enjoyment a little. My relationship with Jade was somewhat complicated. At times, I felt sorry for the unfortunate life that she was forced into and I was really cheering her on to gain her freedom (especially near the end), but other times I became quite frustrated with her. She is incredibly easy for others to manipulate. Yes, I know that this is mostly due to her background, but I found that, despite being the protagonist, she was never really driving the story. Instead, both she and the plot were controlled by the male figures in her life (Kane, Dante, Luna, and yes, the romantic lead Rajah), and she was merely being pushed along. Fortunately, this improves somewhat by the end of the book. I also wasn't a fan of the shifting tenses. The majority of the book was written in a first person (Jade's) past tense perspective, but certain sections of this book broke off into third person present tense to let us get into the minds of the other characters. I'm typically not a fan of such a tense change unless we're dealing with multiple time lines, but I got used to it. What bothered me is the fact that on a few occasions, Jade's voice would dip into present tense, which brought me right out of the book. But apparently, I am the only one who's noticed this as none of the other reviews I have read have mentioned it, so perhaps it's not as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be.
Shadowfae is a solid paranormal debut from Australian author Erica Hayes. Although it has it's flaws, it's gritty world, three-dimensional characters, and well crafted sex scenes makes it an entertaining read. The novel also has an sample of Shadowglass, the second book in the series, in the back. Just from the brief sample I'm looking forward to picking that up once it's released.
Rating: four stars
Length: 277 pages
Source: Barns and Noble
Similar Books: All of the faerie drugs reminded me of Holly Black's Valiant (read my review), although this is a more mature book for adults, not young adults. This books should also appeal to fans of the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampires) Mysteries which begin with Dead Until Dark (read my review), and Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld Series, which begins with Bitten.
Other books I've read by this author: this is the first!
Thanks to lilychild for bringing this book to my attention!
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds
commands, and desires nothing more than her freedom. Then she meets Rajah, an incubus also bound under the same demon. In him she finds a kindred spirit and before she realizes it, they have fallen in love. She is shocked when Rajah reveals that he has a discovered a method to earn back his mortality, breaking Kane's control. Jade is eager to try as well, but through some cruel twist of fate she discovers that her freedom will bar Rajah from ever obtaining his. Will she be able to sacrifice someone she truly cares about in order to obtain what she's always desired?
Shadowfae is a gritty little novel about that takes place in a magically enhanced Melbourne, Australia, where faeries inhabit night clubs and vampire gangsters run the underworld. The thing I found the most interesting about it was the fact that almost all of the major players are predators in some way. Sure, Jade and Rajah had their fates forced upon them, but as a incubus and a succubus they are required to have sex to live, and send the souls of their bed mates to hell. This definitely puts the novel into a very gray area, as none of the characters are completely good. I also liked the fact that the bad guys (and boy, can they be bad) have layers, and aren't just stock villains. One thing that surprised me a lot about this book was the abundance of sexual content. It can be said that I should have expected this, since I was reading a book where the main character was a succubus, but I was taken a back at first. Fortunately, Hayes is quite skilled at writing sex scenes, so this wasn't a problem at all. The author is also not afraid to go into some darker territory. Although the scenes with Jade and Rajah are quite romantic and passionate, some of the sex scenes can be more disturbing than tantalizing. The life of a succubus is not glamorous, and Hayes is not afraid to examine some of the psychological results that Jade suffers from. I also appreciated the fact that Hayes goes for an unconventional ending, refusing to twist the plot to into illogical conclusion, as a lesser author would have done.
There were a couple issues that did mar my enjoyment a little. My relationship with Jade was somewhat complicated. At times, I felt sorry for the unfortunate life that she was forced into and I was really cheering her on to gain her freedom (especially near the end), but other times I became quite frustrated with her. She is incredibly easy for others to manipulate. Yes, I know that this is mostly due to her background, but I found that, despite being the protagonist, she was never really driving the story. Instead, both she and the plot were controlled by the male figures in her life (Kane, Dante, Luna, and yes, the romantic lead Rajah), and she was merely being pushed along. Fortunately, this improves somewhat by the end of the book. I also wasn't a fan of the shifting tenses. The majority of the book was written in a first person (Jade's) past tense perspective, but certain sections of this book broke off into third person present tense to let us get into the minds of the other characters. I'm typically not a fan of such a tense change unless we're dealing with multiple time lines, but I got used to it. What bothered me is the fact that on a few occasions, Jade's voice would dip into present tense, which brought me right out of the book. But apparently, I am the only one who's noticed this as none of the other reviews I have read have mentioned it, so perhaps it's not as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be.
Shadowfae is a solid paranormal debut from Australian author Erica Hayes. Although it has it's flaws, it's gritty world, three-dimensional characters, and well crafted sex scenes makes it an entertaining read. The novel also has an sample of Shadowglass, the second book in the series, in the back. Just from the brief sample I'm looking forward to picking that up once it's released.
Rating: four stars
Length: 277 pages
Source: Barns and Noble
Similar Books: All of the faerie drugs reminded me of Holly Black's Valiant (read my review), although this is a more mature book for adults, not young adults. This books should also appeal to fans of the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampires) Mysteries which begin with Dead Until Dark (read my review), and Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld Series, which begins with Bitten.
Other books I've read by this author: this is the first!
Thanks to lilychild for bringing this book to my attention!
xposted to bookish and temporaryworlds