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Review
4 Hades-loving stars
As a mad fan of all things Demonica, I have been so excited for this novella. I absolutely adore Hades – perennially shirtless, blue-mohawked, sarcastic and arrogant keeper of souls and jailer of the Underworld. He has popped up in a number of books throughout the series, and I was thrilled when we found out he was getting his own story.
Cataclysm (Cat) was an angel, but unwittingly joined Team Bad during all that went down in the last couple of books in the series. Stripped of her wings, she is now a fallen angel and working for Azagoth in Sheoul – cleaning his house no less. All she wants is the chance to earn her wings back and return home, and when she accidentally opens up the door to Sheoul-gra, allowing unauthorised souls to enter and putting into motion what could possibly become the next apocalypse, she seizes her chance to make it right and decides to go in hell (literally) to fix the problem.
When Hades learns of riots and trouble rumbling in his domain, he goes in to investigate, finding Cat in the middle of the mayhem. Now, with the two of them stuck in hell, he has to keep them both alive while trying to quell the growing threat.
It had been centuries since he’d last succumbed to the kinds of feelings that usually signalled an impending catastrophic bout of self-destructiveness. He either wanted to kill something, or he wanted to fuck something…and the latter something was Cat.
Of course it’s all complicated by the mad lust the two of them feel for each other. Cat has been attracted to Hades since she first laid eyes on him, and in return Hades wants her fiercely, but Azagoth has forbidden him to touch any female under his protection, and he knows from experience never to cross his powerful boss. But that doesn’t stop his shameless flirting.
“It’s okay. There’s no shame in wanting me. I am hot, after all.”
I love Hades! He’s so freaking badass, and even though he has been tormented by Azagoth for thousands of years, and is surrounded by the worst evil the wold has known, he just accepts his lot for what it is, doing his job but never losing his sense of humour.
An axe struck him in the head. Pain screamed through him as shards of bone from his own skull drove into his brain.
“Bastard” he snarled as he wheeled around to his attacker …. “You fucked up my Mohawk.”
The chemistry simmering between Hades and Cat builds throughout the story, and though they have a lot standing between them, it gives them a chance to get to know each other, and I love the moments where we got to see Hades’ vulnerabilities.
“Shit,” he rasped. “Too much. This is too much.”
Too much what? It wasn’t enough, as far as she was concerned. “I like touching you.”
“No one ever touches me.” He took a deep, shuddering breath that somehow sounded…pained, and not in a good way. “Nothing but the wind and rain ever does.”
The progression of their relationship is fast, but you have to expect that in a novella. I would have loved this to be a full story, because there’s a lot going on and it seems rushed at times, but it’s still really enjoyable. There’s some good character development, lots of action, paranormal awesomeness, laugh out loud moments, and of course the love story which is both hot and really sweet.
“I love you, Cat,” he whispered. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I hope you know that I’d do it all over again to be with you.”
Larissa Ione has a fan for life in me. I loved this story, and am so happy that Hades got his own HEA. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on anything else Larissa wants to give us from this fantastic world.
4 stars.
For more information about the Demonica series – including series reading order – please check out our Demonica / Lords of Deliverance Series page.