DARKNESS DESCENDING - Devyn Quinn
Signet Eclipse
ISBN: 978-0-451-23433-9
August 2011
Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance

New Orleans , Louisiana - 2006

Jesse Burke is a human infected with a demon; it crawls under her skin and whispers dreams of immortality in her ear at night. However, unlike every other human being who has been infected, Jesse refuses to give in to the demon's demands, and thus hovers between a state of humanity and undead-ness (which is what one turns into when yielding to the demon's demands). Angry and feeling the hopelessness of her situation, Jesse decides to kill as many of the vampire/demons that infected her as she can. After doing some research into vampire slaying, Jesse sets out for a cemetery in the middle of the night and attempts to kill her first undead. Only it doesn't go so well, and Jesse almost dies. Until some guy named Maddox shows up with his gun and blows the thing to pieces. Maddox then invites Jesse to his home sweet home for some training and sleep—after all, if she wants to be a slayer she has to learn from the best, right? But what happens when Maddox learns that Jesse has a demon inside her, and is on the verge of becoming something he's determined to destroy?

This book reads as if it were written by two different writers. For the first 130 pages, the characters were inconsistent, wimpy, annoying and awkward. The world-building had me dissolving into tears of frustration because the plot was slow, the writing had no voice, and was all tell, no show. The sexual tension is non-existent so that the romance slapped me in the face, hard, when it suddenly pops up. The only redeeming factor of the first 130 pages was the heroine's strength of will, which is very admirable. However after the 130 page mark the book started to show its true potential.

The second two-thirds of this book were good. The world began to take shape and make sense, the author began to mark time in a way that worked, and all of the characters except the hero turned from cardboard cut-outs with wooden dialogue to funny, sarcastic flesh and blood people with dreams, goals, pasts and motivations that were realistic and wonderful. Yes! It was an amazing, almost startling, transition but, boy, was I glad! The plot picked up and actually became very, very interesting. The author gained voice and I truly became involved in loving the story and characters. The second half of this book saved it, like the extra-thick chocolate goop at the bottom of a watery hot chocolate. It was really good. Delicious. Wonderful. Salvation.

Overall, I would recommend this book despite the problems I had with the hero—Maddox is a pathetic example of a hero who causes more problems for Jesse, rather than helping her—and the first third of the book. I think that the Vampire Armageddon series does have a lot of potential, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how Ms. Quinn grows as an author throughout the series. Overall, Ms. Quinn writes a fascinating book two-thirds-filled with enigma and intrigue, and I'm definitely looking forward to book two!

Rose May