Quick-take: Entertaining with some character flaws.

Dan's Review

Adrian Blackwood is a witch attempting to establish his own domain in a forest near Seattle. He has powerful enemies, and it will take some time before he is ready to defend himself. Therefore, he hires a security detail. The detail ends up being Bex and her motley crew of demons.

I enjoy Rachel Aaron's efficient storytelling. She covers lore, world building, the relationships of the crew, backstories, and so on in a way that no individual nuggets ever drags on. Bex has a stubborn old wound that gets reopened during a fight. The wound is the catalyst for more backstory, but not the entire story. That comes later.

I do have a critical complaint. It is Adrian Blackwood. He has no character flaws. He is tall, handsome, highly skilled in just about everything, and completely selfless. He is always putting himself at great risk to help others. Boring and unbelievable.

I also take issue with Bex and her demons. These are supposedly ruthless creatures from the Hells. Instead we get a gamer that loves cats and Bex herself always second-guesses her own decisions. I would prefer them to be a bit more... demonlike. The timeline is also messed up. There were a few "Adrian had never seen/known Bex do X" as if they were long time friends when they had only been working together for a couple weeks.

Score 4/5: Not Rachel Aaron's best work, but that is OK. Mediocre for her is still quite good.