The Demon King and I by C. Havens

Alright, I’ll be honest, after reading Rayna’s review, I went out and got my hands on a copy of The Demon King and I.

The Caruthers sisters are heiresses with privilege, wealth, beauty, and brains. But these party girls have something extra. As the Guardian Keys, possessors of an ancient family secret, they hold the fate of the world in their hands.

Gillian, the eldest, is a sensation in the art world– this world, that is. In her other world, she’s the Assassin, a knockout who snuffs out dimension-jumpers who foul up her personal space. She never expected to join forces with one. But when a plague of murderous demons plunges the earth in darkness, she has no choice but to get a little help from a being who knows his stuff.

I have to say that after being easily distracted today, Haven’s novel really kept my interest.  There was something about it that I really liked and I couldn’t put my finger on it.  Then I figured it out and the “oh” moment also ended up bugging me a little.

That thing that kind of bugged me….it was one offhand descriptive comment that was played wrong, personally speaking. On page 276, Alex is telling Gillian about their mom’s explanation regarding the problems that are going on:

She calls it the Source, which sounds like something off an old Buffy episode.  If we can find the Source, then we could find a way to stop it.”

First off, I don’t remember anything out of Buffy that should trigger a memory when hearing something described as the Source.  Second, what does trigger a memory is Charmed.  Does anyone else remember Julian McMahon‘s character in Charmed?  Hello….he was The Source.  The one the three charmed sisters were constantly battling against and they didn’t know it was him?  At one point, he was even referred to (and had become) the Source.  I’ll be honest, as soon as I heard “the Source”, I instantly thought about Charmed and then felt like I had cold water thrown on me when I saw them relate it to Buffy.

Although, the more I thought about the Charmed angle, the more I felt like that wasn’t the only similarity between The Demon King and I and Charmed.  I mean, if you think about it – there are four Caruthers sisters, there are four Halliwell sisters; the oldest of both is really into art;  another one owns a bunch of clubs; you know, just saying.

Honestly, though, the whole similarity between the two kind of work in Haven’s favor.  I’m not sure if this was intentional or just coincidental, but the atmosphere of The Demon King and I has the same feeling of Charmed and it works really well.  We’re given drama, fun, comedy and the mundane without it all being overly intense or quirky.  I was very much drawn into the story and the romance between Gillian and Arath wasn’t over the top.  It wasn’t an instant, hop-in-bed-together, relationship and yet the ending wasn’t that big of a shock or surprise.  The story moved along at a decent pace and we’re given enough action so we don’t get bored and we’re given enough down time so we’re not constantly hyped up.

Overall, I have to agree with Rayna, The Demon King and I was a really good read and I honestly can’t wait to get my hands on Dragons Prefer Blondes.  Now if only all the copies weren’t check out or unavailable.

Read Order:
The Demon King and I
Dragons Prefer Blondes

Also reviewed by:
Unmainstream Mom Reads
SciFiGuy
Errant Dreams Review
The Book Girl
Naughty Editions

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

5 Comments

  1. I just won a copy of Dragons Prefer Blondes and The Demon King sound really good. I really enjoyed your review and I’m glad you liked it =)

  2. It could be, but honestly, Charmed used pretty much the same idea for their “The Source”, so it seemed a little off to be referring to Buffy when there wasn’t as much of a similarity there.

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