I’m still reading The 12th Demon by Bruce Hennigan, but I felt the need to get my first impressions out in the open. The second part of the review will come out when I’ve finished it. First off, let me give you the blurb for the novel.
After defeating the thirteenth demon, Jonathan Steel and Josh Knight return to Dallas, Texas, to finish up Josh’s family affairs. When they arrive, a mysterious assassin named Raven surfaces from Steel’s murky, dangerous past. At the same time, Rudolph Wulf, the twelfth demon, has arrived from Romania with plans to fulfill a two-thousand-year-old promise to unleash an army of demonic creatures–creatures that will inhabit the bodies of his “vampyre” army. When Wulf kidnaps Josh, Steel must find them in time to save Josh from a violent death and to prevent Wulf from unleashing “vampyre majick” on the world.
It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? When I was first given the opportunity to review The 12th Demon, I was kind of excited. It was from a new author and it has a premise that seems really unique. Christianity and the idea of vampires and demons are woven tightly together in this novel and it’s something I don’t see a lot of these days. So I was really looking forward to this novel. Once I did start it, a few things became very apparent – (1) it was obvious this was a second novel and there are a lot of references to events that have happened in the first novel, The 13th Demon; and (2) it seems to be a little heavier on the Christianity angle than I was prepared for. There’s nothing against the religious elements, and it’s actually refreshing to see it as a major player in an urban fantasy novel, however it wasn’t expected. I will say that it may not seem too heavy to some readers, but it’s definitely heavier than a lot of urban fantasy novels.
I’m only about 100 pages into The 12th Demon, but I can tell you that there is some excellent character development going on. Not only are we given glimpses into each of the characters in this novel, but the plot also helps to round out their characteristics with the addition of known individuals and remembered places. The main character, Jonathan Steele, has amnesia and it’s interesting to see how his mind is coping with it and trying to figure out the little hints his mind keeps giving him. As for the plot, it’s moving along as a decent pace, but I’ll be honest, it’s not capturing me at all. Don’t get me wrong, the plot so far is well developed and has a lot of potential, but I’m not getting sucked in.
The one problem I am having with The 12th Demon is the fact that I’m not drawn to it. It’s very easy for me to put down and get distracted with something else; however, it stays in my head and I do want to go back to it. It’s kind of like Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice for me – it’s a good novel to be reading while you’re reading something else. I think this is mainly due to the fact that I haven’t read The 13th Demon.
So far I am liking the novel, but it’s going to take me a lot longer to finish it. I wanted to get my first impressions up since I was asked to review this novel a couple of months ago (and it got shuffled around during the move), but I am going to finish it. This series would be a good recommendation for Harry Dresden fans or anyone else who likes the PI types. Jonathan Steele isn’t exactly supernatural, but he deals with them and he handles it pretty well. However, I would definitely start with the first novel, The 13th Demon.
Read Order:
The 13th Demon
The 12th Demon
Also reviewed by:
Urban Fantasy Land
Interesting review on the book thus far. I too would be intrigued by the Christianity/vampire angle of the book. I hope something about it grabs your interest more thoroughly as the book goes on so that it doesn’t turn into such a hardship to finish.