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Book Review: Dawn of a Demon, by Christine Schulz

I accepted a copy of Christine Schulz‘s Dawn of a Demon as part of its book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. Then, in a completely unrelated turn of events, I happened to stumble across a prequel novella, Mixing Magic & Mayhem, over on StoryOrigin. So, I nabbed it too. Dawn of a Demon has been over on Sadie’s Spotlight too. You can head over there for details on the author and an excerpt.

About the book:
Raiding a bakery to confiscate a magical spatula may not have been on Zulli’s to-do list for the day, but when she learns a notorious criminal by the name of Ozcar Thorne is using the powerful magic object to mix illegal drugs, this hybrid shifter sharpens her cat claws and unleashes the spider fangs for a day of butt kicking and free cake.

Alongside her teammates, Zulli sets out on a mission to investigate the Sixth Scents Bakery, but when their plan goes sideways, she discovers Ozcar has his own secret agenda in store for her and her team. Will they be able to retrieve the dangerous weapon and put an end to Ozcar’s illegal business, or will they run out of time and fall prey to the man they are trying to take down?

I’m torn about how I feel about this story story/novella. On one hand, I liked Zulli and her crew a lot, think the world looks really interesting, the plot is silly-fun, the writing is easily readable, and the editing seems pretty clean.

On the other hand I am just SO DONE with stories in which a woman’s whole character is basically how unlike other girls she is. ‘Oh, look how I don’t care about my clothes or hair, don’t wear makeup, and eat soooo much, especially greasy foods. You know, I’m a female character who just isn’t like the other girls.’ I’m basically just done with ‘not like other girls’ in general. Do authors really not see how very, very insulting that is to women in general when they write these characters?

Also, the story has a certain vague general-ness in the language that shouts that the author doesn’t know anything about the military (like someone saying “I’m a badass military soldier…” instead of the branch or even just soldier). I was also confused that the team members were referred to as officers, when they didn’t seem to have any actual command authority and weren’t police officers (which would make a whole lot more sense to the story). I’m similarly confused that general grunt-level solders (been in the military 5 months) report directly to a colonel. I kept having to remind myself that the author can structure her world any way she likes. But I was still repeatedly pulled out of the narrative by the confusion.

This carries over into other aspect of the story. I would have believed Zulli and the events in this story had she been meant to be an amateur. But that I’m supposed to believe she’s a trained professional fails on almost every front.

Certain aspects of the story didn’t work for me, true. But I did like it enough to still go into Dawn of a Demon with an open mind.

About the book:
The fight to save my city and everyone in it has only just begun. It’s time to sharpen the cat claws and unleash the spider fangs because this half shifter always catches her prey.

When a toxic memory-warping drug starts breaking the minds of everyone in the city, it becomes my mission as a military soldier to hunt down the criminal mastermind responsible before its deadly magic claims any more lives. But when the target I’m pursuing attacks my father and I watch helplessly as a good friend perishes before my eyes, things get personal. Now, I’ll bend every rule to bring down the savage who dragged my family and friends into this mess.

Unfortunately, saving the city and the people I care about comes at a cost. When I discover the true reason this magic has infested my home, I’m forced to make an impossible choice: do I protect the people I love or put an end to this catastrophe once and for all to stop more minds from being destroyed ever again?

Like with the prequel short story, my opinion is pretty middle of the road for this book. I thought the world was interesting and I liked the characters well enough, Ryker especially. (Who could not like such a special cinnamon bun as him?) The book really is full of good people trying to do good in the face of evil and personal devastations. And I 100% appreciate the example of strong female-female friendships, without any petty jealousies (especially over a man). But the whole thing just felt a little loosey-goosey to me.

Zulli and her team are supposed to be professionals, but they feel like rank amateurs. Which honestly should make sense. They’ve been in the military 6 months and, one would presume, at least some of that time was training. So, they really should be new and inexperienced. Excerpt that Schulz seemed to insist on trying to make out like they weren’t. Ryker, at one point, said something along the lines of “I’ve been on innumerable dangerous missions with Zulli.” And I was just like, how? You’ve had 6 months, probably less, to even go on missions at all.

But my main issue was the ever present question of whether Zulli and her team really were military personnel or a police officers. This sounds like it should be a small thing, but it turned out to be huge for me. I discussed this above, but, honestly, are they military or police (and military police doesn’t appear to be an option)? Here’s an example of Zulli speaking to someone whose friend just died of a drug overdose:

“Um, I know you don’t know me that well but, if you need anything, I’m around. The military is trying to find the person responsible for distributing Bliss, and I’m helping them do it. We’re gonna get this guy. Promise.”

Everything in that passage, except for the word military, scream cop. But somehow they’re actually soldiers…specifically officers…but not police officers…but also not commissioned officers in any command position within the military. All the soldiers seem to be referred to Officer Name…but they’re not police officers, even if they appear to being doing the police’s job.

I realize that the author can structure her world any way she likes. If she wants all the members of the military to be called officers, to let rankless ‘officers’ who have been in the military for six months report directly to a colonel who sends them out to do investigations and collar criminals largely unsupervised, she can. I mean, it’s not even meant to be earth.

But Schulz is using the familiar language of the military and its hierarchies…but not in a form that even the most loosely familiar reader will be comfortable with. So the places where her world diverges from the familiar feel super jarring and the distinctions kept pulling me out of the narrative because I was so confused by it.

I prefer an author either use the language we’re familiar with AS WE’RE FAMILIAR WITH IT or develop something new. If you’re going to have officers, captains, lieutenants, and colonels, for example, then abide by the recognized hierarchies and perview. Otherwise make up your own terms! Essentially, I’m doing linguistic gymnastics to avoid saying ‘it’s wrong,’ because I do realize Schulz really can structure her fantasy world as she likes. But it feels wrong. And I know it seems like I’m harping on this. But it really did stand out for me and kept coming up because Zulli being a ‘military soldier’ (yes, that’s how it’s phrased) was mentioned a lot.

Moving past that, considering the character is 26 and in the military—therefore, a full-on adult—the book felt very Young Adult…maybe New Adult…but I’m sticking with Young Adult. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s worth noting, as it was unexpected…at least to me. Maybe I missed the label somehow before picking the book up. (So, that’s probably on me.)

All in all, like I said, I feel very middle of the road on this one. I know it sounds like I’m trashing the book. But mostly I just had one or two big things that tweeked me repeatedly. The rest of the book is quirky in a way that readers looking for a less-than-serious read will appreciate and enjoy. The book raps up well, with just a few big plot threads open to tie into future books.

Other Reviews:

https://kitnkabookle.com/dawn-demon-christine-schulz/

Tour: Dawn of a Demon

Spotlight & Excerpt: Huntress Prey + Giveaway

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I accepted a review copy of Selene Kallan‘s Huntress Prey as part or its blog tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. However, since I wasn’t able to give the book a good review, I’ve held it until the tour finished (yesterday). The book was also featured over on Sadie’s Spotlight. You can find author information and the tour’s schedule there.

VALENTINE

After almost three centuries of running from my past, I should be used to loneliness. Being a mythological monster isn’t compatible with relationships. But the craving for company grows stronger every day, turning routine into an endless nightmare and making me wish for an end to my immortality.

The explosive encounter with a beautiful, lethal fae who knows what I am and how to destroy me reminded me of that proverb: be careful what you wish for.

AXEL
I thought fate could not surprise me after almost six hundred years. And then there she is—the echo of the brave young woman I’ve heard legends about. Only she isn’t human anymore, but a vampire, the greatest enemy of my species. After a fight that could have killed us both, and an uneasy truce, I am left with burning curiosity and so is she.

But will curiosity be enough to quench her thirst for my blood and my impulse to kill her before she strikes?

I admit that when I accepted this for review, I did not realize it was 500+ pages long. If I had, I 100% would not have accepted it. Not only because I wasn’t really in a position to want to commit to 500+ pages, but also because 500+ pages is well outside the genre standard for PNR/UF. And, while not without exception, that’s because PNR/UF plots don’t usually support 500+ pages. That’s epic fantasy territory, not PNR/UF. Had I noticed the page count, I would have felt something rotten in the state of Denmark before I even touch a page.

And true to the norm, at 510 pages this book is FAR too long. I’m talking probably twice as long as need be. I’d say it should be split in two, but that infers that there is enough plot here to carry two 250+ page books, and there isn’t. (There’s barely enough for one!) Instead, I’ll say that half—a full 200-250 pages of this book—is chaff. It just plain needs to be cut. The whole excursion to visit Lily serves no purpose to the plot. Valentine making eyes and friends with Maya is extraneous. In fact, every scene with Valentine at work—with or without Maya—could be cut as not pertinent. Far too many side characters are given history, considering they do almost nothing but cook and eat during the course of the book. None of this excess is neutral. It all dilutes the already thin plot until what is left feels random, disconnected, and all but plot-less.

There are also too many references to things that aren’t expanded on. It made it feel certain there must be another book somewhere, though, as far as I know, there isn’t. Too many characters randomly introduced, even very late into the story.

The story has promise and if it had been given to a ruthless content editor with a scalpel, it could have been something worth reading. Instead, it feels like it’s written by a teen. A teen with a firm grasp of grammar and syntax, true, but a teen all the same. (I’m not saying it was. I don’t know anything about Kallan. I’m just saying it feels that way as a descriptor.) It’s in the shallow use of villainy, the frequent use of sexual assault, misogyny, and lasciviousness to signal evil or even just badness, the characters with a single emotional note, the Whedon-esque banter, the unsupportable wealth and technology of the fae had, etc.

Honestly, I would have DNFed it if I hadn’t accepted if for review.

I did appreciate the diversity (racial and sexual) of the cast (including two bi/pan-sexual main characters) and, as I said, the writing itself wasn’t all that bad. There’s some odd use of language, dodgy phrases, and the dialogue gets pretty clunky and stiff at times. Plus, the editing starts to flag in the last half—especially in terms of missing words, and in/on being confused. But the writing itself is readable.

All of the above is obviously just my opinion. Other people have given this book 5 stars. So, I suppose the best thing to do is decide where your own line and tolerance for such things lie and read the book or not.