OK so it wasn't great literature; in fact at times it was more like an episode of Scooby Doo, complete with the literal unmasking of the villain. He didn't quite say, "I would have got away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids," but it was close.

Still a great deal of fun though. And the description of the Siamese cat who does not want to be cuddled as suddenly becoming all bony angles was spot on.

"It's hard enough to get any decent legislation through in this county, with all the new people moving in-radical do-gooders, strangers who don't understand our problems-rebels striking at the very fabric of all that has made America great-"

Wow. Just had to double check this was written in 1977 rather than 2018.

Well this is all rather delightfully bonkers. Who could fail to be charmed by a big country pile filled with assorted pets (including a rat called Roger)?

Thankfully the obnoxious fiancé is now out of the picture, which means the heroine's love interest can now make his entrance. She needs to be less disparaging about the fact he mows lawns for a living though. 

I picked this one up for Southern Gothic (it's set in Virginia, so near enough), but real life and the Red Sox got in the way and I've only just started it.

And all I can say is I hope Henry dies a horrible death. He is awful. Run Ellie, run.

Of course the edition I have (ancient library copy) isn't in the Booklikes database. Published in 1977 by Dodd, Meade and Co. ISBN# 0-396-07413-8

Muse is a half-demon – though her demon half is restrained by the Institute as they use her to police the supernatural world bleeding over into the city

But several Enforcers have been brutally murdered and butchered – and reading the metal confirms the worse: her owner, Damian, has returned. She is not the old demon she was, with the powers now at her disposal promising for a very different showdown. At the same time, Akil, ex-demon Prince is hoping that that same power may elevate him back to his title

And she may co-operate – as he may be the only one who can help her save Stefan from his imprisonment in the Netherworld.

I think the best thing about this book is how Muse has grown and changed and moved. The last book very much looked at her past; how she had been brutally abused and her trying to find herself and pull herself from that mindset. There was the conflict if her realising her saviour was nothing of the kind and the different ways you can be used an abused but different forces.

This book continues on from that – Muse is much more confident in who she is and the newfound power she wields. She’s suspicious, warier and almost comes across as snotty in a Keille Independence, Rebel without a clue kind of way. But it works when we look at her context and her past. Muse is very determined not to give the impression of subservience even to the people around her. Not that she’s completely free from her past – there’s an excellent depiction of how the trauma is still haunting her. The horror of her memories catching up with her, how she desperately tries to resist them haunting her. She’s scarred by her past but it isn’t the entirety of her life. She acknowledges her past, her self-disgust and her internalising the idea she is weak and helpless. It also does weaken her – because trauma isn’t something that is easily cast off in an awesome empowerment moment

I really like how this is balanced with Muse – her moving away from trauma but still haunted by it. Determined not to be defined by it but not escaping it just because she wants to – it doesn’t just magically vanish.

This feeds well with her relationship with the Institute and their desire to use her while still half fearing and loathing her for what she is

There is a good little examination of both her and Stefan and the organisation that is both exploiting them for their demonic abilities while at the same time restraining them and treating them as inherently dangerous or tainted because of them. It’s a well balanced depiction of exploitation and both needing someone and fearing them. Similarly we see this with the wariness of her colleagues who, at the same time, definitely rely on her expertise.

Her relationship with Akil also continues to be complicated. He does try to use her and exploit her strength and it comes from a very demonic place. He seems to care for her, but simply doesn’t have the compassion or empathy of a human. Again, it’s a decent balance of both showing he cares for Muse, while also trying to use her and while also showing that even with that human emotion there’s a huge amount of alienness there. Unsurprisingly, Muse herself is also really suspicious of him – and I, again, like the balance here of both being willing to work with him (not out of helplessness entirely, but out of confidence and even a willingness to look at him as an equal rather than a superior) while constantly being suspicious of his motive.

While I really liked the personal development of Muse and her history, I’m less thrilled by the world. Well, no, that’s not entirely fair. I love the world – I love the concept of the demonic realm, the powers of demons, their demonic parentage, the veil – but these concepts aren’t really expanded on enough. I think we could do a lot more to examine demon politics – and what major powers like the First actually mean. Who founded the Institute, what powers does it have, what is it doing? What about demons living on Earth? Is the Institute being fair – it’s implied they have an unduly harsh view of demons? There’s lots of things hinted at but we didn’t really address many of them – there’s lots of suggestions of world building to come but we aren’t really getting more than just the labels. I need more, I want more; expand this original world more. This feels very unique, very different from what I’ve read elsewhere and I’d love to see those unique elements expanded.

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