Tuesday, March 4, 2014

DNF Read: Demons & Cops

I promised myself that this year I would blog more about books I don't finish for one reason or another. Unfortunately, Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian #1) by Diana Rowland is one of those books. After 4 or 5 tries last year and finally getting through 100 pages in February, I gave up on this book and decided that despite the fact that so many people love it, it is just not for me. Let me explain.

During all those tries, neither the story nor Kara grabbed my attention. Every time I picked up the book, I would get distracted within the first 25 pages and began looking for something else to read. I always thought it was me (my "mood" was off) and kept placing the book back in my pile of books "to read later." The other reason? Well, I love my demons and strong females in urban fantasy are usually a plus, so this book should be right up my alley.

Unfortunately, once I finally got through the first 100 pages of Mark of the Demon, I found an excess of repetitive information about Kara's background and the training she received as a demon summoner -- this quickly bored me. The rest of the set up also bored me, and Kara's narrative voice irked me for some reason.

Then two things happen: a horrible crime takes place and Kara is given the lead even though she's an inexperienced crime investigator and her only knowledge about similar crimes comes from reading old files -- arcane powers are used on this crime. And, following almost immediately is a sexual scene between Kara and this unknown super-powerful angel/demon creature she summons by mistake. This creature first uses compulsion to get Kara to have sex with him and then agrees not to when she stops him. Kara has monkey sex with him anyway. I believe she is supposed to know better than to place herself in such a vulnerable position, particularly since she is a cop investigating a heinous crime and doesn't know what type of creature this is, where he comes from, who he is, or even his real name -- apparently she doesn't know better. Her reason for having sex with the angel/demon? He's beautiful and she's lonely . . .

After a long sigh I closed the book. I began searching for something else to read and quickly came to the conclusion that if after reading 100 pages the set up, main character, and plot were making me sigh with enough frustration and boredom to close Mark of the Demon yet again, then the book is just not for me. I tried!

4 comments:

  1. Ohhh.... have this book to read!! Not for soon, but still...
    Sometimes it happens... :(
    ****

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    1. It does happen! It's too bad because this book is loved by many. I hope you enjoy it Sonia. :)

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  2. I think DNF reviews are really useful! I admit I don't tend to do them myself - mainly because I'm never quite sure if it's a proper DNF or if it's just my mood at that point in time, and I'll come back to it later. Actually that's a lie - there are a few that I've known straight off are DNFs, usually due to either poor writing or bad characterisation.

    I actually have this book on my price watch list - I suspect I read a rec somewhere. Your dealbreakers sound like they would be mine too...

    Li

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    1. Li, for years I never DNF'd a book, no matter what because I always wanted to find out where the author was taking the story, and if at one point or another the story changed enough to make it workable for me. Later, I began placing them back in my TBR (for later) thinking that it was "my mood."

      I really hate giving up on books! I do. You can tell because I tried reading this one at least 6 times before giving up on it. :(

      If you decide to read it, I hope you do enjoy it.

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