A demon-strably good book
Synopsis
A bloody war between demons and the Vatican has waged for more than a century, with two elite soldiers now at its center: Selene Alleva, a high-ranking exorcist running from a dark family legacy, and orphan Jules Lacroix, recruited by the Vatican and unrivalled on the battlefield.
When their paths cross over a series of unprecedented demon attacks, the distrust–and unwelcome attraction–they have for each other is immediate. But to get to the bottom of the breaches they strike an uneasy alliance to avoid suspicion. With Jules posing as Selene’s estranged fiance, they head to the Vatican in search of answers. But even as Selene questions who her most dangerous enemy is, Jules has begun to suspect that it’s him.
Now Jules’ very existence challenges every truth Selene thought she knew, and suggests a terrible conspiracy at the heart of the Vatican. Unable to ignore their growing feelings, the two must make an impossible choice between love and duty.
They say love conquers all – but can it win in a war between demons and exorcists? Or will it tear them apart…
Review
A demon-infested Europe and the army of super-powered Vatican exorcists who protect the continent—the exorcists themselves wielding demon blood in their veins to fuel their powers. And that’s just the start—wait till you see what’s lying in suspended animation in the centre of the Vatican itself.
As supernatural fantasy goes, it’s an incredible set up, the equivalent of starting a stage play with a nuclear bomb, and it’s a pitch designed for me. Luckily, Sophie Clark delivers on the premise of Cruel is the Light (which has just come out in the UK as I write this – Americans you’ll have to wait a couple more months), giving us what I suspect will be one of the year’s compelling romances but balancing this against an utterly addictive and devilishly dark conspiracy at the heart of Rome.
The heart of the story is Selene Alleva and Jules Lacroix, the star crossed lovers, or should that be crucifix crossed. Selene is an inspired creation; a notorious powerful exorcist whose blood magic may be the most powerful of them all but her ruthless personality making her as brutally quick with her quips as she is with her sword. We open the story in a hunt for demons in the middle of Rome with Selene and her exorcist team, and the complex worldbuilding and unashamedly dark and unforgiving nature of this world is quickly highlighted.
But as soon as Selene meet Jules – a French orphan and soldier in the Vatican army who is renowned as one of the most talented demon killers on Europe’s eastern front – we get a series of scenes of shord-sharp dialogue as the two hate-flirt. These aren’t just your usual strangers to lovers banter scenes, these are venomously glorious in their playful punches, Clark having that talent possessed by great writers of dialogue of extending a witty back and forth almost to the point of breaking but not quite. A long section on a train that should by all rights be sluggish becomes a fantastic meet-cute by way of a verbal barbwire contest.
Once the action gets going again, Clark reveals another asset to her writing; the crafting of an utterly addictive conspiracy mystery. She wields a mixture of complex demon backstory with modern day political shenanigans that had me desperate to uncover its secrets. Selene and Jules’ encounters are riveting, but what I liked about this book is what I prefer in a romantasy I’m reading – that the plot around it isn’t simply dressing but an equal main course, in this case a riveting and tour de force conspiracy at the heart of the Vatican. I saw some of the pieces coming but not a couple of key reveals – the twists here are sumptuous in their shock value.
Clark populates her story with compelling side characters, too. A half demon called Sparrow half steals the show; and Clark crafts a whole crew of young cocky exorcists around Selene who shine, her tongue-lashing and gun-wielding underlings Lucia and Caterina in particular.
Of course ultimately a book like this, however superlative the central mystery and world, also lives and dies on its central pairing. Selene and Jules are forces of nature, equally broken and equally hurting and equally compelling in their narrative arcs. As for the romance, when Clark turns up the heat you can feel the flames from the page; this is the ultimate demonstration that sometimes the electric touch of a palm against a back can be a whole spicerack on its own.
This book is proof that a good romantasy and a dark, brutal fantasy thriller can go hand in demon-blood stained hand, helped by Clark’s sharp, vivid prose and a natural gift for atmospheric worldbuilding, not to mention some of the best dagger-sharp dialogue I expect I’ll read all year. A fiery romance wrapped in a feverishly addictive mystery thriller I couldn’t put down – this dark romantasy burns hot like the demons who fill its pages.
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