Review--Demon's Vengeance by Jocelynn Drake

The complete novel that comprises Demon's Fury, Demon's Vow and Inner Demon.

Powerful warlock and tattoo artist Gage has managed to escape the magical Ivory Towers who terrorize the rest of humans and monsters—but at a price. Now he must join forces with his nemesis, Gideon, to stop an entity that is using forbidden Death Magic to commit gruesome murders across the nation. And if that's not keeping him busy enough, an investigator recruits Gage to help her track a killer … who might be targeting tattoo artists.

When Gage discovers a demon locked away, it offers him access to dark magic in exchange for its freedom—a dangerous opportunity, but one that could save his loved ones. Gage must choose between what is right and what is easy.

Demon’s Vengeance is the final book in the Asylum Tales by Jocelynn Drake, a series I started too many years ago and somehow slipped to finishing this final tale and what tale it was! I do remember that Jocelynn decided to do something different with this book and tell it in three novellas instead of one grand novel. Though when they are combined together, they still make that grand novel! That was part of the reason of my waiting at the time because I wanted to read them all together.

A lot of time has passed since I was last in Low Town, but diving back into this one was rather easy. Past events were mentioned and my only struggle was wondering if this even happened in the previous books or before the series started, as I remember a great deal of Gage’s past was mentioned throughout. Gage is a tattoo artist and ex-mage. He gave up the Tower life years ago, but has been drawn back in little by little. This time he’s forced to work with an old acquaintance in trying to track down a murderer.

If that wasn’t enough on his plate, a second murderer is stalking the pregnant women of Low Town and killing them and their unborn baby. But still more gets added onto Gage’s plate when Trixie, his girlfriend makes a shocking statement that will change Gage’s life forever. You might be able to guess part of it, but it’s a two-fold kind of reveal. Lol.

This was quite the intense read. The mysteries were driven rather thick in this one. I liked that though this was originally a set of three novellas to tell the final story that it read seamlessly when binged all together. I guess I didn’t know what to expect when starting the first one.

I guess I was sadden that Gage and Trixie didn’t have enough time together in this one. Gage was very committed to this case and Trixie just wasn’t a part of it for reasons. It had me wondering if in the previous novels if she helped him with whatever was going down. The same can be said of Bronx, his other friend and coworker. Though we did get to see a bit more of him in the second part. I just kind of remembered these guys being unlikely friends and then really good friends, that they didn’t spend a whole lot of time together in this final book made me sad. But again, I can’t quite remember how much of a role they played in Gage’s doings the first two times, so maybe this was normal.

Things were wrapped up rather nicely in the end in regards to the mysteries, but I still felt like there were more tales to tell in this series. But sadly, I know, that this is the end. Gage has a set of goals in mind for his future plans but we won’t be seeing what any of those plans are. Things were kind of up in the air in terms of happy endings wise and that always leaves me feeling morose at the series finale. I like my happy endings when a series comes to an end and while yes, I can imagine after Gage does the THINGS, things will be happy again, but it’s the whole not seeing that part that makes it harder to believe.

Jocelynn was a favorite Urban Fantasy author of mine and this series was really a lot of fun. I guess I just wished for an ending that was a little more on the happy side. Things were left a little tense and somethings were left unsaid, it’s not a happy feeling for a reader. I don’t want to make it sound like I didn’t enjoy this one because I did. Truly. But when you know it’s the series finale, you kind of expect some sort of happy ending instead of a big question mark. But still, I don’t regret reading this one! It was still one helluva ending! The series is the perfect kind of dark, edgy read of the Urban Fantasy world and even more surprising was that the hero of the tale, was a guy in what’s become a more female dominated genre! A delightful and exciting series to be sure!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars