Summer Reign

Tough to review as I feel the author got sidetracked. As it stands, there are three separate series the author tries to bring under the Demon Accords umbrella: Chris and Tanya (what I consider the main Demon Accords characters); Declan and apparently Stacia now; and the Black Frost world. Lately it’s pretty much been all Declan, all the time, and while I like Declan, I prefer his adventures in Executable and College Arcane to these. More uncertain teen, less SuperWitchGodBoy. We see Chris and Tanya maybe a couple times per book.

I don’t get any chemistry between Declan and Stacia. The relationship seems forced, unlike Declan’s initial relationship with Caeco. His interactions with Caeco since College Arcane come across as way more meaningful than any of Declan’s interactions with Stacia. The Stacia-Chris-Tanya triangle was interesting though inevitably futile; I must confess a couple scenes in the series made me wish Chris would kick Tanya and all the Darkkin to the curb! Stacia *could* have just faded into the background as many other characters have. Instead she gets forced on Declan…and it does feel forced. There’s a scene where Declan feels legitimately threatened and (possibly) over-reacts. Chris\Grim basically comes after him for no explicable reason and Stacia chokes Declan out. Mr Conroe is great starting these emotional hooks…His resolution is not so good, usually consisting of Me dumb guy. Pretty girl always right. Dumb guy sorry. ” And that’s almost verbatim. Mr Conroe, relationships are built on trust and your women consistently abuse it. From hiding Benders to DU armor to choking out Declan…it reads highly unlikely the women feel any type of commitment, duty, or loyalty to the males. Declan should drop Stacia like a hot rock because she *obviously* does not have his back. She’s proven this, so why keep her around? Sure, mistakes are made in relationships, but rarely are they resolved in two minutes by “Me dumb guy. Pretty girl always right. Dumb guy sorry.”

This began as an excellent series, one of my favorites. The past few books (Rogues+) are seriously downgrading my enjoyment. These are no longer The Demon Accords, they’ve become The Kitchen Sink Accords. Chris and Tanya aren’t kicking demon butt; everyone and their siblings are kicking alien, faery, dragon, elemental butts. You *might* see Chris a few times. Tanya has like, five sentences since ‘Rogues’

But all in all, still a decent butt kicking series; just be aware the characters you love at the beginning are not the ones you end up with

I have always enjoyed this series and greatly enjoyed this new entry into this series. It was interesting to learn more about Fae and to see more of their interactions.

While I enjoyed the character interaction and development however there were a few things that meant it didn’t get the full five star rating. The bad guys in this seemed to be dosed with a chronic case of stupid which since they were meant to be among the smartest and most conniving was a bit of a let down. Also I felt they could have played some more with the factional differences in the team.

***Spoilers Alert***
Lastly the confrontation between our two main protagonists felt forced to me. There should have been more build up or at least made more sense. Instead it felt arbitrary and Chris’s motivation and logic behind creating it felt forced since it was clearly a plot point but didn’t flow naturally in the story.
***Spoilers Over***

Overall however it was an enjoyable read and I will happily read the next book in the series.

This is a good book. And, if you’re invested in the series, it’s obvious that you should read it.

There is a lot of good character development. While this is mostly a setup mechanism for future books, it’s still a great read. Honestly, I finished it in one night and then began rereading other books in the series.

This book is both not as long and not as polished as the other books in the series– there are a number of simple grammar errors or word omissions that are very jarring when they occur. And, in regards to length, this is an escapist fantasy that works well, but this book simply wasn’t long enough to sustain the story.

I think that goes to the heart of my review — while I like the book, it was simplistic and short. I liked the outline, but I felt it wasn’t as developed as it might have been. I did want more, and even after I filter that against my desire to always want more from this series, I really felt there were elements of this book that didn’t deliver. It seemed, um, very “A happens” and then “B fixes it.”

That said, there’s still a lot here. I was surprised when the book was released so soon, sad when I finished it (for a variety of reasons), but yet still went back and began reading some of the past installments.

The thing I like most about John Conroes books is that he keeps rolling through bad guys. What I mean, like what happens way to often, is he doesnt stick with one ultimate bad guy throughout the series. Kill bad guy, oh oh nope they survived and are back to annoy you. He is constantly giving you different bone heads to dislike and then the satisfaction of seeing them defeated. What I like least about this series is the direction hes taken Caeco. She could have been such a good strong character in this series. Nope. Now she some lackey to an incompetent FBI agent. I thought she wanted to be a scientist. WTF.

Declan is my favorite character at the moment, but some of his behavior in the series is annoying. He’s too much of a “mama’s boy” and it seems like he’s being led around a lot. SPOILER ALTERT: He gets attacked and choked out and later wakes up and apologizes first thing! I would think he would at least get angry, think on things a bit, and then state his displeasure. That could have led to some dialogue where everyone admits their fault in things. That happened somewhat but it ended up like he was at fault and needed to work harder to make things right. This is just one of the events that happens in his backstory that was less than satisfactory. As the reader, I know I can’t always get what I want, but this does seem to be a trend and I hope he asserts himself more with his inner circle in the future.

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