City of Thorns (eBook)

City of Thorns
City of Thorns eBook Cover, written by C.N. Crawford
Author(s)	C.N. Crawford
Series	The Demon Queen Trials
Publisher	Amazon Digital Services
Publication date	August 13, 2021
Media type	eBook
Length	306 Pages
ASIN	B09B51QD2F
Followed by	Lord of Embers

For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).

City of Thorns is an eBook written by C.N. Crawford. It is the first work in the Demon Queen Trials series by this author. In this work several characters are Succubi.

Overview

• Title: City of Thorns
• Author: C.N. Crawford
• Published By: Amazon Digital Services
• Length: 306 Pages
• Format: eBook
• ASIN: B09B51QD2F
• Publishing Date: August 13, 2021

Other Works in this Series on SuccuWiki

• Lord of Embers
• Garden of Serpents
• Demon Queen Trials Box Set

Plot Summary

I never thought I'd be singing happy birthday to myself in a dungeon. And yet when a sinfully sexy demon crashes happy hour, that's exactly what happens. He’s known as the Lord of Chaos, and he’s mistaken me for my succubus doppelgänger.

Happy birthday to me.

When he tastes my blood, he finally understands I’m mortal. And I realize we have something in common: we both crave revenge. So we make a deal: I can stay in the forbidden city to hunt for my mom's killer. In return, I’ll help him get the vengeance he craves. I just have to pose as a sexy succubus. One problem--he's my number one suspect.

And that’s increasingly hard to remember as he teaches me my role: seduction. With each heated touch I drift further into peril. And if I fall under his seductive spell, death awaits me.

Book Review

The following review was originally published by Tera on her Blog, A Succubi's Tale on October 29, 2021

Rowan just wanted some answers, but finding out that there are demons, and that she looks like one particular succubus is a surprise. But being forced to pretend she is a succubus leads to something far more worrying. She is one, and that could lead to answers she’s looked for her entire life, or the end of it.

The work is mainly a mystery that centers on the main character Rowan throughout. She’s quite headstrong, but at the same time she’s very much lost in the situation she finds herself in. As the main character, the story is told through her eyes and that makes things a lot more complicated as she tries to deal with those around her and her own need to come to terms with her past.

Rowen, being mistaken for a succubus, does force her into being a seductress and I thought that worked really well. But there’s really very little of her actually being a succubus until towards the end of the book, which is understandable. There’s hints of what she can do, what her powers are, but her own nature leaves that muted for the most part. That doesn’t mean she isn’t a delightful seductress, for Rowen can well be at times. It’s more of wondering what she will be like when her powers fully appear.

There’s a lot of revelations as the story continues, at points perhaps almost an info dump which took me out of the story a bit. The infighting, the demon world intrigue and all that came with it was very heavy and honestly that made the book seem to rush at some points. It might have been a good idea to split this book into two parts, there’s a clear point about halfway through that would have been a good point. Still, the story managed to hold things together, even if the plot seemed to rush on far too often.

The heat is very well done, Rowan and Orion make an interesting couple, and I liked their encounters more for the word play than the erotic moments they shared. Similarly, the heat that spikes when Rowan spars with the demon characters verbally delighted me.

Well written overall, though again somewhat faster in pushing the plot forward than I’d have liked. The world building is very good, the mixing of myths and legends I think reflected well in the storytelling. There’s a lot to like here to start the series and I dearly hope the next book will build on that and not take the temptation to just say Rowen is a succubus and then push on with that theme only.

Three and a half out of five pitchforks.

The ending was a bit too abrupt and, overall, expected considering all that came before. If there’s one concern I have for the story’s sequel, it’s that Rowan will turn out to be what she’s been pretending to be. Not as a succubus, she is that, but her persona. That would be a disappointment. Still, there are a lot of plans within plans to untangle and that could be interesting. Slowing down the story a little would be nice if only to allow the characters to tell more of their story, that seems to be a missing part overall.

External Links

• This work in Kindle Format at Amazon.com