| Title | : | The Descent Series: Vol.1 (Descent, #1-3) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 630 |
| Publication | : | First published December 21, 2012 |
Books included:
1. Death's Hand
2. The Darkest Gate
3. Dark Union
DEATH'S HAND
Elise Kavanagh doesn't want to hunt demons anymore. It's been five years since she killed her last enemy, and life has been quiet since then. She went to college. Got a job, and then lost it. Made a friend or two. Lived a normal life. Now her former partner, a powerful witch named James Faulkner, wants Elise to fight one more time. The daughter of a coven member has been possessed, and Elise is the only exorcist nearby.
Becoming a hero again would mean risking discovery by old enemies. But digging into the case reveals that it might already be too late--bodies are disappearing, demons slither through the night, and the cogs of apocalypse are beginning to turn. Some enemies aren't willing to let the secrets of the past stay dead...
THE DARKEST GATE
When Elise Kavanagh retired from demon hunting, she swore it would be permanent. But an attack from a powerful necromancer forced her back into the business, and now she's trying to balance her normal boyfriend and normal job with everything supernatural.
Mr. Black is a demon hunter gone rogue. He's enslaving angels and stealing ethereal artifacts in pursuit of forbidden immortality, and an old grudge drives him to make his final stand in Elise's territory. Destroying her life and killing her friends isn't the goal, but it's a definite perk.
A demonic overlord offers to join against Mr. Black and protect Elise's loved ones. All she needs to do is ally with the demons she's sworn to kill, at the cost of her morals--and maybe her immortal soul. But once she crosses that line, there's no turning back.
Nothing is sacred when Heaven and Hell collide on Earth...
DARK UNION
Every fifty years, the most powerful ethereal and infernal beings convene on Earth to resolve conflicts with mediation by kopides--humans born to police relations between Heaven and Hell. They're meeting in Elise Kavanagh's territory this year, and she used to be the greatest kopis in the world. But she's not invited.
An old friend, Lucas McIntyre, asks her to attend the summit in his place. But when she arrives, she discovers that a human faction called The Union has taken charge of the summit, and they're not playing nice. Worse yet, someone has killed a prominent Union member... and now they're demanding blood.
The Descent Series: Vol.1 (Descent, #1-3) Reviews
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I have read all three books included in this series and chose to review each of them seperately.
Elise Kavanaugh and James Faulkner are kopis and aspis, sword and shield. Their lives are dedicated to battling infernal forces that try to disrupt the world and to keep peace between infernal and ethereal factions. Sound difficult? More than you could imagine.
The dark urban fantasy includes angels, demons, gods and witches and is well worth reading. -
Disclaimer: I must have been slightly mad when I wrote this thing. I mean, Elise is one of my favourite kick ass chicks ever, but comparing her to Kate Daniels? I don't know what I was high on when I non-reviewed this, but it must have been high quality stuff.
Friendly warning: do not read this thing. You'll be glad you didn't. You're welcome.
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
I recently discovered S.M. Reine through her Preternatural Affairs series and enjoyed it quite a lot so I decided to gave Descent a try.
I have to say that in these first instalments Elise Kavanagh (the series’ MC) reminded me a lot of
Kate Daniels, minus the snarkiness and general badassery. Well, more like her distant cousin really. Descent was written after the Kate Daniels series begun and I can’t help but think that Reine got some inspiration from the Andrews series. Then again, I might be wrong. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t like Descent. Granted, it lacks the overall awesomeness and total epicness of Kate Daniels. The world building isn’t as precise and the characters could be much better defined… Still, I found myself enjoying this series a lot.
I think what I like best about this series is that it is quite dark. Actually, it gets darker, more violent and twisted with each new instalment, which is great. I am getting a bit tired of urban fantasy authors trying to mix violence and humour only to fail miserably. That doesn't happen here. This world is definitely and hopelessly messed up and there is no comic relief to be found anywhere, which is really refreshing!
Reine chose to go back and forth between past and present which is a bit confusing at first but the plot is engaging, the book is action-packed and Elise is so screwed up and raw I couldn’t help loving her. James bugs me to no end and I have a hard time understanding him and his choices. He is completely clueless when it comes to Elise and her feelings which is a bit surprising considering they have been living together for years. I just don't get it. Well, I guess we might find out more about it in instalments to come. Anthony I don’t really like and Betty feels a bit, I don’t know, I didn’t really care what happened to her. Stephanie I definitely can’t stand. Actually I found myself liking the bad guys much better than the good ones! Mr Black, the Night Hag, Thom… Oh I love Thom!
The world building is getting much better as the series evolve and everything start making more sense with every new instalment. I like series that build up slowly and Reine does that very well. She doesn't rush into the story which makes it much more enjoyable.
A fun read, I can't wait to get my hands on the next instalment!
➽ Individual reviews for books 1-3:
✎ Book 1:
Death's Hand ★★★★
✎ Book 2:
The Darkest Gate ★★★★★
✎ Book 3:
Dark Union ★★★★
➽ Reviews for the rest of the series:
✎ Book 4:
Damnation Marked ★★★★
✎ Book 5:
Dire Blood ★★★★
✎ Book 6:
Defying Fate ★★★★
✎ Book 7:
Paradise Damned ★★★★★ -
All in all, I really enjoyed the books. They were fast paced and the world was easy to immerse myself in. Elise is certainly bad-ass demon slayer, but not without realistic edges to her abilities and prowess, which was refreshing. She's not invincible; or at least, she's got to work hard to get the job done.
That said, something about the relationship between James and Elise really bugged me. She's a Kopis and he's her witch Apis, her protector. Maybe its that I've read too many romance novels, but I kept getting distracted by wanting to see their bond flourish into some deeper emotion. It's touched upon very briefly; the author does make it clear in some aspect that their bond is deep. But it's flat and one dimensional. It's mentioned several times that James considers Elise his "oldest and dearest friend", but something about his attitude toward her otherwise comes across as almost cold, to me; like he wants to keep their relationship all business and is trying to keep her at arm's length. He's there for her when she needs him to do jobs, and help her clean up the pieces, and it's clear he'd do whatever he had to to protect her - but his behavior otherwise is odd for as supposedly connected and bonded as they are.
Elise clearly has deep feelings for James that go beyond a friendship,but it's never really explained why he doesn't reciprocate, which is so frustrating. I spent so much time wanting to see James give a flicker of some sort of DEEPER FEELING for Elise (even if it was a deep sibling-type of love) that I was distracted from parts of the plot when things got tense between them.
I hope something breaks through with that in the rest of the series.
Someone else that reviewed the series here touched on a point that made me go "OH YEAH!", myself: we're left questioning why Elise dislikes angels. She's killed 12 of them, which no other mortal has managed, but there's no clear reason for it and their role isn't well explained. But she distrusts them, doesn't want anything to do with them and for some reason has killed a good number of them. Seeing that angels are usually something we readers think of as pious and holy and GOOD in most circumstances, this really needed to be fleshed out for us. I heartily agree with that assertion by the other reviewer.
Anyway, this series was a great find for free on Amazon and I'll probably buy subsequent books to read more. -
3.75 I still hope to find some book in the series that makes me give it 4 stars without feeling that I am rounding up the rating.
My feelings:
- The three books deserved to be read for any UF series lover
- They are not great but always keep your attention and make you wish for more books.
- That doesn't mean that they have cliffhungers but I must say that had I had to wait for the release of the sequels, I would probably lose my interest in the way. So I'll strongly recommend you the series (so far! I still have a bunch ahead) and adquire the Volumen 1, because if you like the first chapter I'm fairly sure you'll join up Elise Kavanaugh fan club too.
- Action: 3.5
- Badassery: 3.5
- Wordbuilding: 4
- Characters: 4
- Romance: ... 1?
- Expectations for some more romance: 5! (Hopeless, I know)
- Expectations for more badass action: 5!
- Feel like reading the next one: 4 (but have to read other things too!)
I'll come back in a couple of books more. I have already ordered the whole collection. A completed collection! Who doesn't want a good UF series completed?
PS: Thanks Real Life for letting me read even though I don't have time for review decently.
Thanks Sarah for the 'subtle' recommendation. You see? Your liking didn't go unnoticed, hahaha.
You rock! -
If I had read these 3 titles separately, at least the first one (if not also the second) would have earned 3 stars, but taken as a whole the 2 might be generous. One problem was reading them back-to-back-to-back. The series seems to suffer from "one damn thing after another" syndrome, which has become a big pet peeve of mine, so reading all three in a row really exacerbated that.
Very little is ever explained. I don't mind "get to the action, let's not get bogged down in world building," but I need to have some idea of what the heck is going on - otherwise, why should I care??
I felt like I could always tell where each title ended and another began by the character inconsistencies. By the end, I didn't like any of them very much, so I'm not sure whether I'll bother with more of these. If I do, it won't be soon. -
I am glad this was a set of the first three books. It gave the characters more time to develop and relationships more time to flower. Elise is a hunter and definitely someone not to trifle with as she faces off with hags, demons, a few nightmares not to mention covert government agents. She is constantly on the move or most likely she would be dead. Amongst all the fighting she is trying to start a relationship with Anthony. Can you imagine trying to date someone who carries swords for a living? It isn't easy but Anthony is not giving up which is perfect in her not so perfect world. She definitely needs someone like him. It is a great story full of adventure.. a bit too much at times but in the end very entertaining and that to me makes it a good read. I definitely will be reading the rest in the series just to see where Elise goes next and if she actually scares the other demons out of her "city" and to see if Anthony sticks around! If you like paranormal stories that have demons, angels and those that hunt them.. then you will definitely not want to miss this series.
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I originally got these books (its a three volume series) because of a link from the Free Book Hub. They sounded as if they would be entertaining and I gave them a shot.
The author's abilities grow markedly throughout the series, and their ability to handle the narrative improves. This isn't a criticism. I say much the same thing about J.K. Rowling!
Getting the Criticism out of the way first: These books read like fanfic written by someone who has watched a lot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The central character is a demon hunter who is teamed up with a mage who provides the magical firepower while they go about their duties.
This shouldn't be read as a dismissal of the series. The stories are well conceived and quite well written. There are a couple of complex sections in each book where there is a lot going on, and there is never any real danger of losing the thread as to what is happening. And that isn't something you can always say of much more accomplished authors.
Read if you like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and you want something that is entertaining without being taxing. -
I finished reading The Descent Series box set on Tuesday. It is a series that deals with the war between demons and angels and the humans who stand in the gap to protect humanity from it. I enjoyed the first three books in the series and will get the others as I have the money. The only complaint I have about the series is how it switches from scenes in the past to present scenes. If you don't pay attention to the date at the very beginning of each section, it can become very confusing. By the time I got to the end of the first book in the series, I was used to it. Overall, I give it 4 stars!
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OH WOW!!!
What a book. I absolutely loved it!
Elise and James <3
I stumbled upon these books by accident in the free kindle book section and I could not put them down the writing is fantastic, The plots are great and the characters have real guts to them. As I was reading these I couldn't wait to turn the page to find out what happened next for Elise such a complex wonderful character. I shall be buying the rest of the books in the collection cannot wait for the story to continue well done SM Reine -
This series is really good. SM Reine writes well, and the relationship between Elise and James is believable. Ms. Reine effectively builds a world where demons and angels exist in the same realm with humans, and creates interesting conflicts across dimensions. The ideas are truly original, and Elise is a kick-ass main character who is at once invincible yet utterly vulnerable. I've read every single one in the series and recommend it highly.
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If you like nonstop action with weak, unlikable character, who are constantly fighting their way through countless demons, undead, and whatevers, then this series is for you.
I, however, wanted nothing more than for the "protagonist" to die a slow, miserable, death, just so she would have a reason for being the hardhearted bitch that she is. Ugh!
Skip 'em! -
Adding a review for this as I've rated it without a review.
A lot of things have happened since. 2014 Was a very hard year for myself so all the reviews are showing up on the same date. I can't explain why they are, if the ratings are justice or accurate I can also not say when I truly read these. I'm just going to say 2014 on the same day added just to keep the year right if not the month... -
I only read the first story, Death's Hand. Elise is an exorcist and James is her witch. Elise's enemy, Death's Hand is trying to get out of Hell and has taken over James' body! I found it confusing when the story went back in time then continued with the present day. There's plenty of action but I felt I wasn't grasping the meaning of events.
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Difficult but lovable
I appreciate the atmosphere of the book, the flashback chapters, it show us how a past situation that elise and James faced bring new problems in their present. I can see the author really researched for the contents too, I like quality series like this. -
I really like this series. The one thing I wish is that she would have a bit of "down time" before jumping into the next crisis. Her life is so dark, it would be nice if she had one positive thing in her life.
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why did I take so long to read this series???? I couldn't put this down. And then I immediately bought book 4 & read it in 2 days. And then bought book 5.
I love strong female characters. I love how complicated all of the characters are and the world she built. Great urban fantasy. -
Kindle free download 5/11/13.
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All in all a good read. Granted I do agree with some of the other comments about some parts not flowing well and leaving many questions unanswered.
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I am currently going through a reread of the series, and it has been both an enjoyable and embarrassing journey.
I still find the story to be intriguing and stirring enough to pull me back in obsessively, but I've noticed a lot of things irritated or made me uncomfortable. Most of which was Elise's misogyny. It's not really something that I like seeing from female characters now that I'm older and engage in what I read a bit more critically.
The environment in which Elise grew up in (of which is hinted at briefly over the first three books) creates insight on how Elise developes said misogyny, but just because I understand doesn't mean that it isnt annoying. Lots of women are thrown into horrific scenarios by people they trusted and don't end up engaging in the mindsets that Elise demonstrates throughout the series.
She definitely... grows and loses some of it, but that change feels cheated due to other things that happen later on unfortunately. But that's another review for a different book, and I still have mostly nice things to say about this one.
Vol. 1 is the first three books of the Descent Series in an ebook set and is available for free on Amazon Kindle (not sure about other places though). When I tell people about it, I always say that it is *pretty good* for a supernatural/urban fantasy series that's free. Let's face it, books that are offered for free aren't usually that high of quality, and, to be honest, that applied to most ebooks in general that don't go into physical print. Despite that lowball selling point, I always clarify that I got hooked enough to buy the rest. Another, slightly, lowball selling point I use is that if you like the Anita Blake series but lost interest when it became porn without plot, then this series will really do you well.
The Descentverse reminds me very much of the first few Anita Blake novels (even the internalized misogyny c; though I would say that Elise has a lot more in-universe explanation for hers than Anita ever does), but thankfully the plot is never sacrificed for fanservice to the same degree that AB goes. It also adds something to the genre that I, when I first read it, hadn't really seen much of; it felt unique and stood out.
A quick summary of the series is that it is set in a world where Heaven and Hell are at a compromise in their battle against one another with human protectors (a witch & fighter duo for each set of protectors) keeping a balance between the two battling forces; the greatest fighter in the world (Elise, a female kopis--rare in the universe) and her male witch (James, an aspis) have been in retirement for years until they are pulled out of it... sort of against their will--with each book in the set pushing them further and further away from the peace that they had managed to achieve after great odds.
Book One puts Elise in the position of choosing continued retirement or saving an innocent's life--something that isn't really a choice despite how much she wishes it was.
Book Two has James and Elise accepting that retirement is no longer an option as Elise's career as an accountant is ripped from her grasp as an old enemy seeks out revenge.
Book Three has Elise running off to help out an old friend only to discover not everything is quite as it seems and is forced to once again take on more responsibility than she really wanted.
They're a fun read, but with, an assumed, white author, you run into issues of attempts at racial diversity that don't quite pan out the way one would hope--something that kind of grows rather than diminishes with the series unfortunately. There's unexpected biological essentialism (the degree and kind was unexpected to be clearer) that more a reflection of our current cultural environment than personal leanings of the author, but it was still frustrating to come across as a nonbinary person with lots of trans loved ones. Rereading it through a second time more seriously, I hate James more and more each time I open my Kindle app; also, uh, I'm officially claiming her as a closeted, traumatized lesbian who has serious attachment issues that resulted in her imprinting on James (as opposed to having romantic feelings for her).
Final thing to note: the first book has a lot of clunky descriptions and the wording in general feels... young. I guess it's obvious that this is her second attempt at a series in the first book, but you see growth by the second and third; if you compare this series to it's predecessor, you can see vast growth in her writing skills.
Despite all the caveats, I still recommend it to most of my friends though. -
There are so many issues and annoyances in this trio of books I don't know where to start my review! I gave this set of books a shot because it was free and I like supernatural book... but I hated the story line, characters, plot, development (or lack there of) so much that it took me almost all year to read it! And if I wasn't annoyed I was usually confused about what was happening - or why.
First, we are never really told who Elise is or why she is so special. Eventually we get bits and pieces of the story, but it is so random and disjointed that it's hard to really know what is happening. We do learn early on that Elise is a "kopis" - a fighter who protects humanity from demons. There are also angels, whom Elise despises and wants nothing to do with though not sure why - readers are never really told why they are "bad", especially as the ones she comes in contact with always treat her with respect. Kopis must be bonded with an "aspis", who is a witch and can protect the kopis. Elise's is James, and they have a complicated relationship. He is 10 years (or more ??) her senior and wants a life and she can't handle that.
Second, Elise is complicated but not in a good way. She is always angry, won't explain her feelings or rationale (and since we don't know the back story it makes her reasons for behaving as she does unfounded), has no time or desire to allow others to process feelings or information, and isn't that great of a fighter either. I mean she fights all the time, but refuses to engage in formal training and so ends up winning fights by being scrappy and fighting dirty. Sh is also always poor and refuses to get a regular job... she claims because she is too busy fighting demons but then also claims she is a retired kopis. Somehow she got a boy/man to fall in love with her but she treats him like shit and she keeps coming back for me. I seriously dislike her and that's why I kept putting this book down and not caring what happened to her.
Third, all the other characters are flat and worthless. If james is supposed to protect her he does a really shitty job. Protection should be more than physical and he basically raised her since she was 8 and she still acts like an 8 year old all the time.
In addition to earth, there is Heaven and Hell with their own cities (such as Dis, a city innHell where her parents preside on a Council), laws and politics. There is a treaty keeping things in place and not allowing travel between the three realms except for summits (or negotiations) to keep the peace between the humans, demons and angels. Main travel is completed through "gates" which are not allowed to be open. Now if you are thinking that this seems simple enough and why should you be confused - it's because it took me three freakin books to piece that together!
Nothing in these three book has made me want to read the next 4 to see what happens. I was too annoyed with these three too continue with this crap. -
I have read the 2nd & 3rd book of this series in two sessions within 12 hours. So, I won't be able to mention all the good parts but before that I have to say - I am Severely_Disappointed in YOU, Folks !
The first three books in the series - Less than a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ?
What has happened to people? I can pretend to understand this for the 1st book. But Three books ??
*sigh*
Ignorance, thy is omnipresent.
Anyhoo, I still proclaim that my sole motivation for finishing this within a day was Elise Kavanagh. The woman is just so damn badass.“To People_Who_Accuse_Elise_to_be_Anti-Social,
She is more social than your little digitus medius.
I mean what do you want a woman to do-
She saves her friends as it's possible.She kills her friends' attempted assassinators religiously
She just doesn't waste time with Mundane_Talks.So what ? Who likes mundane anyway when you can have assholish_angels, murderous_demons, cage_fights-all such delicious stuff ?”
So the Lesson imparted up till here by our Esteemed Ms Reine is-
→James is seriously pissing me off. (Reine's promises a reconciliation in the author's note) I don't think I want it to be a that type of reconciliation.*sniff*
→I must applaud Reine for being a fantastic author.She managed to get me to read three books with a bit airheaded side characters.
→I am not going to waste any more time in writing this Absolutely_Absorbing_Review when I can read the next books. -
Following on from reading the Seasons of the Moon, I now met Elise Kavanagh and James Faulkner and how the main characters of SM Reines universe started off.
I didn't really connect with Elise, she seems too detached from humanity. She tries to lead a normal life even though she was trained from the time being born to slaughter demons – and ultimatively gods – that's why she is called the Godslayer. Maybe being raised under such circumstances leaves you a bit detached from emotions.
I also didn't enjoy the demons world too much. That's why I acutally only read the free samples of all the following 4-7 books.
BUT – big but – the writing and story still kept me so interested that I followed on with the Ascension series. Maybe also because I wanted to finally see the ending, even though S.M. Reine's
universe carries on in several more installments of different characters returning.
And I am happy I kept reading...
4 of 5 stars -
(2.5) When I first started reading this series, I found it for free on the Nook store, but then I kept forgetting about it and I’ve restarted it several times and finally decided to finish it out. I have mixed thoughts on these first three books. Book one was a good introduction to start, but by the end I was losing interest and by book two I was kind of over it. I have decided not to continue with the series, and I am just trying to finish out the first three books. I was interested enough to finish the first three books, but I am not interested enough to finish the series. I’m not sure if it was the story or my edition of the story, but either way it didn’t really draw me in like most stories do.
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I loved this series and have now bought the complete collection to carry on Elise's story.
The first three books are filled with action, magic, battles, thoughts and feelings and I thought Elise to be a great character - vulnerable yet strong and always tries to do the right thing.
The rest of the characters fit into the plot well - both heroes and villains - and I liked how Elise's story slowly unfolds to give insight into why she is what she is and does what she does.
I have reviewed each story separately (on Goodreads) so this is just an overall look and yes, I would recommend this well-written and fast-paced fabulous series.
Highly recommended. -
The series started slow for me. I like Elise because she is a bad azz. I am not feeling James because he is insensitive. The jumping back and forth to other periods to explain the back story was both helpful and confusing. By the end of the Dark Union I am on board and looking forward to what’s coming next. Still don’t get what the heck happened with the parents or what is Elise’s relationship with the Angels.
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Full of action
Witches, demons, and angels aren't typically on my radar but I'm glad I took a chance on this series.
The first book had great character development and the second and third books kept me turning pages late into the night.
A thoroughly enjoyable read. I expect I'll continue the series when I need to add more books to my queue. -
Scattered plot
The plot was scattered all over hell and gone. The book was hard to track. Thank God it was an ebook, that I can easily delete. If it was a paperback, I would burn it on the campfire. The main character only develops over three books, as the author only gives hints and no meat and potatoes for the meal. Worthless piece of trash.
