Demon’s Daughter by Amy Braun

If TV’s Supernatural were about sisters instead of brothers, it would look a lot like Demon’s Daughter.

Title:  Demon’s Daughter
Author:  Amy Braun
Series: Cursed Series Book 1
Publish Date:  June 7, 2015
Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Source: Provided by the Author

Publisher’s Description: Wanted by law enforcement. Chased by drug cartels. Hunted by demons…

Constance Ramirez has more than her share of problems when it comes to protecting her adopted sister, Andromeda. Especially since Andromeda isn’t fully human, and her strange powers are dangerous and out of control.

But Constance will do anything to keep her safe, which won’t be easy with bounty hunters hired by the drug cartel she betrayed looking to capture her, and savage monsters seeking to take Andromeda for their own dark purposes.

Being a big sister has never been so hard… Or so deadly.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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So Percy, if Demon’s Daughter were a meal, what would it be?

Popcorn with a side of apples.  What is it for you?

Hmm…  something heartier than popcorn.  A burger, maybe.  I thought it was a really good story.  I liked the characters and the action.  Why just popcorn?  And what are the apples?

It’s a good action romp, hence the popcorn.  Every once in a while, it gives us something more in the mythology, a good bite of apple now and then.  I agree that it put me in mind of Supernatural and that’s not bad.  I just found it lacking . . . flavor.

Like Red Delicious apples, huh?  In what way did it lack flavor?  It was great fun, and has a lot of potential for both future and prequel stories.

I just felt that Constance could take a lot more punishment than she should be able to.  Or that she was a much better fighter than a mortal could do?  Maybe I wanted to see some of her background stuff, to know that she could fight mortals well?  Or maybe I got tired of her constant anger and guilt over her sister?  For whatever reason, it didn’t work.  I take it you really enjoyed this?

I did!  I guess I assumed that if she had survived a drug cartel, and escaped from one alive, she must be able to fight.  She has fought demons before, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt on that one.  Yeah, she repeats her issues with her sister a lot, but in her backstory, you learn that she was in that young, impressionable age when her family died and she was left to care for her sister alone.  I assumed that is a big part of why it’s become part of her identity.  I was a little annoyed with her at the end when John is offering to help her and Ro, but she tries to push him away out of fear, using her responsibility to her sister as an excuse.  I hope she can grow past that in future books.  But, all-in-all, it’s understandable.

I think I’m ready for Dro’s perspective in this.  Only having Connie’s gives me the impression that Dro isn’t strong and I don’t think that’s true.  I think she’s scared of the power she has and limits herself, at least that’s my guess, and wonder what the author thinks.  I also agree that Connie is pushing people away too hard but I can understand that.  I did enjoy it and I’m probably nitpicking it a bit much.  So, let’s say a Honey Crisp apple instead of Red Delicious.

I can agree to that.  You know, Ro *isn’t* Snow White, despite her pale hair, right?  With your “apple” metaphor, I just wanted to make sure.

Well, she did just lie around for most of it, waiting to be saved.  It worked as a metaphor for me!

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Invested Ivana says…

“It would take firefighters hours to put out the blaze, and even longer to figure out the cause.  Not that they’d come to the proper conclusion, because cases of teenage girls spontaneously combusting weren’t normal.

But on the other hand, my sister had never been normal.”

Demon’s Daughter falls smack dab inside my Urban Fantasy wheelhouse.  I loved it — beautiful cover art, lots of action, and evil monster smack-downs — with monsters both otherworldly and human. Though the book has a lot of similarities to TV’s Supernatural — angel/demon mythology, hyper-responsible and -protective siblings, and tragic relationships — it’s not a copy.  It will appeal to fans of the show, certainly, but it won’t bore them.

I connected with Connie and Dro as characters immediately.  I could feel how tiring and lonely their life on the run might be.  They quickly meet a young psychic, Max, and his father, Manny, who are clued in to the supernatural world and do their best to help the sisters find what they need.  Later, when they are on the run, they meet up with two angels, one decent and one a jerk, and a demon hunter named John Warrick.

Connie and John have similar histories — John having lost a sister to the same bounty hunter who is after Connie.  As a reader, you start rooting for John and Connie to get together, support each other in their crazy, wacked-out lives.  But broken hearts have a way of rejecting what’s best for them, so by the end of the book, you don’t know if the two will be helping each other or not.

I’d say the Cursed series is going to be one to watch for any urban fantasy fan.  The story and writing are very good and the characters are relatable.  I get to add Amy Braun to my Favorite Authors Discovered This Year list, and I’m giving this book a 3.5 because of that.  I’m eager to see what’s next for Connie and Dro since, while they have some answers by the end of Book 1, they don’t have them all… and the fates of Heaven, Hell, and Earth are at risk.

Percy Procrastinator says…

I give it a solid three.  I enjoyed it but there were a few things off about it for me.

Things I didn’t like:  I didn’t find much tension in the book.   I didn’t find much tension when Constance was possessed as it was early enough that I figured it wouldn’t last.  Further, there was no tension for me about who Andromeda was because the title gave it away.  I actually found the fight scenes off-putting as well.  Too much description in specific attacks that made me gloss over descriptions.

What really took me off guard was that the ending seemed BIG.  The sort of ending that you take many books to lead up to whether or not it will happen.  I’m hoping to be proven wrong or shown that it wasn’t as big of a deal as it seemed but it read as world changing and for me, it’s too early in the series for that.

One last quick thing–I think Connie had too much anger for me, anger I couldn’t relate to.  That made the whole book go from serious thing to serious thing because of Connie’s perspective.  I would have liked some humor or something to help break that up.

Having said all of the things I didn’t like, many of them are me being nit picky.  I just wanted a few lighter moments here and there to break up the anger and guilt of Connie.

Things I liked:  I did like the adventure and the setup for more in the future.  I liked the mythology used and the bad guys.  I very much was in the mind if both Supernatural and some DND (RPG) novels that I have read.  When the group was going through the tunnels at the end, I couldn’t help but think of a DND adventure happening!

I enjoyed the mythology of demons and angels.  I liked Connie using her father’s hand axe, even if it wasn’t as good as other weapons.  I liked jumping into action and still getting some background on her family.  I’m looking forward to reading about what she did for the cartel and to contrast it against whatever is happening!

Nothing in the book turned me off the series.  Indeed, I’m hoping for more but cautious because now I have high expectations for the next book!  I’m also curious as to where they can go from here, now that they seem to have already had the worst thing happen.

Other reviews…

• Cassandrareadsalot
• The Rolling Writer
• So I Read This Book Today…

If you like this book…

…you might like the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, the Redneck Apocalypse series by eden Hudson, or the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman.