A Darker Crimson

Wow. i am confused as to why their are so many bad reviews. this is one of the best books in the series so far and i am not even finnished with it! i like it so much i came down to the pc to search and see what else this author has written and if she has done anymore of this series. yes it is a bit confusing in the beginning. most crazy plots take a few pages to get everything in line most times. i guess this is a love it or hate it book and i am a reader of a lot of books and consider myself a pretty good judge on what is good and what is bad. I would recomend it a keeper!! i hope more is written about the deamons in detail this opened up a whole new exciting world to explore.

I quickly became fascinated with Liz Maverick's Crimson City Series when I blundered into a copy of "A Taste of Crimson". So far I have not been let down. What many readers are not understanding, possibly because it is not being marketed as widely as it should - is that this is a collaborative effort between several authors who are working together, but yet are allowed to give their own characters their own voice. One thing I discovered late was that Crimson City does have it's own website, blogsite, etc. If you are new to reading this, go back and look at some of this stuff. I think you can find it at Crimsoncity.com. All kinds of "interesting" stuff that would make it all clearer to you I believe. Perhaps that's my own bias because I do find Jewel's characters interesting, as well as most of the others in the series. I titled my review "Darker Crimson for a Reason". In my opinion, this is the darkest of the novels yet and perhaps Ms. Jewel was chosen as the author for that reason. kinda of like a someone has to do it thing. Those who shy away from the issues of "possession sex", as it has been termed may be misunderstanding why it is even in there it the first place. This book deals with how the demons will get into Crimson City. As those who read "Through the Crimson Veil" now know, demons like sex. But then I got confused myself. There are two actual scenes that can be interpreted as such and one involves the hero, Tiber. I thought the scene in question was the scene with Lath. Either way, I know the whole "possession" thing is bothersome, but you are reading a book about demons here. Like some of you, I did feel somewhat sorry for Lath, however, remember he was manipulating Claudia's mind the entire time she was in Orcus, telling her he hated her and her species in one breath but then using a demon bond to basically rape her. Every novel has to have a bad guy and this one has several: Jaise and Lath were the main ones. You can make excuses for anyones' bad behavior but not for rape. Lath is not the hero. So why is Tiber the hero? What makes him better? He has issues...my question is whether the author wrote him with "issues" or if she is simply a bad author. I think many of you are quick to judge the author, when really..we have some complex characters. Tiber has wanted Claudia Donovan since before they were thrown together. He knows she's human, which is taboo. He's got as bad reputation, even though as the book develops he shows himself as a big softy and very protective of her. Pretty much the hero in my book. I think he's still got some issues though and that is what makes this series so great. Eventually, it will have to tie together somehow by the last book. I find it interesting to see how he and Claudia manage to integrate their lives. He proved by the end he is willing to come down to her strata level. It should be fascinating to see with the oncoming war how it plays out. My only issue is with the role of Claudia's daughter Holly

I am glad that I did not read the reviews before reading this book, I might have skipped it. I enjoyed the fast-paced, action packed scenes. Ms. Jewel is a very detailed writer who brought to life the story of Claudia, Tiber and Lath. I was cheering for Tiber to win Claudia's heart, Lath was too shallow. I highly recommend this book, in fact it is probably the only book I have read this year that I won't re-sell on Ebay.

Claudia Donovan has fought her way up from the underside of Crimson City. Only 25 years old she is the mother of a 10 year old. Claudia has no rose tinted glasses she knows the deep dark side of life. She is a member of the CCPD and often finds herself involved with the other races in Crimson City. Tiberiu Korzha is a vampire, several hundred yrs old. He is the leader of clan Korzha. He knows about the Demon world and is trying to find a way to get there. He is searching for a renegade vampire. When Claudia's daughter is kidnapped by Demons she is captured and forced to recieve a demon mark that allows her to open a portal to the Demon world. Tiber is there when the Demon's attack and pushes through the portal with her. When they finally arrive it is only to learn that the demons want her because she has a few weeks to live, and during that time she can open and close the portal. However, all she wants is to find her daughter. I was very intrigued with the demon world. Also the fact that not all of them are evil. But some are determined to travel to earth and conquor it. The ending of this episode in Crimson City had a very touching moment. And I found myself feeling sorry for one of the bad guys. But I did enjoy the novel.

The demons of Orcus believe they have found the elixir to enable them to penetrate the barrier between their underground abyss and the human city above. They need to obtain the blood of Crimson City police officer Claudia Donovan. To lure Claudia into their realm is relatively easy; the demons arrange the kidnapping of Claudia's daughter Holly so that she can serve as bait. Claudia soon realizes that she will probably die in Orcus and has little chance of rescuing her daughter who probably is dead. Her only hope to escape rests with the dangerously appealing vampire Tiberiu Korzha, who is in the underground on a quest. Surprisingly he agrees to help the single mother at the same time that Lath the demon claims Claudia as his life mate. The Crimson City saga has produced three previous great tales with each enhancing the realm set forth from the previous tale. However, the fourth novel, A DARKER CRIMSON, is the best jewel yet as the problems between humans, demons, vampires, and werewolves, etc. explodes into the open. The key cast members insure vampires, demons, and those humans living along side these paranormal creatures seem real so that fans receive a terrific thriller that sets quite a high bar for the next story to achieve. Harriet Klausner