Review: Eve of Chaos by SJ Day

WARNING!!! If you haven't started this series beware of SPOILERS as each books builds on what happened before. As always I try to keep the spoilers to a minimum but it is particularly hard with this series.

Published: June 2009 by Tor

Number of Pages: 362

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Stand Alone/Series: Marked #3
Book 1: Eve of Darkness
Book 2: Eve of Destruction

Why This Book: I really enjoyed the first two books and needed to get my fix of the Eve-Cain-Abel triangle.

From the Author Site: How do you tell Satan that you ran over his hellhound?

Evangeline Hollis has no idea and she doesn't want to find out. Living with the Mark of Cain—and the two sexy brothers who come with it—is trouble enough. She doesn't need to borrow more. Too bad Satan is too pissed to oblige her.

Incensed at the loss of his pet, Satan has put a bounty on Eve's head, and Hell's denizens are converging en masse. The proliferation of Infernals is complicating Eve's hunts and creating chaos in her once orderly life. They've also brought her to the attention of an overzealous reverend who is certain she's Jezebel reincarnate.

How can a Mark drafted by God strike a bargain with the Devil? Eve's about to find out... Excerpt here.

Heroine: Evangeline Hollis killed Satan's last hellhound and Satan is pissed off to say the least. So with a Get-Out-Of-Hell card up for grabs its open season on Eve. Thus Southern California becomes the destination of choice for demons everywhere and that makes life very difficult for Eve and company. Not that she needs more. Eve is still trying to have a "normal" life while being a supernatural bounty hunter for God. But outing with her mother turn into death duels with demons. And her love life is in tangles. Since she's a one man woman, her bed is empty and dating both Cain and Abel is a challenge.

Other Notables:
Alex Cain: Cain is having trouble with his new position. He's not what he was and no one know quite what to expect since his situation is a first.

Reed Abel: Abel is both thrilled and disappointed with Cain's new role. Thrilled because it has provided an opening for him to be with Eve. Disappointed because he wants what Cain has managed to obtain.

Review: Another fantastic page turning story. Now that Eve has managed to graduate from her Mark training course alive she is being assigned demons to hunt down and eliminate. But there is trouble. Her mentor has other duties that take away from helping her cope with her new job. Her handler wants in her pants. And detectives that she thought she had seen the last of with the death of her neighbor are starting to find her a "person of interest" which makes her demon hunting activities that much more complicated.

Ms Day has once again turned up the heat and added a bit more spice to catch and keep our little mental taste buds tingling. She takes us on a journey to discover more about the whys of archangels and the firms as well as a taste of Cain and Abel's original home life with their parents, Adam and Eve. The love triangle of Eve-Cain-Abel gets a few more twists which only makes the story better.

A side note: The cover art for the first three books has been fantastic. Unlike some covers these accurately portrays story that is being told. Each portrays Eve in an outfit that she is described to be wearing wielding the appropriate weapon. The artist really took Ms Day's Eve and brought her to life.

What I liked best: The ever so entangled love triangle of Eve-Cain-Abel. I didn't like Abel so much in the other two books but I have to say that he is definitely growing on me.

What I least liked: The ending! I announce that Ms Day is an evil evil woman. How can she leave us hanging like this!!!??? Now I'll have to wait and wait until the next book to figure out WHO it was. Those of you who have read it will understand this pain and will most likely commiserate with me. And those of you who haven't read it, get to it so you can suffer just like me (pain does love company). So anyone know when book 4 will be released? Anyone? Hmmm.... maybe I need to go grovelling to the author. Will see her at RWA in a couple of days so perhaps I can get some additional info or at least another teaser to keep me on the edge of my seat.

Keeper?: Yes

Recommendation: This is not a series that you should pick up in the middle. Each book build on the one before it. Each build the world a bit more and creates additional depth and if read out of order many things may not make a lot of sense.

Grade: A
Series Grade to Date: A-

Review: Eve of Destruction by SJ Day

Published: June 2009 by Tor

Number of Pages: 414

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Stand Alone/Series: Marked Book 2
Book 1: Eve of Darkness

Why This Book: I read book one and it left off with a cliffhanger so I had to read book 2.

From the Author Site: When you're learning to hunt demons, homework can be hell...

Class is in, but Evangeline Hollis is far from being the star pupil. She's struggling to get through the required training to be a full-fledged Mark -- one of thousands of sinners forced to hunt demons for God. When her class goes on a week-long field trip to an abandoned military base, passing the course suddenly isn't just a matter of pride... it's a matter of life and death. There's a demon hidden among them, killing off Eve's classmates one by one.

As the body count rises, a ragtag team of ghost hunters from a cable TV program unwittingly stumbles into the carnage. Now keeping the Mark system secret competes with the need to keep the "paranormal researchers" alive. With Cain on assignment and Abel investigating a new, terrifying class of demon, Eve must fly solo on her hunt to stop a killer before he strikes again. Excerpt here.

Heroine: Evangeline Hollis was "recruited" to be one of God's bounty hunters aka Marks and now has to attend her required training courses. Although she is a new Mark she has already has been on a hunt and has done some demon-ass kicking due to her having Cain as a mentor. Since Cain is God's number 1 Mark, all the other newbies are very jealous of her. Not to mention that her handler is Abel which also does not get her points with her classmates. Also going against her is being Archangel Raguel's teacher's pet (not her choice) and getting to keep her family ties. Therefore she's in the spotlight for many reasons and to many people which is mostly not good.

Other Notables:
Alex Cain aka Cain of Infamy: Eve's mentor and current boyfriend. Cain has the ambition of wanting to head his own firm of Marks and is pretty much willing to do anything to attain this goal except give up Eve. In addition to being Eve's mentor he is still "on-call" for the special hunts assigned to him by God himself.

Reed Abel: Eve's handler and want-to-be boyfriend. Abel also want to head his own firm and is also willing to anything to attain this goal even perhaps giving up Eve. Since he doesn't actually have her yet makes giving her up less painful. But as he spends time with her, the more he wants her. First he has to figure out how to get Cain out of the picture.

Review: The story picks up right where book 1 end. That being with a very toasty Eve. And Eve is still a tasty treat to be fought over in the oldest case of sibling rivalry, Cain vs. Abel. Cain has moved in to the empty condo next door but is spending most of his time at Eve's. Meanwhile, Abel is checking in on Eve at a regular basis. Both are leaving laundry and dirty dishes in her condo (isn't it just like a guy).

Eve's training as a Mark has begun in earnest with Archangel Raguel teaching the class just as Raguel intended. Eve is the most despised person in her class. Not only does she have Cain as a mentor (most think she has slept her way into this situation, which she did but not in the way her classmates think), she has Abel as her handler when all the other have not yet been assigned to a handler and on top of all that Raguel has made her his star pupil. Talk about a rough start.

The story is both fast paced and full of action and keeps you flipping those pages just so you can see what happens next. About half-way through the book there is a great plot twist which changes the Eve-Cain-Abel triangle in so many different ways that adds an extra layer depth and complication to their relationship. Ms. Day has certainly spiced up the age old tale of Cain and Abel to make it red hot and has added many more spices to keeps us all drooling and begging for more.

What I liked best: Eve's nicknames for her fellow classmates. But my absolute favorite is the demon Giselle's reaction to a certain incident with Cain. Since I am trying very hard not to give a spoiler, I'll end with that.

What I least liked: There isn't one thing in specific that I didn't like but the general feeling that God is stacking the deck against Eve in many different ways. As it is mentioned several times that there are no coincidences so it really does seem like someone wants to give Eve very hard time and its not all coming from the dark side.

Keeper?: Yes

Recommendation: This is book 2 in a the series and they should be read in order. Book 1 describes how Eve got into her current situation. Book 2 picks up exactly where Book 1 left off. They really could have been one really long book.

Grade: A-
Series Grade to Date: A-

Review: Eve of Darkness by SJ Day

Title: Eve of Darkness

Author: SJ Day

Published: April 2009

Number of Pages: 344

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Stand Alone/Series: Marked #1

Why This Book: Heard lots of good things about from one of my favorite book dealers *whispers "KB"*.

From the Author Site: Cursed by God, hunted by demons, desired by Cain and Abel... All in a day's work.

For Evangeline Hollis, a long-ago fling with a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks just became a disaster of biblical proportions. One night with a leather-clad man of mystery has led to a divine punishment: the Mark of Cain.

Thrust into a world where sinners are drafted to kill demons, Eve knows her learning curve must be short. A longtime agnostic, she begrudgingly maneuvers through a celestial bureaucracy where she is a valuable but ill-treated pawn. She's also become the latest point of contention in the oldest case of sibling rivalry in history...

But she'll worry about all that later. Right now she's more concerned with learning to kill while staying alive. And saving the soul she'd never quite believed she had.

The Cast:
Alec Cain aka Cain: The bible's first murderer. Marked and doomed to roam the earth because he killed his brother, Abel. He was God's first bounty hunter, or Mark, who hunts rouge demons or Infernals. Now he is bounty hunter number #1 who takes order only from God himself unlike the other Marks, who take their orders from the archangels. Cain doesn't like rules and has been on his own for a really long time and he had no weakness until he met and fell in love with Eve, gave into the temptation and slept with her. He has made a deal that has him assigned as Eve's mentor.

Reed Abel aka Abel: The, not so innocent, victim of the first murder. Now an angel working under an archangel and is Eve's handler, one responsible for her training and assignments. Abel loves the rules, has always toed the line and followed orders. A company man through and through. Enter Eve. Here's something bad brother Cain wants so natural Abel has decided that he has to take her away from Cain. But now he too is finding Eve a temptation and wants her for other reasons than to annoy Cain.

Raguel Gadara aka Archangel Raguel: Runs the firm that controls all the Marks in North America. Abel's boss and therefore Eve's boss. He has motives of his own and he needs Cain in order to achieve them, so he must have and keep Eve under his control.

Evangeline Hollis aka Eve: She slept with Cain when she was eighteen (and, well, stupid) and this altered her destiny forever. Talk about really bad first dates. Cain takes her virginity, ruined her for any other man, because the sex was out of this world good, then disappeared from her life. Enter Abel ten years later, he lures her into a stairwell, screws her blind, brands her and basically ruins her life. Talk about bad luck. Here she was minding her own business and is quite successful as an interior designer when her number gets called and she is branded with the Mark of Cain and is now one of God's bounty hunters. Except that she's special because Cain is in love with her. This makes her a target for just about everyone.

Review: SJ Day's first book in her Marked series. She has taken the biblical story of Cain and Abel and gave it a new twist. Abel doesn't really "die" and Cain's punishment isn't the end for him either. Cain can earn his redemption by slaying rouge demons (Infernals). But, as he's not so good at following the rules, he's sins keeps pace with his earned indulgences (atonement for his sins). While Abel, the good brother, is an angel, he isn't "good" and Cain, the muderer, isn't "bad".

Day's world building is good. Nothing too wild. Everything fits neatly into the story. And all the nifty little details are there and everything is consistent. She has worked the biblical story and histories nicely into her world. I like that she's taken into consideration that the Bible was written by men thus not everything in it is the full truth and that it is mostly allegorical. Day's archangels are highly competitive and are in constant competetion with each other and man, God's greatest creation. Sure they love God and are devoted servants and curry God's favor, but they each want to be first in God's eye. And God... well he is all-knowing and all-seeing but he doesn't always pay attention. *g*

In Day's world's history, the number of rouge Infernals out pace Cain's ability to control, God creates the Marked system. Some sinners are marked with the mark of Cain becoming Marks and allowed earn indulgences by working for the archangels. Each Mark is assigned a role depending his or her skill set. This system has increased until to the current state where Marks work for firms run by archangels. There are seven firms and each headed by a different archangel. Each firm is located on one of the continents. Cain doesn't belong to any firm, since he is doom to roam he has no "home" base. Abel works for the North American firm.

What I liked best: Cain. What a sweetie. Yeah he's bad ass but he really loves Eve and only wants to be with her. And he's willing to do anything to stay with her, even follow orders and deal with Abel, whom he despises even after all these years.

What I least liked: After the first chapter (you can read it here), everything is a flashback. It starts with circumstances of Eve's marking up to the events in Upland that was mentioned in first chapter with more flashbacks of Eve's initial encounter with Cain. So the book basically leaves you hanging and wondering what the hell happens after chapter one. We know how she ended up in that situation but nothing after. Total cliff hanger! Ick! The good news is that Book 2 is out in early June so we hope there will be some resolution.

Keeper?: Yes

Recommendation: Yes. A good read. Would probably recommend that you wait until Book 2, Eve of Destruction, is out to read this if you are like me and don't like loose ends at the end of your story.

Grade: B