Hades- Larissa Ione (Demonica Underworld Book 2)
Pages: 216
Read Time: Approx. 4.5 hours
Rating: ★★★★.5 (4.5- I couldn’t find a half star)
Up Next: Z by Larissa Ione
When you think of the name Hades, you probably conjure up images of a charismatic Disney villain with flaming blue hair, a snarky attitude, and a serious grudge against the Olympian pantheon. Larissa Ione’s Hades is a very different beast all together. Think more along the lines of fallen angel with a blue Mohawk, weird fashion sense, sarcastic sense of humor, and personal lackey to the Grim Reaper. Hades first made his appearance back in Eternal Rider, one of Larissa’s Four Horsemen series, and I have been obsessed with the big man since. Of course I was excited to jump into his story.
Cataclysm was booted from Heaven after helping an angel named Gethel nearly destroy the world, and was later hired by the Grim Reaper, Azagoth, to be a housekeeper and a companion to his mate Lilliana. Cat’s only desire is to reclaim her wings and powers, and finally find her way back home in Heaven. On top of all of that, she can’t help but feel wildly attracted to Hades every time he shows up in Sheoul-gra with Azagoth. The same man who doesn’t seem to show much interest in her. After accidentally getting trapped in the Inner Sanctum where demon and human souls wait to be reincarnated to their next lives, Cat has to depend solely on Hades for her survival, while he has to resist the desire growing between them.
I really enjoyed this book. I really enjoyed both Hades’ and Cat’s personalities and their characters. The spice came a little later on in the book, which isn’t anything bad at all. We’ll break it down in pros and cons.
Pros: As usual, this was a well-written book. Larissa continues to release bangers, and her storytelling and world building are second to none. You get a good feeling for both Cat’s and Hades’ personalities, and they’re both loveable characters with their own quirks. The return of previous characters makes the book feel very cohesive with the larger, overarching storyline, and leaves room for new plot development for later books. Cat is a strong-willed woman who knows what she wants and is (mostly) fearless in her pursuit of those things. I liked that she was a little clumsy and accident prone, and I wish I could have gotten a little deeper of a look into who she was before she fell. Hades is a treat as always, every sarcastic, Mohawked inch of him. I love the fact he has a close relationship with Cerberus and that he has some issues of his own. He’s funny and entertaining, and I enjoyed how protective he was of Cat.
Cons: There were some things about the books I would consider cons where others might not, but that’s how opinions generally work. That being said, take all of this with a grain of salt, because I still had a good time reading the book and I wouldn’t consider these things necessarily flaws of the writing or the writer. I just like to bitch about the characters a little bit. Let’s start with Cat. Miss Girl is so clumsy, to her own detriment. Now, not to spoil anything, but, damn, girl. She made a mistake and, instead of immediately running to Azagoth, Hades, or even Lilliana, she decided to pretend it never happened. And then, when she realized the scope of the mistake she made days later, she still didn’t fess up to it, and just decided to go be a chaos goblin on her own. Her actions caused so many issues, that it doesn’t take much to understand why Gethel was able to coerce her in the beginning, and why Raphael gave her the name Cataclysm when she fell, not that Raphael isn’t a giant dick anyway. You would think Hades, the king of the Underworld, wouldn’t be as much of a mess as Cat, but he damn near is. He waited for thousands of years to try and make amends, but best believe he bitched his way through those years nonstop. To be the King of Torture and the ruler of the Inner Sanctum, he also got his ass beat a whole lot, but I suppose that’s to be expected when you’re being jumped by hundreds of demons.
In conclusion- It was a good book. I liked Azagoth more, but I still enjoyed Hades. 10/10 do recommend.
