Paperback Reader

Meljean Brook’s latest, Demon Moon, is just the sort of book for which it would be easier to say, this is great, and leave the statement unexpanded. To do so, however, would make a toothless tribute to a work that stands up to the most minute attention.

Demon Moon leaps into Brook’s already established Guardian’s universe, picking up several months after the events in Demon Angel when secondary-character-promoted-to-heroine Savitri Murray encounters a nosferatu on a transatlantic flight. Not an everyday occurrence, even in this world wherein a human such as Savi counts an angel and a demon among her dearest friends. Also, not a good thing as, in Brook’s mythology, nosferatu are but one of many bad guys. Without her otherworldly companions around to help, Savi is forced to act on her own, setting off a chain of events that propel nearly five hundred pages of good-versus-evil story and sends her into the arms of vampire Colin Ames-Beaumont.

Or perhaps more accurately, back into Colin’s arms. Savi and Colin have a contentious history together and their back story might be a stumbling block for readers not familiar with Demon Angel. Past events are vital to this universe’s present events and Brook takes her time dispensing information. What is helpful to know, vital even, is that during the action of the last Guardian novel, while using Caelum as a safe haven, Colin and Savi had a physical encounter that left the never-fearful Savi untrusting of Colin.

It’s from this point of distrust that Colin and Savi begin a dance of feints and jabs, their concentric circles around one another growing smaller and smaller as the danger posed by demons, nosteratus, and wyrmwolves develops. Brook keeps her characters, particularly Savi and Colin – as the focus never strays from them – bound to pivot on axes of conflict. Savi is the most modern of women, the developer of a video game, a fan of manga, a part-time hacker, but also obligated to the rituals and mores of India and a family arranged (potential) marriage. Colin is a creature of unflagging vanity who is remembered by none of his conquests (save Savi), and cannot see his beautiful reflection in a mirror (or any reflective surface), but instead sees Chaos (a realm that bears a striking resemblance to Dante’s Inferno).

Demon Moon is not without some missteps (however surmountable they are). Brook’s characters are uniformly and universally intelligent. Smart characters are always mentally engaging but so too is diversity and it would be nice for one of the characters to forgo the mental gymnastics and avoid the oppressive cleverness. The plot is dense and long, though it never feels overly long until it’s time for the story to fall to its conclusion. Then events unfold like plodding footsteps instead of a downhill sprint.

Meljean Brook’s second single title Demon Moon is the ambitious tale of a couple caught between a literal and figurative heaven and hell, a woman who cannot forget, and a man who wants to be held onto. The action’s stage is an elaborate one that moves easily between San Francisco and the realms of Chaos and Caelum; the plot is ceaselessly intricate, bringing what seems like the most mundane details back to bear on the story; and the characters are well drawn, full of flaws and facets that make them compelling and memorable.

Demon Moon is simply fantastic.

You can visit Meljean here and purchase this book here and here.