Thursday, August 22, 2024

Book Review: Demon Mine by Marina Simcoe

 

Book Description

They are big, strong and silent. Their faces are hidden behind masks and their bodies are enclosed in armor suits. They took me from my home in the middle of the night and have been holding me in isolation for months.

I don't fully understand the purpose of my captivity. No one explains anything to me. No one even talks to me. Nearly driven to madness with no more hope for freedom, I no longer care if I live or die.

And then, he speaks to me. Just a few words . . . He throws me a lifeline and helps me find my way back to sanity. He becomes my only companion. My light in the darkness.

I suspect they may not be entirely human. What's worse is that he may be one of them.
________________
Demon Mine is a Paranormal Romance with dark elements. It contains sexual situations, graphic descriptions of intimacy, and potential triggers.
Intended for mature readers


My Review

Let me start off by saying this is a dark romance and has some major triggers such as kidnapping, sexual assault, and mental breakdowns. But if you like dark romance then this was a really good one. 

Alyssa was kidnapped because unbeknownst to her, the human government has a peace treaty with the Incubus demons that they are given several women at a time so the Incubus can feed off their sexual energy and not a have war between the two races. 

Alyssa is kept in a small cell, fed and given clean clothes but each night she is taken to a room where she is bound and forced into sexual situations so the demons in the room can feed off her sexual energy. Each of the women captives are treated the same way. The demons don't talk with any of the human females, they wear face masks and body armor so the females can't even see their faces or touch them without gloves on. Most of the Incubus demons are in a deep sleep because there aren't enough human females to go around to keep them fed with their positive emotions. So it's really just the top tier Incubus demons who get fed well. 

Sytrius is Alyssa's handler, he's an incubus demon and he is the one who interacts with her. He's not allowed to talk to her but he listens to her when she talks to him and asks for things during the day and at the end of the night when he brings her back to her cell. He starts to feel sorry for her and have feelings for her and knows he can't leave her there to die when his boss is about to kill her. So without really thinking about it, he helps her escape the facility and they are on the run. 

With the help of one of Sytrius's demon friends they are going to try and change the laws surrounding how the human women are treated because they know this isn't right. Sytrius and the other Incubus are led to believe that they aren't capable of love but Alyssa and Sytrius change some of their minds. 

This book starts out so sad and I didn't like Sytrius much but I came to see that he was lied to his entire life and made to believe things that weren't true. The lower level Incubus are not treated well and are left pretty much starving so that they have to put themselves into a deep, painful sleep so that they don't go insane from the hunger. 

It's obvious that the way they're living isn't working for anyone but the people in charge of things need to change. I ended up feeling sorry for the demons as well as the human females that were given away like they meant nothing by their own people. But the romance was everything you'd want in a romance even though it starts off very dark. I very much enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading more and seeing what changes are made to the Incubus laws in the future. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.