Duel Nature: The Demon Accords, Book 4 Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Book 4 of the Demon Accords. Chris and Tanya have been assigned as Coven Rovers, travelling the country and troubleshooting the supernatural community. It's a job that's part cop and part auditor, one that should be long periods of boredom mixed with small parts of action. But this is Chris and Tanya, so a sudden assignment to check on a rogue vampire leads to a run-in with a hostile master vampire, a hit squad, monsters straight out of Native American folklore, black ops teams, and, worst of all, vampire politics. Now more than ever, Chris must control his dark side, as the alternative is death.
Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 10 hours and 16 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: October 27, 2015
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B0176MEXZ2
Best Sellers Rank: #96 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult #273 in Books > Audible Audiobooks > Fantasy #632 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban
I first stumbled onto this series in a slump for books by more well-known, big-name published authors we've all heard of. Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison..they were all busy writing, and had nothing current for me to feast my eyes on. So I turned to the independents out there. The folks who write their hearts out, then just pop their titles into eBook form for the masses to judge and rip apart as they will.I fell in love with God Touched. The characters grabbed me. The story moved along at a good clip, and I found myself devouring the rest of the books, asking, "Please sir, may I have some more?"Obligingly, Mr. Conroe ladeled out a bit of frosty garnish to the Demon Accords, and I read that too. Insatiable, I waited while he wrote Duel Nature.This book is the continued story of Chris and Tanya, and it too moves along at a pleasant trot. We get to see plenty of faces we know along the way, and some new ones as well. There is some repetition, be warned. We fans know what happened in the last three books, but some folks might be new, so we must be patient with the re-cap. He doesn't over-do it, no; but there is re-emphasis of just how seriously Chris can kick a**, and just how dangerous Tanya is with blades. It bears repeating anyway, because they really are just cool characters. :)There are numerous fight scenes, and they are well played. There is some love-struck mushiness, and some protective instinct riled up, all of which are candy for readers like me who gush over the emotional content. There is black ops involvement; and scary ghost-monster-zombies (I actually got a thrill of horror-story fear there); and a wolf-bear-were friend we love to love; and supernatural politicking; and jockeying for power.There is a suprise twist that had me desperately clicking the ">" button on my kindle looking for more words.This is a good solid story, with enormous potential for additional creative flow. I enjoyed it every bit as much as those well-known, big-publishing-house authors out there in the genre. I will read it again, and probably again.A little Bourne, a little Bond, a little Avengers, a pinch of Mercy Thompson, a smattering of Harry Dresden, it comes together into something fresh, and in the end, none of those really covers it. Just read it. It's affordable, and well worth the kindle download. ;)
Like some of the other reviewers here, I read the first of the series, "God Touched" in a day and quickly blew through the other three over the following few days. Conroe's writing has improved over the course of the series, I was glad to see the "internal asides" largely disappear (tacking the main character's breaking of the fourth wall onto a statement), though there are still some inexplicable spelling errors. He consistently substitutes "arraigned" for "arranged" (it happens in three of the books, I think), which has driven me a little nutty. Still, as I've stated in my other reviews for the books, while I notice these things, I didn't find that they detracted from the book very much at all, I just wish they didn't keep happening. The one thing that kept this book from a five-star rating for me was that the ending felt incomplete. Obviously it's a setup for the next in the series, but it felt too much like a "To Be Continued" TV episode. Still, if the intent was to make sure got the next book in the series, mission accomplished!
For the record, I only given 5 stars for books that change(d) my life. 4 stars are for really great books. 3 stars are for really good books and or really good "reads" but that are not going to (and are not intended to) change the world.So, 3 stars because I really like this book and the others in the series. Conroe's prose is clean and easy to read. Each page flows into the next. I blew through each of the books in no time at all because they are fun to read. They are also easy to digest because nothing genuinely bad ever really happens to anyone. The good guys always win. The good guys never really get permanently hurt. This doesn't bother me, by the way. Sometimes it's nice to have a superhero fantasy in which you can feel safe and protected from any hard emotional consequences. The only criticism I have in the conceptual foundation of the books are that the "theology" (for want of a better term) gets a little muddy. On the one had, Conroe is (to my way of thinking anyway) admirably non-denominational in his dealings with the spiritual structure of the Universe (or Earth, anyway), granting legitimate "spiritual" powers (like exorcism) to believers in several faiths, and including spirit entities from the Native American traditions (this entity is one of my favorite characters, I must admit), but then...well...then he trips himself up and brings a very Catholic-configured angel into the picture. Admittedly, the angel is willing to meet with him on any kind of holy site, no matter the belief system, but, nonetheless, the angel repeatedly suggests that our hero is doing work for a VERY Judeo-(but MUCH MORE)-Christian seeming God and his army of angels. Which is entirely Conroe's prerogative. It's not the theology I object to, it's the incongruity, as all the rest of the "Magical Laws of Physics" he lays out suggests a non-sectarian structure (or at least hierarchy) to the Spiritual World. The good news is that it doesn't get in the way of enjoyable stories. I bring it up mostly because, while I kind of love the whole demon-fighting on earth genre, I don't love (and feel disenfranchised by, to be honest) the whole reliance on the essential "Truth" of the Catholic Church's theology plus-minus the Book of Revelations template. I guess I am a little (maybe unfairly) disappointed becasue Conroe got 90% of the way there, but then capitulated...or at least seems to have thus far...There is still time, I guess, as he has not yet offered a full disclosure of "How Things Really Work." For what it;s worth, I'm going to keep reading and find out. The books are fun enough that I'll even forgive him if he sticks with the whole angels and demons thing...though I really, really hope he does not.
The latest, but hopefully not this last in this very enjoyable urban fantasy series. In this one we got a good look at Vampire politics - not Chris's strong point and he knows it - I read these books very quickly. Its been a while since I've come across a series that had me zoom through it like this simply because I really enjoyed both the character I was reading about and the books had a reasonably consistent pacing. This is one series I'm happy to pick up the next book when it becomes available. Each installment has definite breadcrumbs and arcs for the next in the series so I highly recommend reading them in the correct order.
Duel Nature: The Demon Accords, Book 4 Demon Driven: The Demon Accords, Book 2 God Touched: The Demon Accords, Book 1 Forced Ascent: The Demon Accords, Book 7 Fallen Stars: The Demon Accords, Book 5 Brutal Asset: The Demon Accords, Book 3 The Process of Creating Life: Nature of Order, Book 2: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order)(Flexible) Monster Duel Official Handbook (Yu-gi-oh) Official Guidebook (Duel Masters) The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Aaron and Alexander: The Most Famous Duel in American History CSS Alabama vs USS Kearsarge: Cherbourg 1864 (Duel) Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862 (Duel) M1 Abrams vs T-72 Ural: Operation Desert Storm 1991 (Duel) Panther vs Sherman: Battle of the Bulge 1944 (Duel) Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties The Works of John Donne: Death's Duel, Songs and Sonnets, Divine Poems, Holy Sonnets, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and More (15 Books With Active Table of Contents) Snowboard Duel (Jake Maddox Sports Stories) Snowboard Duel: 0 (Jake Maddox Sports Stories) Rocky Mountain Wildlife Nature Activity Book (Nature Activity Book Series)
