Dark Awakened

The Devil's Assistant, Book 2

By: H. D. Smith

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Last spring Claire's seemingly normal - if not totally screwed up - life was tossed on its head. For five years she'd been one of the damned - a human that knows the truth about the otherworldly among us. She'd worked for The Boss - the Demon King himself - as his administrative assistant, handling everything from early retirements, to Maintenance's incessant requests for dental.

No one gets dental.

Then she walked into Purgatory - totally not her fault - went back in time, and awakened powers she never knew existed. Now Claire has a prophecy hanging over her head, a diamond ring hidden in her sock drawer, and the blood of a long dead royal running through her veins.

And it's only going to get worse.

Her vow to live free or die takes a serious hit when she's forced back under The Boss's protection. Of course, there's no protection from fate, or the bounty hunter sent to deliver her to Purgatory. And as if being "the girl" in the prophecy wasn't enough, Claire soon discovers there are three other contenders for her role: Two of whom want her dead.

Follow more of Claire's adventures in Dark Awakened, the second installment of the Devil's Assistant Series, to find out if she's lucky enough to escape with her life or if she's just the first notch on the next contender's belt.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2014 H. D. Smith (P)2015 H. D. Smith

A paranormal series that will challenge your mind!

I pulled Thanos in for a kiss, surprising him. I wasn’t sure if it was our bond or the fear this might be my last kiss, but I didn’t hold anything back. I let him in. He took full advantage, plundering my mouth as if I were the last woman on Earth, which could have been a result of him being trapped in a desolate wasteland for the last five hundred years—but I decided not to over think it.

Dark Awakened is the second marvelous installment in H.D. Smith’s fascinating The Devil’s Assistant dark urban fantasy series. It picks up right from where Dark Hope, the series’ debut left off. Clare, the series namesake, continues to kick-ass and take names. She’s intelligent with an uber- quick mind, physically and mentally strong, saucy and her sense of humor is, more often than not, a quirky breath of fresh air. I’ve seen it written that this series does not have supporting characters. Indeed, every one of the rather large cast has an important part to play. They are not background; They are each integral to the story.

First of all, let me be clear. This is not a series to read out-of-order. If you attempt to do so, you will be disappointed. Do yourself a favor, start with the first book and enjoy the series as it evolves. You won’t be sorry! Luckily for new readers, the four books which comprise Clare’s arc in the series are all available. Go for it!

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from Dark Awakened:

“The blue of winter, the brown of spring, the red of summer, and the fall of green. I seek the place of treasures past. I seek the truth of sand and glass. I call to the wind of seasons past. I bring with me the best of summer. I am the one with whom you bask. Deliver me and complete your task.”
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“I must complete my quest or I will die.”
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“She shoved me against the wall, pulling a knife from her belt and pressing it against my throat. “Who are you?” she hissed.
I winced as the blade drew a line of blood on my flesh. I considered my options. Queen of the Fallen, no. Enemy to your children, no. “I’m Claire, the Devil’s assistant,” I answered, deciding on the simplest choice.”

As she did with the previous book, Lauren Fortgang does a fantastic job with the narration. The voices she selected for the characters sound true and they remain consistent throughout. The emotions and tones she conveys are well done. The end production quality is polished. With the first book, because of the huge amount of new characters, I found it necessary to listen to some parts multiple times just to get it straight in my mind who is who and what was going on when. It would have been handy to have a print copy to refer to with the first book. I did not have that same issue with this installment because much of the previous cast returned, and there are very few new introductions. I’m very glad I elected to listen to this series as Lauren’s performance is a definite plus.

This is a paranormal series that will challenge your mind to work overtime. There’s a bit of romance this go-around, magic, spells, curses, dark marks, dragons, time travel and more. Incredibly, I enjoyed Dark Awakened even more than Dark Hope. The world the author created was just as incredible. The story was just as complex, fast-paced and action-packed, but with many of the characters from Dark Hope returning, there weren’t very many new characters to process this time around. The bottomline is that H.D. Smith is a literary genius. I loved every second of this listen and can’t wait to jump into Dark Forsaken, the next book in this brilliant series!

constantly kept me thinking and trying to figure

Dark Awakened by HD Smith is the urban fantasy sequel to Dark Hope, part of the Devil’s Assistant series. What an amazing follow up to the first novel! The main character, Claire, was the Devil’s personal assistant in the first novel and somehow escaped from that responsibility, but she constantly tries to maintain her freedom. But fate has other plans for her. With a prophecy and with newly discovered non-human powers, she finds out that somehow she has a role to fill in the future of the realms. But of course, she has to do this while politically battling for her freedom and against the machinations of those more powerful than her. Once again, to save her life she sets out on an impossible quest, while a myriad of obstacles try to stop her.

I enjoyed the first book a lot, and the sequel was also fantastic. As before, HD Smith masterfully released bits and pieces of information that constantly kept me thinking and trying to figure out what was happening. In this novel, Claire’s sarcastic, rebellious attitude is combined with experience which allows her to make smarter choices and it is clear that she is working to get onto equal footing with the big three rulers of the realms, the Devil, Mab, and Harry. All of the characters have so much depth and there are a lot of characters and mostly all seem to be important and have a purpose, which makes the whole novel richer.

The sequel introduced more information in the way of the overall storyline and of course introduced more questions that will easily transition into the next novel. One of the pet peeves that I have with sequels, especially with one as complex as this, is when it is impossible to follow what is happening from one book to the next, but luckily within the first 20-30min, most of the information needed to know what was happening and be invested in the novel was revealed.

As before, Lauren Fortgang did a fantastic job with the narration. All of the characters’ voices were true to their characters and the changes to tone of voice for different situations were well done. The production quality was great. The one issue that I had with the logistics of listening to this novel was that certain details/clues that were constantly referred to throughout the book, were sometimes difficult to remember and it would have been useful to have a hard copy to refer to. It resulted in a little bit of confusion. I recommend this book to anyone who likes urban fantasy with strong central female characters and I’m looking forward to continuing to read this series.

Audiobook provided for for review by the author.

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Great Series

VERY entertaining. I like every aspect about these books but the romance (plenty of tension, just not that much genuine relationship development), hopefully that will come in the next book.

A Few Disappointments, but Mostly Good

Would you be willing to try another book from H. D. Smith? Why or why not?

Yes, I plan on continuing the series, despite my grievances.

Any additional comments?

Some parts of the story seemed needlessly complicated, as if events were supplied merely to serve as conflict, but ultimately failed to yield a sense of accomplishment. My biggest complaint was the very sudden, and thoroughly unsubstantiated love story between Claire and Thanos. Like, when exactly did they fall in love??? If the characters were feeling it, I, as the reader, certainly was not! This was a pretty significant disappointment to me, because, given the lack of romance in the first book, I had expected that it would be worth the wait, that when the goods were finally delivered, it would be epic. It was so not epic. I would have much preferred no romance at all.