Early Review: Silver-Tongued Devil

Silver-Tongued Devil (Sabina Kane 4)

-          Jaye Wells

Publisher: UK – Orbit

E-Arc courtesy of netgalley and Orbit

**Warning – Contains spoiler for the first 3 books**

Life is looking up for Sabina Kane. Now that her scheming grandmother is dead, the threat of war has passed and the rulers of the dark races are about to sign a treaty to ensure ongoing peace. Her relationship with sexy mage Adam Lazarus is strong and all her friends are around her. Even her magic training is progressing further than she ever expected. The only two dark spots in her otherwise settled life are her guilt over her sister Maisie's fragile mental state and Sabina's own sinking sense that she's got unfinished business with Cain, the mysterious cult leader she let get away months earlier. When a string of murders rock the New York dark races community and threatens to stall the peace negotiations, Sabina finds herself helping to find the killer. Her investigation leads her down troubling paths that have her questioning everything - and everyone - she knows. And the closer she gets to the murderer, the more Sabina realises this is one foe she may not able to kill.

After defeating her vampire Grandmother and the Cast of Nod, rescuing her twin sister, Maisey and finally getting together with Mage hottie, Adam, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Sabina’s worries were over. Unfortunately it turns out normal life is just as difficult as war time when you’re a half vampire, half-mage chosen one. Will Sabina ever tell Adam about her one-stand with Slade, leader of the New York vamps before she and Adam got together? Will Maisey recover from the torture their vampire grandmother put her through? Who is murdering vampires in New York? Can Sabina really live on bagged blood? And will Gighul ever ask Sabina onto his roller-ball team?

It took less than a page for me to catch up with Sabina and immerse myself in her world again. She has changed so much since we first met her in Red-Headed Stepchild, finally learning to trust and open up to others – particularly her boyfriend Adam. She is now surrounded by those who care for her, from Gighul - her demon minion, Maisey - her twin sister, Ruth - Adam’s aunt and Sabina’s magic mentor and many other friends. But she is still opinionated, prone to avoiding verbal confrontation, snarky, kick-butting and strangely vulernable.

The story starts out strangely domesticated – even with a couple of gruesome murders and upcoming peace talks to worry about, but by the end the stakes are raised so high, both personally and for the world that I’m left desperate for the next book to see what happens next. There is some great relationship moments as Sabina learns how much she is trusted and cared for, as well as some clever mirroring if what she was like at the start of the series. The dream sequences are bizarre and captivating. The action sequences are involving and feel like you have to duck as the punches come out of the page.

This is a great series where the heroine is a genuinely conflicted and you want her to find her humanity – even if she is half vampire and half mage! A series which has just as many emotional events as action packed ones.

Recommended for fans of Jennifer Estep and Patricia Briggs. 9 out of 10