3.5⭐️
Audio: 3.75⭐️
A+ for highly charged erotic content but not quite so good in execution of the two storylines. “Queen of Souls” follows Vivian Nox, the half-demon daughter of Lucifer and the demons, Caedus and Balthazar. After the suicide of their lover, Iliana, Caedus withdraws into himself as the pain and guilt he feels at failing to protect her eats away at his soul. In a bid to discover a way to reach his partner and lover, Balthazar comes to Vivian in the hopes that she will be able to grant him his soul’s desire as she has for others. Nox can read souls and has used her power to build the most exclusive pleasure house in Hell. When Balthazar brings Caedus with him to his meeting, Nox recognizes that they are her soul’s desire, but that the damage Iliana’s death did to Caedus may be too great for her to have them both.
Interspersed with the story of Caedus and his journey through grief is a murder “mystery”. One of Nox’s pleasure servants was killed and she turns to Caedus and Balthazar for help. The story jumps between following the serial killer as he evolves and the relationship between Nox, Caedus and Balthazar. The writing and the story are very good and all the characters, even those who only pop in for a few scenes are so well done, the reader gets a real sense of who they are. May only real problem with the story was that it almost felt like it should be two separate books. The storyline with the serial killer and Caedus’s journey were interesting but tonally so different that cutting back and forth between them was a bit jarring and dissatisfying, especially since the cuts were accomplished mainly via sex scenes. Had the editing been a little tighter, the flow of the two stories may not have felt so off, but after a while even with the enjoyable variety of sex and partner pairings, I just wanted them to get to the point. However, the narrator was amazing and the characters and writing were good so even when I was frustrated by the pacing/editing, I still found the book entertaining.
The setting of the story being in hell was another reason I wanted to read the book, and I was interested to see what the author would do with it. Frankly, Hell is pretty much Earth. Beyond being populated by demons and fallen angels and having a more free take on sex, there wasn’t much difference beyond a few unfamiliar words and the obvious details that come when your characters have wings, tails and horns. Seafood dinners are still excellent and women avoid chocolate because it “makes you fat”. However, there was enough detail and interesting world building traits that you just shrug it off and take the book for what it is—an enjoyable erotic story with horns and wings to increase the kink factor and call it a day.
I voluntarily reviewed an audiobook copy of this book.