Beyond the Veil

By: Pippa DaCosta

Narrated by: Hollie Jackson

Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

"They say I'm half demon, but I like to think of myself as half human, especially as the demons want me dead."

Charlie Henderson is living a lie. Her real name is Muse and her attempt at a normal life is about to go up in smoke. When a half-demon assassin walks into her life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Muse must return to the one man she hoped never to see again and ask for help. The Prince of Greed isn't known for his charity. The price is high, but the cost could tear her apart.

Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell, an assassin with ulterior motives, and her bloodthirsty demon-kin, Muse must embrace the lure of chaos at her core; the demon inside her, in order to survive. When your ex is the Prince of Greed, you'd better be ready to raise hell.

©2014 Pippa DaCosta (P)2014 Pippa DaCosta

interesting demon UF with awkward romance overlaid

There was so many great things about this book, and some disappointments.

First of all, the world of the story is good and unusual. The idea of a world with demons and humans separated by a Veil, where there are no angels to balance out the demons, is solid. I appreciate that there is no Heaven/Hell morality laid over the world. Our main characters are half human and half demon, and their differing views on their identity in the world were interesting. I do love a good misfit tale. The Institute is a great concept and makes a nice foil to the demons as villains. They offer Muse a way to improve her skills and while keeping her safe from the demons while doing it. I liked the demon magic system being based on elemental forces (fire/heat, ice/cold) and look forward to meeting characters in future books with powers in other elements.

Muse/Charlie is a good protagonist. She was imprisoned and abused, and is coming into her own now. We want her to find her power and to find her place in her world. She has a metalworking aptitude, which I'd love to see her work more with. She has fire elemental magic. She gets thrown into and situation after situation without much ability to do more than react, but by the end of the book we see her getting her feet under her and starting to plan her own destiny finally. She waffles a bit too much about who to trust and love, but her abusive backstory makes that believable (for now). Now that she is getting some clarity and training, I expect her to be much stronger in the second book.

Some things were frustrating to me. The sex scenes in this book seemed awkwardly thrown in. There is a "love triangle" of sorts, but poor Muse is choosing between two men that have treated her badly and broken her trust, and with all the twists and turns of the plot, I was left thinking she should have thrown them both away and went on with her life.

I felt that the demons were a little underwritten (thought that may be rectified more in coming books). We are told there are seven Princes in Hell, and that Akil is the Prince of Greed (so I assume they are the seven Deadly Sins), but that is not explored in any way that I could see. I'd like to know more about the origin of the demons and what their world and motivations are. I am very intrigued about the role/powers of the half-demons and look forward to more revelations about them. How did they come to be? How many are there? What role will they have in defeating the demons or bolstering the humans?

There seemed to be some continuity errors (Muse refers to something a character told her or taught her, but we never saw that scene, etc.), which made Muse seem a little unreliable as a narrator. The pacing shifts rapidly, and felt too much of action action action without time for the character to react or reflect, which keeps the reader from bonding with Muse. Similarly, I am unsure how to feel about some of the secondary characters (Mika, Ryder) because we're never given enough time with them to see what their true natures are. Everyone seems to be a double agent in this book. I'd like to see a bigger scope in the next book - make me care about the world and what the greater stakes are. If it's just Akil versus Muse because she dared to leave him, that's pretty shallow and uninteresting.

All in all the book was interesting, fast-paced, and a good start to a series. I am eager to see the world fleshed out more, Muse come into her own, and the scope of the struggle between demons and humans to be revealed.

23 of 24 people found this review helpful

Unhealthy even for an adolescent

She loves and acts and a hour later she hates the same person and acts. She's weak but she's strong. She needs to be rescued from her fatal decisions over and over because she refuses to actually benefit from any information . Bleh. Same stupid self talk over and over. Character is the worst description of illogical ambivalence. Don't advise the kids to read this one unless as a bad learning example of predictable negative outcome. Personally, I began rooting for the devil.

26 of 29 people found this review helpful

Series starts with a bang

I have been on an indie binge lately, but that doesn't guarantee good quality. This one was refreshingly good. The action starts right away and doesn't let you up.

I did have some frustration in the story because the main character gets jerked around from nearly everyone in the story. She doesn't know who to trust, and we as the readers don't know any better.

The author appears to be English, but the story is set in Boston. There is nothing about the writing that sticks out like a sore thumb that would indicate someone unfamiliar with American idioms. Thank you for that.

I like the narrator from other books in the paranormal and urban fantasy genres. She has great flexibility for both male and female voices, and you never wonder which character is speaking.

This is an enjoyable and fast listen, and it works really well for readers who want to start in on a series you could enjoy for a while. There are already several volumes after this.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Looking forward to book 2

“Beyond the Veil” was a well written story with likeable, alluring, and despicable characters. It has an intriguing plot and in likeness to the characters in the story, their being half-human and half-demon, the book also leans on a half fantasy and half real-like world with a strong, identifiable leading female character named Muse.

Charlie Henderson, aka, Muse is a half-blood. Half human and half elemental or demon. While in her workshop working on her sword, a demon assassin or so she thought, appeared and lured her out. He had addressed her as Muse, which she hadn’t heard in a long time and he wanted her to read the inscription on a sword. Then someone unleashes hell hounds on her. But who? Possibly her brother Val…

Akil is her mentor or guardian and ‘Muse’ feels somewhat obligated to him since he freed her from her previous abusive owner Damien. A lot of drama plays out between these characters and Muse quickly becomes seduced by the good looks and mystique of her supposed assassin whose name is Stefan. Plus a little warm and tasteful love-making goes a long way in this story. I want to see where the story goes from here because at the end of the day it leaves you wanting more.

Overall, I enjoyed the audiobook and found it to be a good contemporary fantasy trope and I’ll look forward to more in the series.

About the narrator: Hollie Jackson has a nice cadence to her voice that becomes apparent right away. It was the first thing I noticed when I began listening to this audiobook. She made me believe the story and kept me listening. Along with that, she was perfect as the protagonist and she gave the male voices awesome flair as well. She’s a wonderful voice actor.

Audiobook gifted in exchange for review.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Not my favorite UF Series

I liked parts of this audio book, it had a great premise and a wonderful villain. I didn't really feel the main-squeeze romance, I kind of preferred the villain. Yes, I am being hideously vague, sorry. I got a little bored with the end, and a little confused but I think that might have been more my losing interest than the story being confusing, idk... But, it was promising, I understand why others love it, I just didn't quite connect.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

good start to a series!

I did enjoy this series!! there are so many good storylines here but I can't wait to see what happens to Stefan!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great Book

Well written. Good plot. Many twist and turns. The narrator was great. Many books i cant listen to because of the narrator. Cant wait to listen to the next book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Need the rest of the series in audio.

Really enjoyed this first book of the series. Need the sequels in audiobook. Good narration. Fun story in the genre. The main character needs more development.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Absolutely LOVED it!!

I didn't know what to expect when I began listening to this story but I found myself immersed in the story and I didn't stop it until I finished it. The author, Pippa DaCosta has written a wonderful story. I found it to be written to perfection. The story is intriguing and different than most stories about demons. This story shows how talented this author truly is. I can't wait to listen to more stories about The Veil Series which will be coming to Audible soon.

The narrator Hollie Jackson did another great job with this story as she has other stories that I've listened to that she's narrated. Her performance of this story was very enjoyable so much that I never stopped listening until the story was over. She is extraordinarily talented at what she does. I was able to understand the story, her voice was clear, and able to identify each character that spoke throughout the story. I found it easy to connect with each character. I look forward to listening to more stories that Hollie has narrated. I definitely can't wait to listen to the other stories in The Veil Series as soon as they arrive. If your tired of listening to the same old normal type demon books then look no further because this story will fill your appetite and there's no angels in this story. I highly recommend that you give this story a try and I have no doubt that you'll LOVE it as much as I have.

5 of 7 people found this review helpful

not my cup of tea

couldn't get past chapter 6 of this palette-swap of twilight: that was when i realized the interesting plot i thought i was getting was just a cover for the protagonist's journey to deal with all the supernaturally attractive temptations she has.

Great book<br />

Its well written, plenty of story to keep you entertained. Good characters lots to love and hate.