Dark Forsaken

The Devil's Assistant, Book 3

By: H. D. Smith

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Last Spring, Claire was framed for the murder of Junior, the Devil's oldest hellspawn.

Last Summer, she reawakened the fourth realm, saved the world (after almost destroying it), and wound up with the worst job ever.

Now, Claire's been locked out of her realm, given an assistant that doesn't actually assist, and told to handle a small problem in Underworld that might just get her killed.

And to top it all off, Mab's made one of the contenders her untouchable. So, yeah, you could say Claire's having one of those days.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2015 HD Smith (P)2016 HD Smith

A riveting dark paranormal urban fantasy adventure

I was in the arms of my worst enemy, taking comfort from him. Would my life ever be normal?
“Normal is boring,” Mace said.

Dark Forsaken by H.D. Smith is the third brilliant installment in The Devil’s Assistant saga, the author’s dark paranormal urban fantasy series. I loved this segment as much as the first two.

Dark Forsaken picks up where Dark Awakened left off. Claire is now the presumptive queen of the fourth realm. Before she can return to her realm and people, the rulers of the other three realms, Harry, Mab and the Boss, have deemed that she must find a new curator for the museum. Ultimately, they don’t want her to succeed, so every candidate that she presents to them, they find unworthy, making this task a boring, rut-with-no-end job. In addition, the same three are holding her accountable for the growing unrest in the underworld blaming her Fallen followers. Since the four half-demon siblings, otherwise known as the Quads, now number among Claire’s followers, she works with them to resolve the issue. I love that the Quads feature much more in this tale. Finally, she must track and defeat the other contenders for her throne. If she fails, she can lose her throne or her life.
Claire is finally accepting her position in the magical world, while acknowledging to herself that she still has much to learn. But, seemingly insurmountable obstacles remain in her path.

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

“I couldn’t just start killing people. That wasn’t really my thing.”
---
“Is that true?” The Boss asked Mace.
Without even batting an eye, Mace said, “Yes.”
“And you agreed?” The Boss questioned.
“Of course. Anything for my queen,” he said, holding his glass up to me in a mock toast.”
---
“I’m calling this place the Tardis,” she said, continuing to scan the different locations. “We’re not calling it the Tardis,” I said. Of course, if she knew what it could really do, I’d never change her mind.
“Why the hell not?” she asked.
“Copyright infringement.”

This tale is phenomenal, but complex. Please don’t attempt to read it out-of-order as you’ll only be disappointed. Almost all of the characters were introduced in the series’ debut and they all play integral parts in the story. Believe me, you won’t regret starting from the beginning and reading this series sequentially.

Lauren Fortgang continues as the fantastic narrator of this series. Her voice is clear and easy to understand. Throughout this series, her characters’ voices have remained realistic and consistent. Her performance reflects the proper emotions and pauses. I can tell who is speaking at any one time from her performance. The end product is polished and professional. Her performance enhances my enjoyment and I can’t imagine not listening to this series.

This series is akin to playing a thrilling video game with Claire where there are many possible outcomes and villains galore at every turn. It challenges my mind to keep up! Sometimes, I hit stop, just to get my breath and ponder on how astounding the previous maneuver was – and what new complications have come to the forefront from the moves just taken. I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys intricate, riveting, fast-paced, action-packed, dark paranormal fantasy adventures.

Excellent Installment to a solid series

Would you consider the audio edition of Dark Forsaken to be better than the print version?

I have no opinion regarding this question.

What other book might you compare Dark Forsaken to and why?

I have no opinion regarding this question.

Which character – as performed by Lauren Fortgang – was your favorite?

I have no opinion regarding this question.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book definitely includes a few laugh out loud moments.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this installment of the Devil's Assistant Series. As always, the world building was excellent. The characters are developing in very interesting ways and the story is very engaging. The story is a third installment, and really is not a standalone.

I first learned of HD Smith because she and I attended the same romance readers conference. I would not describe this series as Romance. It falls more into urban paranormal fiction. Notwithstanding, although I prominently read romance, I have found these books to be very engaging. I will definitely continue to purchase books from this series!

Lauren Fortgang did a solid job with the narration.

I loved this novel as much as the first two

Dark Forsaken by H.D Smith is the third novel in the Devil’s Assistant series. After the second novel, the story picks up with Claire, the presumptive queen of the fourth realm, having been tasked with a job before she can return to her realm and her people. After the death of the curator of the museum of the four realms, it is her job to meet with every candidate that presents themselves for an interview and to select one to replace the old curator. The rulers of the other three realms are reluctant to have her succeed. In addition to this dull job, the other rulers, Boss, Mab, and Harry, call her in to deal with growing unrest in the underworld, developing supposedly at the hands of her Fallen followers. Together with the Quads, or four half demon siblings that Claire claimed as her followers from the big three with whom she has a mutual dislike and mistrust, she must attempt to resolve this issue. To top it all off, she must find and deal with the other contenders for the Fall throne. If she fails she will either lose her throne or her life.

I loved this novel as much as the first two. It is a fantastic story and the complexity and great characters make it shine. As before, I liked Claire’s attitude toward the magical world. Now, she has to grow into her ruler position and this requires adjusting her behavior and attitude toward the big three, the rulers of the other realms, and the four Quads. She has become more suspicious, also recognizes that she has to also start to trust some people to survive. She is finally is embracing her position in the magical world, but still has a lot to learn. The story picked up well from the last novel and provides a decent amount of backstory to make it not too confusing if the reader hasn’t read the first two in the series. But the plot is complicated and therefore I would really recommend reading the first two books first. There are a lot of bits of information and past relationships that were hard to remember. However, this complexity is what makes the story interesting. This novel was also filled with time jumps that drove the plot forward and made the plot more exciting. Overall, all the characters continue to be complex with their motivations difficult to guess and it is easy to stay invested in the story. I can’t wait for the next novel in the series.

The narration by Lauren Fortgang was fantastic as before. I think she captures all the characters really well. She especially does a great job voicing Claire and really captures the snarky commentary from the different characters. The production quality was good as well. I would recommend this novel to any one like urban fantasy novels with complex interweaving storylines.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Enjoyed this one as much as the first two in the

Another great read ... or listen, as the case maybe :-). I am anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

Dark Forsaken

Dark Forsaken by H D Smith
The Devil’s Assistant book 3. Paranormal dark urban fantasy. Should be read in series order.
Claire’s adventures continue while trying to survive Mab, the quads, and her boss as well as those she has made promises or commitments to. Survive one situation to be thrown into another. There is nothing easy about her days but she has a goal and is determined.

Ugh. That poor woman. Tricked, manipulated, and taken advance of, she must survive by her own wits and smarts. I felt underwater and tense for most of the book. I’m glad to know there is only one more book and I really hope she overcomes those that are using her for their own gain. I will continue the series to make sure. Needless to say, more cliffhanger than ending with this book.

🎧 I listened to the audio version version narrated by Lauren Fortgang who does an excellent job with the variations of voices as well as emotions. I varied between 1.4 and 1.2, the latter which was preferred for the performance but the faster for a more conversational pace.