Flora's Musings...: May 2016

The Veil Series Complete Box Set (Books 1 - 5)

by Pippa DaCosta

Read: 5^th – 31^st May 2016

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This is an urban fantasy series featuring humans, demons and half-demons and is the complete 5 book series called The Veil (there are also a couple of novellas including a prequel “Wings Of Hope” which you get for free by signing up to Pippa DaCosta’s Newsletter). I read the first book in this series back in January 2014 and decided to download this box set from Amazon UK.

The blurb says:

All five Veil Series novels now in one place! Beyond The Veil, #1, Devil May Care, #2, Darkest Before Dawn, #3, Drowning In The Dark, #4 and Ties That Bind, #5

Beyond The Veil

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, and the cost could tear her apart.

Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell and an assassin with ulterior motives, Muse must embrace the lure of chaos at her core; the demon inside her, in order to survive.

Devil May Care

Three dead Enforcers in three weeks, their bodies butchered. Muse has seen it before, and when she reads the metal memories in the murder weapon, she sees it all again. Her owner, Damien, is back, and he wants what is rightfully his.

Darkest Before Dawn

When Akil leaves a nine year old half-blood girl on Muse’s doorstep, it’s not long before the demons come hunting, but this time Muse isn’t the target. The Institute, Muse’s immortal brother, and the Princes of Hell, all want a piece of the little half-blood. What’s so special about Dawn, and why has Akil conveniently disappeared just as Muse needs answers?

Drowning In The Dark

As the veil begins to fall and the demons bleed through onto the streets of Boston, Muse knows the battle is lost before it’s even begun.

To make matters worse, Adam and the Institute have captured Akil at a time when the city has never needed him more. Muse believes Akil’s incarceration is a ruse, because if he truly is at the mercy of the Institute, she must choose which side she’ll fight for. Human or demon?

Ties That Bind

Demons are here. Muse knows she can stop the slaughter, but to do so, she must return to the battle-scarred streets of Boston and face the cold, hard, truth. Her old life is ashes. Her love, turned to dust. But all is not lost; a spark of hope remains. A spark from which an inferno can blaze.

“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, and the cost could tear her apart.

Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell and an assassin with ulterior motives, 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.

(Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2014 Quarter-Finalist Top 100 in Genre.)

...So, what did I like about it?

I found Ms DaCosta’s writing style very easy to read and I never felt lost in the plot. I liked the premise for her world; humans know about the existence of demons (but we don’t know the full truth of their power) some of which have chosen to live in our world (in a human look-a-like shell) while the rest live in their realm the “Netherworld”, half-demons are considered abominations/scum by the full demons and usually killed at birth. I appreciated the way that Ms DaCosta revealed the complexities and practises of the demon world without upsetting the pace of the tale and the seed of doubt she planted in what we knew or thought we knew about circumstances, characters and fate.

I loved that our main male characters were not your typical “good” or “evil”, yes it made it hard to tell who was on Muse’s side but then people are a myriad of greys with the potential of great kindness and great evil in us all which is what added a very believable dimension to Ms DaCosta’s characters for me; both higher demon and human.

The plot kept me guessing right to the end; it made me laugh, cry, blush from naughty thoughts and had me, literally, on the edge of my seat at times.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

In a word – no not really.

That’s not to say that I didn’t find the actions, reasoning and behaviour of some of our main characters frustrating at times but (in my opinion), that’s deliberate; it’s all part of the journey and character/story development that Ms DaCosta makes us, the reader, experience to make the whole tale so involving.

This is a series, so don’t expect answers to be easily discovered, yes there are cliffhangers at the end of a couple of books but that’s the advantage of buying a set, you don’t have to wait…

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I really loved this series!

I found it well written with a huge amount of twists & turns that kept me guessing throughout this action packed, emotional rollercoaster of an urban fantasy tale! I loved the development of our main characters and the direction of the story that we were taken on. In my mind it had it all!