Razr is the fourth book in Larissa Ione’s Demonica Underworld series, which is a spin-off or sub-series of her greater Demonica world that follows characters who live in the Underworld, and it’s the fifteenth book in the larger combined series. In this one, we have Z’s assistant Razr, an angel who was cast out of Heaven but is neither Fallen nor Unfallen. He’s being punished for allowing the gem that was the source of his power to fall into the wrong hands, but he can earn his way back into Heaven if he can simply find it. After finally getting a good piece of intel on its whereabouts, his search leads him to London and gemologist Jedda Brighton. Not the human that she seems, Jedda is instead an otherworldly elf who, not only derives power from precious gems, but her entire life force is tied to them. Years ago, she and her sisters came across the gems belonging to Razr and his fellow angels and stole them, not realizing the terrible consequences their actions caused. However, now that she has it, her entire life depends on it. With a Fallen angel, who is also on the hunt for the gems, twisting Jedda’s arm to get her to find them for him, she and Razr will have to trust each other enough to work together to find a way out of their predicament, and along the way, they also discover a powerful attraction that just might lead to love if they don’t get themselves killed.

Razr was once a strong battle angel and part of a special triad that derived their incredible power from the Gems of Enoch. However, each of them needed a human to act as a conduit for them to be able to tap into that power. When Jedda and her sisters stole the gems, it resulted in the angels’ bonded humans dying. For their irresponsibility in letting the gems be taken and consequently humans losing their lives, Razr and his compatriots were cast out of Heaven, and at intervals of usually only a few days, he must be punished by flogging. If he doesn’t accept the beating, it will result in excruciating pain and an angel coming to do the job ten times worse. Razr believes he deserves it for what he did and accepts his punishment, but he longs for the day that he can find the gems and earn his way back into Heaven. In the meantime, he lives in Sheoul-gra and works for Azagoth, training the Memitim in battle techniques. One day, a visiting angel brings him a lead on the gems, which takes him to Jedda and a conference that turns out to be a front for a demon sacrifice, during which a curse is placed on Jedda by the Fallen angel, Shrike, who wants her to find the Gems of Enoch for him. Eventually Razr and Jedda must learn to trust one another in order to find a way to defeat Shrike. But since his gem is now Jedda’s life force, it would mean murdering the woman he’s come to love in order to get it back. In addition to literally being tortured every few days, Razr exhibits some other indications of a classic, sympathetic, tortured hero, although given the brevity of the story, we don’t get to see a lot of that beyond the physical beatings he has to endure. I like that he was able to forgive Jedda for what she and her sisters did once he hears the whole story and that he loves her enough to be willing to keep accepting the floggings indefinitely if it will protect her.

Jedda is a gem elf from an otherworldly realm that few have heard of. In fact, when Razr first meets her, he thinks elves are nothing but a myth and believes her to be a demon instead. She spends most of her time on Earth, where she passes for a human and works as a world-renowned gemologist. Jedda can actually absorb precious gems into her body where they provide the energy she needs to survive as well as giving her powers. She actually bleeds, cries, and sweats gems, and when she’s panicked, she poofs out a cloud of diamond dust, which I thought was cute. While attending the conference where she was supposed to be a speaker, she meets Razr and quickly finds out Shrike’s nefarious purpose in inviting her there. He places a curse on her so that she’ll have no choice but to bring him the Gems of Enoch, but what no one knows is that one of the gems is literally keeping her alive, and to be able to give it to either Razr or Shrike, she’d have to die first. However, because of the gem’s connection to Razr, she feels an immediate and strong connection to him as well, which makes her trust him enough to work together to find a different solution to their dilemma. Jedda can definitely have a spicy side as evidenced in how she handled the sexist mine boss in her introductory chapter, but she also has a sweet side, caring for Razr after his floggings and not wanting to be the cause of him receiving any more pain. She’s also remorseful for stealing the gems in the first place, so overall, she was a very likable heroine.

Overall, I enjoyed Razr and thought it was a respectable entry into the Demonica series. I also liked the characters and their story. However, given that it’s only 120 pages long, making it the shortest book in the series so far, the characterizations and plot aren’t quite as developed as they typically would be in a longer book. Things happen rather quickly, including the declarations of love and the buildup and subsequent denouement of the conflict. A part of me couldn’t help wishing it was a little longer to flesh things out a bit more, which is why I gave it four stars instead of higher. It briefly introduces readers to three characters, Hawkyn (Hawkyn), a Memitim, Suzanne (Her Guardian Angel), another Memitim who appears to be serving Azagoth and Lilliana (Azagoth), and Cipher (Cipher), an Unfallen angel who is taking refuge in Sheoul-gra. What little we see of them, they all seem like they have the potential to be interesting characters, so I look forward to reading their stories, which are the next three in the series. So all things taken into consideration, Razr was a nice little novella that was an entertaining read despite its short length. ( )

Good read

Fast paced....nice to see familiar faces. Interesting take on Elves...I'd love to see a story about Gadreel...that would be interesting! ( )

I love the covers of these 1001 Dark Nights books. They always have the most brilliant colors yet it is mostly words with just a few pictures which are usually in the zeroes of the 1001. I give kudos to the graphic artist who designs these covers.

This is Larissa Ione’s fourth novella in the 1001 Dark Nights series. The 1001 Dark Nights series is a collection of paranormal and contemporary romance stories by various authors. I only follow a few of the authors so I haven’t read that many of them. I have noticed, however, that Larissa works with a lot of other authors on different projects like the Rising Storm series which is a long story written by various authors and Blood Red Kiss which is a book that has stories by Gena Showalter and Kresley Cole, two authors in my top ten favorites along with Larissa Ione of course.

We, the reader, have met Razr before in the last book of the Demonica series, Z although he remained a mystery. He is an angel who was kicked out of Heaven, along with two other angels, for making the huge mistake of losing the Enoch Gems during a battle against demons. His wings were bound and he also must endure beatings at irregular intervals. He carries his own whip and hands it to the nearest person when the glyph on his hand starts to glow. If he isn’t whipped right away, he experiences excruciating pain. In order to get back into Heaven, he has to find the Enoch Gems but he works in the underworld in Sheoul-gra for Azagoth aka the Grim Reaper so he doesn’t have a lot of time to go look. He’s in luck though because Azagoth decided to give him time off to locate the gems. Razr can’t wait to kill whoever was responsible for stealing the gems.

Jedda is a Gem Elf who, along with her two sisters, stole the gems from Razr while he and his team were busy fighting demons. She and her sisters can sense gems and felt the powerful jewels so they stole them from their human keepers. Each one of her sisters absorbed the power of the gems so that their life forces are dependent on the gems and then hid the physical gems. Jedda hid hers in Scotland with dhampires guarding it. Her gem just happens to be Razr’s gem, the one he has to get back in order to get back into Heaven.

Razr found the dhampires who were guarding his gem but they told him without its current owner, they had no way to access it. That led him to Jedda.

Jedda lives in the human realm and works as a specialist with gems. She was at what she thought was a gem conference when Razr found her but she soon found out it was a trap. A fallen angel named Shrike used some evil power from some evil demon or deity that he worshipped to put a spell on Jedda. She will weaken and eventually die if she doesn’t hand over the gem and a crystal horn that Shrike needs for some evil purpose.

Razr agrees to help her only because he needs the gem himself but he also has an unexplainable attraction to Jedda. He wants to believe that she just acquired the gem from a gem dealer or collector after the initial theft but he isn’t so sure. He has no clue that giving up the gem’s power will kill her.

This was a quick and enjoyable read. I always like Larissa Ione’s characters because she makes both the females and males baddass…no innocent little miss perfects in her books. I look forward to her next book. I wonder who it will be about.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

Razr is a fallen angel who failed in a mission years ago. Jedda is an elf with a gift for dealing with magical stones… and a secret. They have to work together to find some stolen gems that are a part of Razr’s past, and of course, have sizzling chemistry. This was a fun steamy Demonica novella!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
( )

This Novella read is 120 Pages and is the story Of Razr and Jedda.
Razr is an Ex-battle Angel and is now the employer of the grim Reaper.
He is unique in as such he is not fallen or unfallen but bound until he completes the task required of him.
Years back Razr was tasked with wielding along with his triad a gem of Enoch and along with his fellow brethren lost them along with there bonded human charges.
Released from his prison but bound he is tasked with recovering the gem to reverse his punishment.
He also additionally tormented with six lashes every time his mark glows and the pain he feels escalates until the beating commences.
Jedda is a gem elf and she is also in possession of Razr's Gem.
This was a really imaginative read and I adored the addition of gem elves.
So here not only does Razr take his punishment when due he additionally torments himself with his own inner guilt.
Jedda wants to reveal her own part in his story but she is afraid especially as she has come to care for Razr.
This was again well written and an enjoyable read.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )