My original Damoren audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Young Spencer and his family are attacked by flesh eating monsters. His family is lost, but luckily for him, a stranger named Clay had been tracking the demons and saves the boy’s life. With nowhere to go, Clay takes Spencer under his wing and trains him as a tracker and killer of the many hidden creatures living among us.

Demons can’t be killed by ordinary weapons, which will only kill the host body they possess; it takes a holy weapon, one blessed with special and rare properties. Clay’s ancient pistol, called Damoren, is such a weapon. When he killed the demons attacking Spencer’s family, one of the bullets passed through the monster, killing it, but also lodging itself into Spencer’s body. Instead of killing the boy, it gave him some special abilities: almost instant healing, the ability to understand and speak any language as well as use his own blood to track demons.

The Valducan are an ancient order of demon hunters who have vowed to protect the blessed weapons which can kill demons. One by one, hunters and their precious weapons are being killed and destroyed. Now they need Spencer and his unique abilities to help them as they become the hunted.

Damoren, Valducan is an exceptionally entertaining book. There are many familiar themes in the novel, but the author has made them uniquely his. He introduces many characters in addition to Spencer (now Matt as an adult), and each is given unique and appealing qualities. They are flawed, make mistakes, but are loyal to each other and to their blessed weapons like lovers.

R. C. Bray performs the story in his unique baritone and could read a dictionary and make it exciting. He is just that good. There are many different accents for him to contend with in the story and he handles all of them well. He has a way of conveying a character’s emotions in his voice that adds greatly to the novel. It doesn’t get better.

Damoren, Valducan book 1 is the first in a series of unknown length. The novel wraps up well enough to stand alone, but exciting enough you will want to continue on to the next in the series. If you enjoy demon hunters, occult, action, adventure with a touch of romance, you will love this series. Highly recommended.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. ( )

Arrgh, Ragnarok Publications does it again! To tell the truth, Dämoren didn’t start off high on my priority list of books to read when I received it for review, though it did hook my attention when I was told there would be wendigos (seriously, more books need wendigos). The cover, while very pretty, also did nothing to draw me in, showing a partial image of a bladed revolver. Hey, gunblades are neat and all, I give it that -- but that also tells me very little.

Then a couple weeks ago, while trying to choose my next read, I was struck by a sudden surge of spontaneity and decided to pick up Dämoren and give the first few pages a shot. An hour later, I realized with a jolt that I was still reading, and that I was already almost a third of the way in. The weird thing about that hour, is that it honestly felt like a mere few minutes. Dämoren simply took me by surprise. I’ve read my fair share of stories about demon slayers and monster hunters, so admittedly I wasn’t expecting this first book of Seth Skorkowsky’s new urban fantasy/horror series to be that much different.

Once again, I am sorry to have underestimated the dark fiction of Ragnarok Pub. To be sure, Dämoren will satisfy all your needs in the action and thrills department, but what I was most impressed with was the world building and unique body of lore Skorkowsky has created, which offered a fresh new take on the angel/demon mythos.

Central to the novel is the concept of holy weapons. In the world of Dämoren, these weapons are sentient entities that if you’re not careful you may actually grow to care for them and even start thinking of them as characters themselves! Somehow the author has managed to imbue unmoving, unspeaking objects with personalities with of their own. For when these holy weapons form a bond with a wielder, he or she becomes irrevocably aware that their weapons are alive and that they speak to their souls. No one knows how a holy weapon comes to be, but they are the only way to kill a demon. And the love a wielder feels for their weapon can be even more powerful than any attachment to another human being.

It is so with Matt Hollis, the main protagonist and owner of Dämoren, the name of his holy sword pistol. As a child, Matt was the only survivor of a wendigo attack on his family, making it out alive thanks to a man named Clay Mercer who killed the monsters and rescued the young boy. The former wielder of Dämoren, Clay had resigned from a secret order of demon hunters called the Valducan, and left his holy weapon to Matt after he died. But many years later, the Valducan leadership has taken an interest in Matt’s activities and asked him and Dämoren to rejoin their ranks, due to a sudden influx of coordinated monster attacks and attempts to destroy holy weapons. Unfortunately, this was not a decision welcomed by all, as some of the Valducan see Matt as corrupted. For while Matt had survived his childhood wendigo attack, he was also bitten by one of the creatures.

So, get this: In the world of this novel, all monsters – everything from werewolves to vampires, ghouls to lamia – are all essentially humans, but possessed by the souls of the different kinds of demons inhabiting them, giving rise to their physical and characteristic traits. A bite is how a demon “marks” a person, making them an available vessel to possess if or when their old body perishes. Now you can see why the other Valducans might be giving Matt the shifty eyes.

The book is just filled to the brim with cool ideas like these, not to mention the fact Matt’s special condition gives him some rather handy powers (blood compasses! Can you say awesome?) or the sheer variety of terrifying monsters, both new and familiar, that you’ll come face to face with within these pages. There’s certainly no shortage of action. I also classified this book as an urban fantasy, but in reality the plot will take you to many places across the globe, from the wilds of western Canada to the outskirt villages of Florence. So not only does it take place in variety of environments, Dämoren is a truly international adventure.

Although it will read perfectly fine as a self-contained novel, I was also happy to see that it is a “book one” implying that there will be more in the future. When the Valducan order expands, let’s hope we’ll see more kickass female knights like Luiza! The special relationship between a holy weapon and its owner is one of the most intriguing aspects of Dämoren and I would love to see this uncanny bond further explored with an even greater diversity of characters. Really looking forward to see what else Seth Skorkowsky has in store for us. ( )

Review copy

The story begins with 11-year old Spencer Mallory surviving an attack in his home by a group of monsters that kill the rest of his family. He's saved by a demon hunter named Clay Mercer who wields a special weapon named Dämoren.

Years later, Spencer, now known as Matt Hollis, has become a demon Hunter himself, bonded with Dämoren. As if his life isn't strange enough, he gets the following letter...

Dear Mr. Hollis,

As you can see, we have been aware of you for some time. While we have always made it a point not to interfere with your activities, developments have arisen that have forced our hand into contacting you.

The letter was from the Valducans, a group of demon-hunting knights who find and keep track of all holy weapons and whose library of demon species and lore is massive. A group that Matt was already aware of and that he believed wanted him dead.

Author, Seth Skorkowsky, does a very good job of creating believable situations using extraordinary characters. The conflict between monsters and heroes is embellished by the distrust among the Valducans themselves and the surprise reveal at the end of the book works well as closure for book one and sets up book two nicely.

Dämoren is available now from Ragnarok Publications through Amazon.com.

If you love urban fantasy, you'll certainly enjoy Dämoren. ( )