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kathydavie's review
3.0
Fifth and end of the Morgan Kingsley urban-fantasy series set in an alternate Philadelphia.
The Story
Shae, the illegal demon who owns the Seven Deadlies, comes to Morgan with some disturbing news. Seems she's seeing a lot of new demons coming into her club who aren't the usual gorgeous beauties. Instead they seem to be addicts and beggars. Since no demon wants to be in anything less than a gorgeous body, the news is disturbing enough that Lugh's Council realizes they'll have to push Dougal into a confrontation.
The Characters
Morgan Kingsley is a pain-in-the-ass albeit extremely strong exorcist although she's only doing one to two exorcisms a month these days compared to the four or more per week she used to do. Seems she can't leave Philly until Lugh's problems are solved, after all, Lugh is possessing her body. Brian is a corporate lawyer and Morgan's boyfriend. He's also incredibly patient in putting up with Morgan's issues although he's not too happy to find out that Lugh is "listening in" when they make love nor that Lugh is attracted to him! Eeek!!
Lugh is the Demon King fighting against a coup attempt by his brother, Dougal. The brothers have a conflict of opinion as to the proper method of possession. He's also rather intent on seducing Morgan…and, if he can get away with it, Brian.
Adam White is demon-possessed and the head of the Special Forces branch of the police force which, ahem, polices demons while Domenic, his lover, finally gets to open his Italian restaurant. Seems Adam may be in some trouble as he's been caught one too many times covering up for Lugh/Morgan.
Andrew is Morgan's brother and used to be Raphael's host. He's the reason we now know why some hosts are damaged after a demon is exorcised. Yet, even though his demon-hosting experience was traumatic, Andrew steps up when it's needed.
Raphael is Lugh's youngest brother. From being part of Dougal's conspiracy to fully supporting Lugh, Raphael seems to have learned some new ways of thinking…who knew!!?
Saul is Raphael's son with absolutely no love lost on his side; he's also Lugh's heir. Barbara Paget is a private investigator who has fallen in love with Saul. All the above characters—except Dougal—are on Lugh's Royal Council.
My Take
Bummer! I am so going to miss Adam and Lugh! Domenic's meals are going to be missed even more—he takes such delight in creating incredible food! Even Morgan seems to have learned something during Lugh's residence even if she is merely boring now instead of incredibly irritating.
Black does a lovely ending even as she leaves us in some suspense for Adam's job.
My reason for the 3 is that this was rather tame and a touch boring. There was some tension in the lead up to the duel between Lugh and Dougal with a bit of the snarkiness I do love from Adam but I think Black was more interested in tidying everything up before she shut the door on the series.
The Cover
The cover is rather odd. I like the black fanciful scroll that borders the bottom with its green and blue feathery smoke that rises up around the intense woman glaring out at us whom I assume is Morgan.
The title, The Devil's Playground, refers [I'm guessing] to the Mortal Realm where the demons like to come and play in and amongst the humans.
The Story
Shae, the illegal demon who owns the Seven Deadlies, comes to Morgan with some disturbing news. Seems she's seeing a lot of new demons coming into her club who aren't the usual gorgeous beauties. Instead they seem to be addicts and beggars. Since no demon wants to be in anything less than a gorgeous body, the news is disturbing enough that Lugh's Council realizes they'll have to push Dougal into a confrontation.
The Characters
Morgan Kingsley is a pain-in-the-ass albeit extremely strong exorcist although she's only doing one to two exorcisms a month these days compared to the four or more per week she used to do. Seems she can't leave Philly until Lugh's problems are solved, after all, Lugh is possessing her body. Brian is a corporate lawyer and Morgan's boyfriend. He's also incredibly patient in putting up with Morgan's issues although he's not too happy to find out that Lugh is "listening in" when they make love nor that Lugh is attracted to him! Eeek!!
Lugh is the Demon King fighting against a coup attempt by his brother, Dougal. The brothers have a conflict of opinion as to the proper method of possession. He's also rather intent on seducing Morgan…and, if he can get away with it, Brian.
Adam White is demon-possessed and the head of the Special Forces branch of the police force which, ahem, polices demons while Domenic, his lover, finally gets to open his Italian restaurant. Seems Adam may be in some trouble as he's been caught one too many times covering up for Lugh/Morgan.
Andrew is Morgan's brother and used to be Raphael's host. He's the reason we now know why some hosts are damaged after a demon is exorcised. Yet, even though his demon-hosting experience was traumatic, Andrew steps up when it's needed.
Raphael is Lugh's youngest brother. From being part of Dougal's conspiracy to fully supporting Lugh, Raphael seems to have learned some new ways of thinking…who knew!!?
Saul is Raphael's son with absolutely no love lost on his side; he's also Lugh's heir. Barbara Paget is a private investigator who has fallen in love with Saul. All the above characters—except Dougal—are on Lugh's Royal Council.
My Take
Bummer! I am so going to miss Adam and Lugh! Domenic's meals are going to be missed even more—he takes such delight in creating incredible food! Even Morgan seems to have learned something during Lugh's residence even if she is merely boring now instead of incredibly irritating.
Black does a lovely ending even as she leaves us in some suspense for Adam's job.
My reason for the 3 is that this was rather tame and a touch boring. There was some tension in the lead up to the duel between Lugh and Dougal with a bit of the snarkiness I do love from Adam but I think Black was more interested in tidying everything up before she shut the door on the series.
The Cover
The cover is rather odd. I like the black fanciful scroll that borders the bottom with its green and blue feathery smoke that rises up around the intense woman glaring out at us whom I assume is Morgan.
The title, The Devil's Playground, refers [I'm guessing] to the Mortal Realm where the demons like to come and play in and amongst the humans.
patchworkbunny's review
2.0
Whilst it definitely felt like an ending (I don't know if there are other books planned), it seemed to be the same ground being covered as before. Plot was a bit wishy-washy but that happens when you have too many characters in a short book.
adowling's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book a lot. I went in not knowing it was the last book and I'm still not sure it should be. Things are kind of wrapped up at the end but so much is left to be done. Just because the big bad dies doesn't mean the story ends. What happens with Morgan and Brian? What about Adam and Dom? I felt a little let down.
ckjaer88's review
3.0
This one started off a bit slow, but really picked up at the end! It's great getting under the skin of the demons and get more personality to them. But a bit disheartening to not find anything on Google about book 6.
sunnydee's review
5.0
Dies ist eine meiner ersten Paranormal-Romance- und eine meiner absoluten Lieblings-Reihen. Ich habe diesen letzten Band lange vor mir hergeschoben, weil ich der Reihe und den Charakteren einfach nicht Lebewohl sagen wollte. Den ersten Band habe ich 2012 gelesen und er hat mich so richtig mitgerissen. HIER findet ihr meine Review dazu und darin erkläre ich auch das Worldbuilding und stelle die Hauptcharaktere vor. Ich möchte eigentlich zum Inhalt und zu den Charakteren nichts mehr sagen, da alles einfach nur spoilern würde. Dieser fünfte und letzte Teil der Reihe ist ein echtes Finale. Charaktere haben sich sehr entwickelt von Band 1 zu Band 5 und daher würde es einfach nur spoilern mehr zu sagen. Was ich sagen kann, dass es hier auf den finalen Kampf der beiden Dämonenbrüder herausläuft, die den Thron in der Dämonenwelt besteigen wollen. Das ganze läuft sehr, sehr taktisch ab, was mir sehr entgegen kommt. Ich mag zwar durchaus auch Actionszenen, aber bin immer froh, wenn dieser den Band nicht dominieren. Geschickte Planung und ein paar unerwartete Wendungen, Charaktere, die man nicht so eindeutig einschätzen kann, so etwas macht für mich die Spannung aus, die ich mir wünsche. Und das bekam ich hier. Die Charaktere sind mir in diesen 10 Jahren, die ich die Reihe nun lese, sehr ans Herz gewachsen. Es waren diese Art von Charakteren, bei denen man am Ende das Gefühl hat, sie wirklich zu kennen. Ich habe mich nur sehr ungern von Morgan, Lugh, Adam und Brian verabschiedet. Das ganze Konzept, wie die Dämonen in der Menschenwelt 'leben' fand ich unglaublich originell. Die Reihe hatte genau die richtige Mischung aus Fantasy, Humor, Spannung und Unterhaltung. Lediglich die Liebesgeschichte(n) hätte für meinen Geschmack noch etwas mehr Platz einnehmen können.
Alles in allem war dieser letzte Band ein würdiger Abschluss und hat mich sehr gut unterhalten. Ich bleibe nun mit einem lachenden und einem weinendem Auge zurück.
Jenna Black wird immer eine Autorin sein, nach der ich weiter Ausschau halte. Eine weitere Reihe von ihr habe ich bereits begonnen und werden nun diese weiterverfolgen.
Story 4,6/5
Emotionen 5,0/5
Charaktere 5+/5
Unterhaltung 4,6/5
Schreibstil 4,6/5
Lesegefühl 5,0/5
Gesamt 4,6/5
Alles in allem war dieser letzte Band ein würdiger Abschluss und hat mich sehr gut unterhalten. Ich bleibe nun mit einem lachenden und einem weinendem Auge zurück.
Jenna Black wird immer eine Autorin sein, nach der ich weiter Ausschau halte. Eine weitere Reihe von ihr habe ich bereits begonnen und werden nun diese weiterverfolgen.
Story 4,6/5
Emotionen 5,0/5
Charaktere 5+/5
Unterhaltung 4,6/5
Schreibstil 4,6/5
Lesegefühl 5,0/5
Gesamt 4,6/5
aknas22's review
4.0
This is my favorite of the series. These books really do get better. Morgan and the other characters have experience major character growth and there is an end to one story arc.
delaneybull's review
4.0
I liked that the confrontation that has been building up for five books was confronted, but not in a way that made the prospect of future novels in the series seem unnecessary. As usual, I love Lugh and Morgan, Brian and Andy annoyed me, and Adam and Dom are perfect.
This installment had some serious twists that I appreciated, and a few that I didn't. I liked the twist at the end of the novel, I think it was very redeeming for one character which I appreciated, since I have always liked him.
I'm a little concerned that future novels will be weird to match stylistically and thematically because the goal of the series thus far has been accomplished, but I will continue reading and I have hope that the series will continue to flourish.
This installment had some serious twists that I appreciated, and a few that I didn't. I liked the twist at the end of the novel, I think it was very redeeming for one character which I appreciated, since I have always liked him.
I'm a little concerned that future novels will be weird to match stylistically and thematically because the goal of the series thus far has been accomplished, but I will continue reading and I have hope that the series will continue to flourish.
audiobookmel's review
3.0
This book was very good. There were several surprises that I did not see coming. I am very curious as where Morgan goes from here.
shannonleighd's review
1.0
I wanted to add that I do still read Black's books; I haven't given up on her. In fact, here newest series (my review of the first book, Dark Descendant) is actually really, really good. I also liked her YA series as well (I have a review for the second book only though) and these are both really good examples of why I don't give up on an author completely because of one or two bad books. I think over time she's only gotten better, so if you disliked this one as much as I did, maybe give another one of her series a chance, especially if you may have liked parts of this series but not the whole. I think she's worth giving a second chance, definitely.
Now, on to the review of this book!
Sigh ... where to start? Let's just say I was very disappointed with this book. I was hoping things would improve from the previous one but it seems I was wrong to even think that. I'm frustrated with this series now like I'm frustrated with Laurell K. Hamilton's two series and there isn't even a lot of sex in Black's books to distract me from the poorly developed plot. Let me see if I can explain myself.
Morgan Kingsley is a demon executioner, and we find out in the beginning of this book that her life has returned to some semblance of normalcy. She's still hosting the Demon King Lugh but she's come to terms with a lot of what's happened in the previous books. She's building a better relationship with Brian and her friends, and trying hard not to be a stubborn bitch all the time. But then the owner of the Seven Deadlies demon club, Shae, comes to Morgan with some information. She tells her that increasing amounts of demons have been showing up at the club in less than perfect bodies and she thinks it might have something to do with Dougal and his plan to kill Lugh. So Morgan decides to investigate and once again gets caught up in demon politics.
Now, where did this book go wrong? This series has such an interesting premise and it's the main reason I keep coming back to read more even though the quality seems to go downhill with each additional book. This book should have been called The Devil's Meeting in Morgan's Apartment. I should have tried to keep track of the amount of times Lugh's counsel was called to convene and drink copious amounts of coffee in Morgan's living room. It honestly got ridiculous and if I had to guess I'd say they met at least six times to discuss what action to take. About 75% of this book was them sitting around talking about what they should do! And good lord, WE GET IT, YOU LIKE COFFEE! I'm surprised the other 25% of this book didn't take place in Morgan's bathroom.
Another thing I had a problem with was the repetitive feel of almost all of Morgan's thoughts and conversations. She has a hard time letting people in, she's stubborn, Lugh taking control makes her sick, she's gets cranky when she gets a headache, people can't change, blah blah blah. It's the same thing over and over and over again. Thankfully, she's FINALLY starting to trust people, but now we have Brian to take up the whiny bitch throne. He doesn't like the fact that Lugh is there when he and Morgan have sex and he throws a hissy fit because Lugh happens to have feelings for him. Lugh is inside her head and has no body! There's no chance for any wiener-wackin' so get over your homophobic self! (I might be being a little unfair but his whining is super annoying. He spent four books pissed that Morgan was stubborn and wouldn't let him in and now he pulls this crap when Lugh has been there the whole time!)
And now this kind of gets me back to the whole LKH comparison. Hamilton's Anita Blake raises the dead as a job in the beginning of her series. As the plot gets more convoluted with vampire and werewolf stuff the zombie raising is left behind. Now though it seems like LKH is trying to get back to Anita's roots and I saw a glimmer of hope in [b:Flirt|6726595|Flirt (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #18)|Laurell K. Hamilton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310494369s/6726595.jpg|6922779] that the series might take a turn for the better. I think this is what the Morgan Kingsley series needs to do too. Morgan hardly does exorcisms anymore. She's been so caught up in the demon politics that she's lost her identity, and also her charm. At this point she's just an annoying human that happens to host the Demon King. And sometimes I question her intelligence too; on two separate occasions, her only weapon-her taser-was at the bottom of her gigantic purse. How is that the smart thing to do? It's her only weapon! I just thought that was beyond stupid. At least Anita doesn't root around in her purse looking for her gun.
Apparently, this is the end of the series for the time being. See Jenna's goodbye to the series here. I can understand an author not wanting to drag something out if she's run out of ideas, and I can very well see that being the case here, but if this turns out to be the end of Morgan Kingsley then I'll be left forever feeling frustrated and disappointed. It will also make me question if I want to read [a:Jenna Black's|51118|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243367862p2/51118.jpg] books in the future, or at the very least it'll keep me from blind-buying them.
One more thing I wanted to add: I hate the cover! It doesn't match the previous books and the model is weird looking. I don't know if it's the angle at which the photograph was taken or if the designer made it that way but I just don't like it. See below. This was just one more thing that left me dissatisfied. : (
[bc:The Devil Inside|729876|The Devil Inside (Morgan Kingsley, #1)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320491285s/729876.jpg|716075] [bc:The Devil You Know|2398197|The Devil You Know (Morgan Kingsley, #2)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320400198s/2398197.jpg|2589565] [bc:The Devil's Due|3123162|The Devil's Due (Morgan Kingsley, #3)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320477213s/3123162.jpg|3154505] [bc:Speak of the Devil|5928023|Speak of the Devil (Morgan Kingsley, #4)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320477215s/5928023.jpg|6100455] [bc:The Devil's Playground|6521325|The Devil's Playground (Morgan Kingsley, #5)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320474498s/6521325.jpg|6713228]
My Speak of the Devil review.
Now, on to the review of this book!
Sigh ... where to start? Let's just say I was very disappointed with this book. I was hoping things would improve from the previous one but it seems I was wrong to even think that. I'm frustrated with this series now like I'm frustrated with Laurell K. Hamilton's two series and there isn't even a lot of sex in Black's books to distract me from the poorly developed plot. Let me see if I can explain myself.
Morgan Kingsley is a demon executioner, and we find out in the beginning of this book that her life has returned to some semblance of normalcy. She's still hosting the Demon King Lugh but she's come to terms with a lot of what's happened in the previous books. She's building a better relationship with Brian and her friends, and trying hard not to be a stubborn bitch all the time. But then the owner of the Seven Deadlies demon club, Shae, comes to Morgan with some information. She tells her that increasing amounts of demons have been showing up at the club in less than perfect bodies and she thinks it might have something to do with Dougal and his plan to kill Lugh. So Morgan decides to investigate and once again gets caught up in demon politics.
Now, where did this book go wrong? This series has such an interesting premise and it's the main reason I keep coming back to read more even though the quality seems to go downhill with each additional book. This book should have been called The Devil's Meeting in Morgan's Apartment. I should have tried to keep track of the amount of times Lugh's counsel was called to convene and drink copious amounts of coffee in Morgan's living room. It honestly got ridiculous and if I had to guess I'd say they met at least six times to discuss what action to take. About 75% of this book was them sitting around talking about what they should do! And good lord, WE GET IT, YOU LIKE COFFEE! I'm surprised the other 25% of this book didn't take place in Morgan's bathroom.
Another thing I had a problem with was the repetitive feel of almost all of Morgan's thoughts and conversations. She has a hard time letting people in, she's stubborn, Lugh taking control makes her sick, she's gets cranky when she gets a headache, people can't change, blah blah blah. It's the same thing over and over and over again. Thankfully, she's FINALLY starting to trust people, but now we have Brian to take up the whiny bitch throne. He doesn't like the fact that Lugh is there when he and Morgan have sex and he throws a hissy fit because Lugh happens to have feelings for him. Lugh is inside her head and has no body! There's no chance for any wiener-wackin' so get over your homophobic self! (I might be being a little unfair but his whining is super annoying. He spent four books pissed that Morgan was stubborn and wouldn't let him in and now he pulls this crap when Lugh has been there the whole time!)
And now this kind of gets me back to the whole LKH comparison. Hamilton's Anita Blake raises the dead as a job in the beginning of her series. As the plot gets more convoluted with vampire and werewolf stuff the zombie raising is left behind. Now though it seems like LKH is trying to get back to Anita's roots and I saw a glimmer of hope in [b:Flirt|6726595|Flirt (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #18)|Laurell K. Hamilton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1310494369s/6726595.jpg|6922779] that the series might take a turn for the better. I think this is what the Morgan Kingsley series needs to do too. Morgan hardly does exorcisms anymore. She's been so caught up in the demon politics that she's lost her identity, and also her charm. At this point she's just an annoying human that happens to host the Demon King. And sometimes I question her intelligence too; on two separate occasions, her only weapon-her taser-was at the bottom of her gigantic purse. How is that the smart thing to do? It's her only weapon! I just thought that was beyond stupid. At least Anita doesn't root around in her purse looking for her gun.
Apparently, this is the end of the series for the time being. See Jenna's goodbye to the series here. I can understand an author not wanting to drag something out if she's run out of ideas, and I can very well see that being the case here, but if this turns out to be the end of Morgan Kingsley then I'll be left forever feeling frustrated and disappointed. It will also make me question if I want to read [a:Jenna Black's|51118|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1243367862p2/51118.jpg] books in the future, or at the very least it'll keep me from blind-buying them.
One more thing I wanted to add: I hate the cover! It doesn't match the previous books and the model is weird looking. I don't know if it's the angle at which the photograph was taken or if the designer made it that way but I just don't like it. See below. This was just one more thing that left me dissatisfied. : (
[bc:The Devil Inside|729876|The Devil Inside (Morgan Kingsley, #1)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320491285s/729876.jpg|716075] [bc:The Devil You Know|2398197|The Devil You Know (Morgan Kingsley, #2)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320400198s/2398197.jpg|2589565] [bc:The Devil's Due|3123162|The Devil's Due (Morgan Kingsley, #3)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320477213s/3123162.jpg|3154505] [bc:Speak of the Devil|5928023|Speak of the Devil (Morgan Kingsley, #4)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320477215s/5928023.jpg|6100455] [bc:The Devil's Playground|6521325|The Devil's Playground (Morgan Kingsley, #5)|Jenna Black|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320474498s/6521325.jpg|6713228]
My Speak of the Devil review.