As the Demonata series progresses, it becomes ever more complicated and interesting. It also becomes more gross and imaginative.

The story of Demon Apocalypse starts directly after the happenings of the fifth book of the series, Blood Beast. Grubbs is still on the plane with Lord Loss and Juni, and things aren’t looking up for him. We also meet a lot of characters from the previous books again, but I won’t spoil the surprise on that one.

The book instantly throws you into the gruesomeness. I quote the first few lines of Demon Apocalypse:

“A demon shaped like a giant scorpion digs its stinger into a woman’s eyes. As they pop, it spits eggs into the bloody sockets, then watches with its almost human face as the eggs hatch and wriggling maggots feast on her flesh.”

Sheesh, way to easing us in! I’m surprised by the gore-factor of these novels every single time, even though I know before I start reading them that they will be gross. Mr Shan really doesn’t spare us in any way in terms of graphic ways of letting people die. I’m not sure how much I like his approach, but he is really good at what he does.

I very much enjoyed the storyline of Demon Apocalypse. I was slightly disappointed that Mr Shan uses a plot device he has used before in one of his other books (not telling you which one though) but I guess there really was no other way. I love the way the series is starting to tie together. The first few Demonata books can be read as seperates, but starting from book five they really can’t any more. If you don’t know the background you’ll be missing out.

I’m curious to see where the story goes, since there are still four books to read. The next book, Death’s Shadow will feature Bec again. She’s my favourite character, so that ought to be fun!

4/5 stars.