Author: Richelle Mead
Rating: V2; S4; H4
Publisher and Titles: Kensington
Succubus Blues (2007)
Succubus on Top (2008)Succubus Dreams (2008)
Succubus Heat (2009)
“City of Demons” in Eternal Lover (2009)
Succubus Shadows (2010)Succubus Revealed (2011) (FINAL)
This post serves primarily as a review of the sixth and FINAL book in the series: Succubus Revealed. First, though, here is an overview of the series so far:
WORLD-BUILDING
On Mead’s web site, she gives us two definitions that help to define the series:
> Succubus (n) - An alluring, shape-shifting demon who seduces and pleasures mortal men.
> Pathetic (adj.) - A succubus with great shoes and no social life. See: Georgina Kincaid.
Georgina Kincaid is a demon—a succubus to be exact—who makes her living as the assistant manager of a bookstore in Seattle. Centuries ago, when Georgina was still mortal, she made a huge mistake and then tried to save her husband from its consequences by making a bargain with an imp that in exchange for her soul, everyone in her mortal life would totally forget her existence. Georgina's life has been controlled by Hell ever since. In order to maintain her own life force and fulfill a quota set by Hell, Georgina must periodically drain some of the life force from a human male through sexual activity. She has the ability to shape shift and to materialize objects, such as couture clothing, sparkly shoes, and feminine curves so that she can appear to be any man's fantasy woman. Plot lines include the usual paranormal dangers, including fallen angels, powerful vampires, evil demons, and human religious fanatics.
Georgina’s mortal boyfriend, whom she meets in book 1, is Seth Mortensen, an acclaimed mystery novelist. Frustratingly, Georgina must always be very careful to avoid any sexual acts with Seth, lest she drain away his life—even kissing is dangerous. The series follows Georgina as her relationship with Seth goes from good to bad to really terrible and back up to good. The road to happiness is extremely rocky for this unlucky couple—every single step of the way.
Georgina’s mortal boyfriend, whom she meets in book 1, is Seth Mortensen, an acclaimed mystery novelist. Frustratingly, Georgina must always be very careful to avoid any sexual acts with Seth, lest she drain away his life—even kissing is dangerous. The series follows Georgina as her relationship with Seth goes from good to bad to really terrible and back up to good. The road to happiness is extremely rocky for this unlucky couple—every single step of the way.
The regular cast of characters includes Georgina’s close-knit group of supernatural friends:
> Peter and Cory: vampires
> Hugh: imp
> Roman: nephilim who is Jerome’s son
> Bastien: incubus
> Niphon: imp who bought Georgina’s soul
> Erik: mortal psychic
In addition to the host of supernatural villains who complicate Georgina’s life in each book, her constant nemesis is her boss, Jerome, Archdemon of Seattle—a real piece of work.
From the time they meet in book 1, Georgina and Seth are obviously meant to be together. Near the end of that book, Georgina is forced to explain her succubus situation to Seth, and at first the couple deals with the restrictions to their love life.
SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ ANY FURTHER
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST THREE BOOKS.
Eventually, though, the hurdles become too much, and by book 4 they have broken up. Unfortunately, Seth immediately becomes romantically involved with Maddie, Georgina’s best mortal friend, who also works at the bookstore. Since Georgina and Seth always kept their romance a secret, Maddie has no idea how painful her new romance is for her BFF. As you can imagine, Georgina’s life is pretty sad at this point. In book 5, things get even worse when Georgina must help Maddie plan her wedding to Seth.
SPOILER ALERT! DON'T READ ANY FURTHER
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS.
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS.
BOOK 6: Succubus Revealed
As the final book begins, Georgina and Seth are back together, but their lives are anything but peaceful. Georgina is working in a humiliating job at a suburban mall as a Christmas elf. She had to quit her bookstore job because all of her co-workers there blame her for breaking up Seth’s romance with Maddie. Seth is spending his time assisting his sister’s family as she is being treated for cancer, and Georgina is worried that he isn’t getting enough rest and that he isn’t working on his novel. Just when you’d think that things couldn’t get worse, Georgina gets a notice from Hell that she is being transferred to Las Vegas, and Seth's mother comes to town. As Georgina and Roman begin to put all the facts of Georgina's transfer together, they decide that Georgina is being sent away from Seattle because of something that she has done, but what could it be? Roman gets on the case, and the information that he uncovers blows Georgina’s world to pieces. Since this is the final book of the series, all of the unconnected plot threads are woven together in a fine finale in Hell. Each character shows his or her true colors, and Georgina and Seth get the ending they deserve. I LOVE this series. In the early books, I empathised with Georgina and Seth as they tried to make their romance work under dire circumstances. When Seth turned to Maddie, my heart broke for Georgina. Besides the romance, the story lines in each book are action packed and well written. All of the characters, from the leads to the supporting cast, are complex and fully developed, with extensive, believable back stories.
If you haven't been reading the series, please start back at the beginning with Succubus Blues. Many bits and pieces of critical information are slipped into the earlier books, and you'll need all of that history in order to appreciate and understand the last book.
Click HERE to go to a web page with links to excerpts of all of the GEORGINA books.
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