Elena Lawson's first book in the Fallen Cities: Elisium series, Kiss of the Damned took me a little by surprise. It takes place in a world in which demons and angels have become a part of commonplace everyday life in much the same way that supernatural creatures have integrated into the world in the Anita Blake series, only in Lawson's world, if you're diabolical, you basically get quarantined into one of the Fallen Cities. Only the divine are allowed to interact with the human population, because, you know, racism. I mean, no. I said what I meant.
The story centers around a wickedly abused girl, Paige, who knows nothing about her real origins, but in truth doesn't belong among the humans she thought she was one of, and is quickly and brutally introduced to life as in St. Louis, now one of the isolated cities of demonic creatures. Lets just say it's a less than pleasant transition for her.
I think what I like about the story is that while it is a story about awakening powers and adapting to a new world about which the main character is just as unaware as the reader, it doesn't feel quite as explainsy as a lot of similar set ups do.
I am, however, not sure how much I want to continue the story. I like the set of powers I see her developing and the arc it seems like the book is traveling down, but I am not entirely sure I have the emotional energy for the kind of emotional pain Paige is looking at at the end of book one. Let's just say that the cliffhanger it ends on is kind of brutal and sometimes I ask myself "do you really want to do this to yourself?"
The worldbuilding has been interesting so far. The slavery within the fallen city and segregation of races based on origin makes for some interesting social commentary. If books that deal with divine and diabolical entities and the notion that just because hell is home doesn't mean you're entirely evil is your thing, this might be a good book for you.
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