Really enjoyed the 2nd book in the series was interesting to see the demons from the view of someone who has suffered.
This book focuses on another town than the 1st but this is a demon free town and Pel is the inn keeper trying to be honest but working for the inquisition too and has sent people there on suspicion of knowing demons. This stems from losing his wife to a demon attack. His views are jaded from this, his son on the other hand Bruant feels differently so there's the clash of beliefs and such.
This all comes to a head when Tari comes to the inn to visit the town.
It dawns on Pel that his views need to be thought about.
A very thought provoking book and I loved it I'm really enjoying this series it's entertaining and the heat level is good not all sex more about characters.

I absolutely loved the last book in this series, and am really happy that the print version of Behind Bars is a compilation of both books in the Pandemonium series. In the first book, we met a young man addicted to sleeping with incubi and succubi, but we don’t get a great deal of the world apart from that.

In this book, we get so much more of the world, though from a different area, one in which demons are not allowed to go. Palerin is employed as an informant on his fellow townsmen. This is… an incredibly pertinent plot point in the current political climate, and I thought that a lot of the questions that Pal was asked by newcomer, Tari, were incredibly pertinent. Pal definitely could use his mind being opened up more than a little.

The thing that disappointed me in this book is that I didn’t really like any of the main characters or didn’t feel I got enough of the ones I did like. Kip and Pal’s son were the gay relationship that I really wanted to be following in this story. This wasn’t just because Kip was an adorable cat familiar, I swear it >.>

Meredith Katz does very well in including varying sexualities in her stories as ever. I particularly liked the depiction of Tari’s gender identity. It makes perfect sense that a demon wouldn’t bother to subscribe to such human ideas on gender. The physical descriptions were also really well done.

As I loved reading the first book in the series, I particularly liked the call back to Prince Hrahez and Potfeld again at the very end. Made me just want to go back and pick up for a reread.

Book – Behind Bars (Pandemonium #2)
Author – Meredith Katz
Star rating - ★★★★☆
POV – 3rd person, one character
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – LGBT, Paranormal, Fairytale


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



Rejoice! Unlike book 1 in this series, which I also got an early copy of through Netgalley, this one has chapter headings! Wooo!

Now, it's going to sound weird but I gave book 1 just 3 stars for having an indefinable problem that left me feeling like the world hadn't been fully explored. Now, I know what it is. This book should have come first. The whole way through this one, I was looking for a connection to Book 1, since it's part 2 in the series and I couldn't find anything. There was a very brief mention of Potfeld a few times, but nothing that indicated an awareness of it or the characters from book 1. In fact, the ending to this mentions going to Potfeld, which would have been a really great interlude to book 1 actually following this. So this book solved that mystery for me, at least.

However, it's also the reason I took off half a star. Because, this didn't read like book 2 in a series, but a book that was just the start of a series. It really would have saved me the trouble of waiting for the penny to drop or waiting for some kind of explanation of why it didn't connect if this one came first. So, though both books are in the same “universe”, there is no correlation between them when read in order, mounting to why I took off that half start.

The other half star was taken off for the fact that this is advertised as genderqueer, but actually has the genderqueer character – Tari – represented as a woman for 95% of the story, with female pronouns for 50%, then “they” for the rest of the story, and the only “male” aspect is that Tari happens to have a d*ck. There's never anything masculine or gender-neutral or genderqueer about Tari. I was also a little disappointed that our genderqueer character, Tari, is referred to as “them” or “them” so much. I'm confused as to why the author didn't use any of the acceptable genderqueer pronouns instead, which would have made it feel more authentically genderqueer rather than a little dismissive. The way “them” and “their” was used often made it sound like there were two people inside of Tari both being referred to at the same time, not a genderqueer individual. So, for this lack of consistency in writing a faithfully genderqueer character, who came across as more like a hermaphrodite, I had to take a half star off.

~

Overall, the story was good. Out of place within the series and lacking that genderqueer authenticity, but it had a good foundation, nice characters that were relatable and interesting to follow, as well as offering a sort of 'prequel' aspect to the first book by introducing us to the other side of the argument. In book 1 we had a human infatuated with demons; book 2 offers the counter-part with a character who hates demons.

Good but not astounding. A nice light read to take up a few hours of the day.

Pel is a simple innkeeper most of the time, but in the city of Dolana where demons and those under the influence of demons aren't allowed, Pel does his duty by reporting anyone he suspects. Then Tari shows up, asking for a room and acting strange. Except, Tari is the least of Pel's worries when his son starts acting odd in a city where oddness is always punished.

I didn't know whether it was worth requesting this book, given how much I disliked the first in the series, but I have to honestly say I'm very glad I took the chance. There was a lot of growth in writing ability between book one and this story. What I did like about the prequel was how interesting the world building was, which was again the best part of this book. Humans and demons live together after some sort of event--which was still never explained--brought demons into the world. The town Pel lives in has managed to stay demon free by capturing and interrogating anyone suspicious. I liked the amount of detail the world was given and the demons versus human mentality was very interesting to read.

Pel as a character was interesting. His tragic back story allowed the almost extreme hatred he had for demons feel believable and I liked the way he interacted with his son. I did think it was a bit of a stretch for him to go from so vehemently hating demons to suddenly supporting them, but again it still worked overall. I didn't like Tari as much. Their character was a bit too freewheeling and I feel like it didn't mesh well with some of the more serious themes of the book.