Sacrifice
Mortal Path, Book Two

By Dakota Banks

       In Dark Time, Book I of the Mortal Path series I reviewed a while ago, Maliha, born Susannah, was burned at the stake accused of being a witch in 1692. Rescued by a demon, she was given an immortal life in exchange for being the demon’s assassin in the Great Above (Earth). But after centuries of killing without questioning the demon’s orders, Maliha rebelled and breaking free from the demon entered the mortal path.

Now, she is in a race against time to save enough lives to counter the many she took. If she succeeds, she will be free. If she fails, she will suffer torture in the hands of her demon for all eternity.

As Sacrifice starts, Maliha becomes aware of a diabolic plan to kill thousands of people in developing countries to keep the countries off the global economic scene. In charge of the project are five mysterious humans Maliha must eliminate while fighting the Ageless who is helping them.

Maliha sweeps through the book, lethal and determined, reverting to killer mode when the circumstances so required, while her friends worry that she may be losing her humanity in the process.

Despite the fast pace of the story, Maliha manages to take more lovers than James Bond in one of his earlier movies, while trying to convince the reader, or maybe herself, she is in love with several of them. For some reason, I found this more unbelievable that the idea of demons ruling the human world. A sign perhaps that the universe Dakota Banks has created is consistently well described.

In fact, the part I like most in this series is the parallel quest to saving lives Maliha has taken upon herself. The quest for the seven shards of a lens that, put together, will allow her to read an ancient text and get the power to kill the demons that control the human world.

Both quests are still unfinished and will continue in the next installment. But for now, Maliha rests. She well deserves it.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Dark Time, Book 1     [review]
Sacrifice, Book 2        [review]
Deliverance, Book 3   [review]