Tala and Aiva are estranged sisters and demonhunters in modern-day Dublin. Now they have to team up to find their third sister, Hartley, who's been kidnapped by demons. Or has she? And where do the sisters' growing superpowers come from?

"The Ninth Circle" is a kind of Irish Buffy the Vampire Slayer, only with more action and less introspection. So either that sounds great to you, or it doesn't. The sisters are really half-sisters, sharing the same mother but ignorant of who their fathers are, and their mother, also a demonhunter, was killed by a particularly unpleasant demon in a piece of backstory that explains why the sisters are now estranged.

Don't let the word "backstory" frighten you off with fears of a slow-moving plot: the fight scenes come fast and furious here, with barely a breather in between. For some of us (like me) that is a little overwhelming, and while the three sisters are definitely distinct characters, they are not really developed as complex beings--for how could they be, busy as they are kicking demon rear end. "The Ninth Circle" will never be mistaken for Literature with a Capital L, but there's plenty of magic, mayhem, and action-packed girl power to delight the reader looking for a high-octane urban fantasy read.

FYI: the book does not exactly end on a cliffhanger, but it definitely sets things up for the next novel in the series, so if your heart is wedded solely to standalone stories, be warned. If you like series, though, this may be for you.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

After a rather disappointing start, where I very nearly gave up on the book within a few chapters, I decided to get stuck in and really try and finish the book (I try not to have too many DNFs). The story does pick up after a while and you begin to really get engrossed in the book. However, I never quite 'fell' all the way with this book and it never quite drew me in all the way. While the characters and plot are interesting, I feel like this is one of those series that will probably get better as it goes on but sadly it didn't draw me in enough for me to pursue the rest of the series.

I have to admit what first drew me to this book was the cover, I had already clicked download to kindle before reading what the book was about. Once I had read the synopsis though I am happy to say that not only did it grab my interest but the book itself met all of my expectations throughout and then some. The story follows sister's Tala and Aiva through a race through the nine circles, each facing a new challenge as they progress through, I was worried this may become repetitive but the action was fast paced and and there were enough differences for this to not be a problem. The characters themselves are well defined and their opposite natures work well together, their is a slight emphasis on them using their 'female wiles' to get through certain situations but it doesn't detract from the story in any way. As a duo of demon slaying sisters in a profession that is deemed as a 'family business their are times it could be seen as a female 'Supernatural' though I feel it did still manage to maintain an air of originality. One of the things that was great to see was that although there was definite potential for love interests it was not something the book focused on at all devoting more time to the sisters demon slaying exploits. Overall I would definitely recommend and am already eagerly waiting the next instalment!

A bit like the female version of Supernatural with very short plot, lots of information on the dialogues and nothing memorable unfortunately but great cover!