Red Demon is an ambitious debut blending science fiction and fantasy in ways that feel both familiar and new. Jesse’s story of survival, grief, and stubborn hope grounds the book, while Faruhar, the so-called Red Demon, is one of the more memorable characters I’ve read this year. The world-building can be dense, but it pays off with tension that builds steadily and fight scenes that have real weight. What stuck with me most was the emotional core, especially the themes of found family and resilience. It is a bold, engaging start to a series I’ll be following closely.

An incredible story!

The world building was very well done. I loved the storyline and the pacing.

Jesse was an amazing main character to follow. He has so much devastation, grief, and loss, but also love and comfort. I love the familial bonds he creates throughout his life. Ash was so true and honest. He absolutely shows the good side of humanity. Faruhar is such a complicated character.

The spice was very descriptive!

I’m very excited to see where Sill takes us in the coming stories!

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I think that this was a very promising debut for this author. It is very much fantasy and sci fi combined, which is what initially attracted me to the story. It was a bit difficult to read at parts, especially the beginning feels very slow. I think your enjoyment will depend on if you’re ok with the big part of the story taking a while to get to.

Note: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve not read a good Sci-fi book in a while, and this really scratched that itch.

On this particular plant, people are genetically modified to make them fight better and to survive. Jesse’s family is slaughtered by the Red Demon, and he vows to get revenge. Over the years, he grows head-to-head with his nemesis, until one time, she spares him. Jesse finds out that the Red Demon is not who he thinks she is.

This gripping sci-fi romance is a great debut. I can’t wait to read the next book (if there is one).

Thank you NetGalley and Victory Editing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

I would definitely say this is one of the more interesting fantasy books that I have read in a while, mainly in terms of the book's concept and the characters. There are like “modded” people in this novel, like changes in their code and it results in a bunch of different things, it’s very cool and it’s done so well for the story.

The dynamic between the characters is something I really enjoyed, Jesse and Asher aren’t brothers by blood but they have such a realistic brother dynamic, I have to believe that the author has brothers haha. Each character had such a unique role in the novel but Bihagia does a great job at making all of them work well with each other not only with their role in the plot, but their dialogue and personalities too.
On the note of dialogue, each character had their own cadence but Bihagia did a great job at characters speaking like their age and level of maturity. It was honestly really refreshing because some authors really struggle with that (I’ve read a book where a young child talked the exact same as their adult self).

Now this book does have a spicy chapter, for those who aren’t into spice at all, but it is done very well and was honestly a very important part of the book and a big moment for the characters. It wasn’t just a “hey let’s hook-up” deal, slow burn in the most non-romantic sense haha.
I also just love a fantasy where the characters are younger and fighting for the greater good in unconventional ways, it’s always something I’ve loved in a novel. The ending of this book is not what I wanted but it makes sense, but I’m angry at it. I found out after that this book is the first book of the series so I am excited to see what will come next.

Thank you to Net Galley and Oria Press for the ARC. This was less sci fi than I expected. Also I did not enjoy Jesse's pov.

2.5 stars

The premise of this book was super interesting. Immediately I wanted to know why Jesse was the sole survivor in his village. The world building was interesting with two humanish races in a rivalry. I do think the author leaned into the real world for ease a lot. Both races are practically humans, they keep the same calendar as Earth, etc. Why were we on a new planet if it was basically Earth? There was no exploration of the different planetary atmosphere, terrain, space travel. The same effect could have been accomplished by setting the story in the future on Earth. The magic system was not thoroughly explored. One set of humans has blue magic and the other has "tech." That's most of what we learn.

Both the revenge and romance subplots fall flat. Why does Jesse suddenly care so much about Faruhar? Speaking of Faruhar, we only get snippets of her past and background. The first chapter from her point of view was good and then that's it from her until the end. There is so much left unexplored. The ending was rushed and unsatisfying. Jesse's story is tragic, and I don't know if that is what I expected from the blurb.

After witnessing his entire village being viciously slaughtered by a demon, boy goes on revenge mission across the country to hunt her down. Featuring a found family, a ten year training montage and political espionage, it turns out things aren't quite what they seem.

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Plot
The story follows Jesse right from the aftermath of his village's massacre as he travels across the land to not only find anyone who isn't dead, but also to take revenge on the woman who killed his parents.
The pacing is a little on the slower side, but I feel this works for the majority of the story. The only part I found dragged a little was his time spent with Asher's family, which could have been chopped up a little.
The concept itself is wonderful, and I love the idea of these differing genetically engineered humans and the political impact of that on their society. It did however suffer from some lack-of-world-building-itis. This was an incredibly ambitious world, and there's certainly enough to get by, but I didn't always feel that I was on a different planet and I did keep forgetting who the different humans were and what that meant. I also didn't discover the wonderful glossary at the back until I finished, and this contained a great deal more information about the world that I didn't find in the story. I initially thought Oria was a god of sorts, but it's actually a symbiotic fungus? I would have loved to have properly understood this at the time. There was also a war that was frequently mentioned and appeared to be of great importance, but without any details of the events and why it was really important.

Characters
MMC
I like Jesse. He's got a persistent nature that I really liked, but I felt he was also pragmatic enough to pick his battles. He's loyal to his new family, works hard and cares deeply for those around him. I also enjoyed his internal battle when it came to Far, especially given her actions and their impact on his life. I perhaps feel he forgave a little too early, despite her explanations, just due to the scale of the damage she had caused.

FMC
I am conflicted about Far, and mostly because she had almost zero backstory to explain who she was and where she came from. If her memory issues were explained at all, I absolutely missed that, and even if it's a secret for another book, I feel we should have gotten something. I did love the concept of Bria, and enjoyed all of those strange interactions.

The Rest
I liked Asher, felt indifferent about Mira, adored Taam, and despise Mahakal. About right I think.
There were lots of other characters in his village that did blend into one big blob of people I couldn't keep track of and didn't care about.

The Chemistry
I did struggle with the chemistry on this one - it was definitely a physical attraction over anything else, albeit I could see something developing between them in the future as they spent even more time together.

The Good
The found family aspect of the story was lovely, and I enjoyed that it came full circle at the end.

The Bad
Needed a lot more building - the glossary does not count.

The Ugly
Definitely nothing ugly.

The Wrap Up
Could the glossary go at the front?

Thanks to Sill Bihagia for letting me get my paws on this prior to release.

Thank you to the author for the ARC!
Red Demon delivers a gritty mix of sci-fi and fantasy with strong world building, action, and a unique premise. While some pacing and depth could be refined, it’s a promising debut with plenty of action and an intriguing central duo.

Spice Rating: 🌶️.5 / 5

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My Summary: Jesse lives on an isolated planet where people have been bioengineered to survive. A century ago, Jesse's people, the Chaeten, and another people, the Asri, nearly wiped each other out. Even now, there is still hatred between these two groups. As a child, Jesse witnessed the death of his family and his entire mining town. The situation makes no sense--who was able to take out an entire town without leaving a trace? And why would they want to do it? From that day on, Jesse makes it his life's mission to discover what happened and at least take out the one person he knows had a hand in his town's destruction: the Red Demon, a feared bioengineered immortal left over from the war. Jesse will have to figure out how to survive without his family, assimilate with the Asri people, and discover what he's willing to do for vengeance.

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My Thoughts: Red Demon is an action-packed, thrilling science fiction/fantasy debut full of tense fighting sequences, found family, and enemies to lovers romance.

The characters are probably my favorite part of the novel. Jesse goes through so many ups and downs. Originally, he's fueled by rage and revenge--dead-set on finding the Red Demon who slaughtered his mining town. But through the help of his adoptive father and brother, Jesse finds peace and discovers that he might be able to move past the vengeance he's been seeking and live a "normal" life.

The world-building has major potential. An isolated planet discovered by the Chaeten, bioengineered humans escaping their own planet's demise, fighting a war against the humans native to the planet, the Asri? What an amazing concept! I loved learning more about the lore behind the world and the Asri's magic. However, I do think it could've been more fleshed out with explanations about the Chaeten tech and genetic coding as well as the Asri way of life.

Be prepared for a devastating ending that will leave you reeling for more. I'm excited to see where the author takes the story from here!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for this ARC!

I began reading and I was instantly hooked and captured by the introduction. It felt like we as the reader were placed into this moment in time, witnessing a familial tragedy we weren’t supposed to and experiencing the main character’s suffering along with them. Normally this is a story I would eat uppppp, as this is my favorite kind of theme. However, as I progressed with the story I noticed my interest waning quite a bit.

I am always down for a revenge story and the whole “vengeance” trope. I think it gives the reader clarity on the main character’s motives behind their actions when we see how they respond to a tragedy and in moments of suffering. I also love multiple povs. They’re usually not an issue for me in terms of comprehension, and most of the time I’m a fan. I think it adds to the depth of a story to get to a glimpse into the mind of more than one character. However, I do feel as though the way multiple povs were presented and formatted in this book lead to a lot of confusion. There were moments where it was unclear who was speaking, and a few inconsistencies throughout. Some chapters have the name of the characters whose POV we’re reading from (Jesse, Raven) whereas other chapters begin with just the title of the chapters and no name.

I do have to agree with others in saying I was a bit confused when it came to the world building, as well as characters being addressed or referenced without being introduced to the reader yet. I repeatedly found myself saying “wait, who is this?” as I got deeper into the book.

I think this is a book with a great premise; a female “antagonist” who is presented to the reader as the villain and an MMC whose bent on a revenge tour searching for her to get vengeance for his family’s slaughter. I think this could come together to make a great revenge story, but I don’t think this one was for me and I had to dnf at 35%. I think I was just too confused and disengaged with the story to progress further.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Red Demon follows Jesse, the only survivor of an attack that has slaughtered his whole village, including his family, by the Red Demon - a bioengineered immortal girl. Unsure why she spares him, Jesse is determined to track her down and kill her himself.

This story is a wonderful mix of science and fantasy. The worldbuilding is very unique and I feel so much care has been taken with it, it's woven into the story naturally. Everything is paced very well especially as there are time jumps.

Jesse was such a wonderful character to experience this story through. I could see his growth as time passed, his grief that was still there, his profound love for his new family. Faruhar was so enticing, despite the bloodshed she caused you're still so intrigued by her character and ultimately can feel her pain and turmoil as you start to understand her better.

"Mom taught me there will always be someone else to cling to when a pillar of our life falls down, and she taught me to be that pillar in turn."

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for an early copy of this title in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I was really intrigued by the premise of the morally grey villain character being female and the main character being male and to see how that dynamic would play out. Unfortunately this was a DNF at about 30% and thus no star rating given.

I found the world building really lacking and the prose actually kind of confusing. There was at least one whole chapter giving a play by play of a fight scene from a character that wasn’t mentioned yet that really added nothing (at least up until I read because I did not finish). The magic isn’t explained well and nothing was really very exciting or drawing me in.

I wasn’t invested in any of the characters or their stories because I was trying to figure out who they were sometimes.

Cool premise and story ideas that could make a great book with some reworking but as is this unfortunately was not for me.

2.5 rounded 3

This book didn't click for me. I'm not really sure why. I liked the first chapter (which is why I picked it up in the first place). By 55%, I considered stopping, but I was already past the middle, so I kept going. I liked Jesse as a character, and that's it. That may be why the book seemed overly long.

An important note: the book is well-written, and I'm confident it has a readership out there.

This is a short review, but I don't think it's fair to the author to keep listing things I didn't like, so I will let the next reader be the judge of that.

Red Demon felt like the perfect book to read after the high of watching K-Pop Demon Hunters

As a biomedical engineer, I thoroughly enjoyed the science tied into the worldbuilding/ the SBO lore and loved the women in STEM representation in Mira’s character. The narrator/ MMC Jesse is also great representation of bisexuality, without seeming forced or falling into problematic tropes. If you’re looking for smut, be warned that this book only has one real ~spicy~ scene towards the end, but it was entirely worth it. As with other readers, I felt that the end was a bit lackluster but I understand that was the necessary conclusion to this story. Jesse’s “chosen family” storyline feels reminiscent of Fang Runin’s journey with The Cike (and I loved every bit of Asher and Jesse’s interactions!) so if you enjoyed The Poppy War, highly recommend Red Demon

A fast-paced, fantasy mixed with sci-fi, dark, mysterious book that I think is perfect for those trying to get into the genre! The world building keeps you questioning a lot about the lore but also gives plenty of context to become engaged with the story. Personally (and admittedly partially out of selfishness) I wish the world building was more fleshed out because there were many aspects of the referenced history, current political climate, and character backstories that weren’t able to be fully described either in the glossary or in the actual chapters. I also feel that for the length of the book, I would have preferred the contents of the glossary to be explained in the chapters, though I understand that others may be opposed to too much info dumping. Overall, the story was engaging and I enjoyed the characters. It’s also very obvious how much effort and editing went into this because the writing is great!

Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
ℝ𝕖𝕕 𝔻𝕖𝕞𝕠𝕟
𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗕𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗮

OMG, this book knocked my socks off, kicked them around the room, and put them back on. Red Demon’s storyline is as unique as it is intense.

Red Demon is fantasy mixed with science, including bioengineering. The fight scenes are intense and romance makes an appearance as well. It also holds fast to the importance of trust in relationships.

The plot zips right along and I found myself completely immersed in the story, so much so that it took me a minute to remember where I was when I stopped reading. This is a book I didn’t want to put down.

I really liked this at the start but unfortunately I grew bored fairly quickly and DNF’d at 25%

I’m usually good with slow-paced SFF stories but this one was just not hooking me with the characters or any sense of plot.

Starting strong, the uncomfortableness for the reader was very prominent. I was actually scared and my heart felt like it was in my throat. The emotional pain from the characters really comes through with the way the book is written. Not only that, but the way tension is built can literally be felt. The culture and spirituality created is absolutely amazing! I really enjoyed the unique names even though they were a bit hard to pronounce at times. I would love to read more stories from this world and can’t wait for more!