Spicy Book Review: Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

Ines Gray
Dec 21, 2025
4 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

Spicy Book Review: Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole, Immortals After Dark, Book 10

🔥Expandable Spice & Violence Level Key⚔️

🔥 Spice Level Key

Innocent — Closed-door or fade-to-black romance; kisses and longing only.

Tempted — On-page intimacy with moderate detail; spice supports the story.

Wicked — Explicit, open-door sex scenes with sustained sexual tension.

Unholy — Graphic, kink-forward, or taboo sexual content.

⚔️ Violence Level Key

Tame — Minimal peril; violence occurs off-page or is lightly referenced.

Savage — On-page fights and injuries; some blood.

Brutal — Graphic violence, gore, torture, or war.

Relentless — Sustained cruelty, extreme trauma, or prolonged suffering.

Summary of Demon from the Dark Book Review:

Malkom Slaine is the kind of hero who should terrify you, but instead, he steals your heart. A paranormal romance that pairs a traumatized demon warrior with a reluctant witch. Demon from the Dark blends survival, dark humor, and scorching chemistry into one of the most memorable installments of the Immortals After Dark series.

Kresley Cole’s Demon from the Dark is probably my favorite entry in the IAD series. While it can be read as a standalone, it’s number ten, and the payoff is strongest when the series is read in order.

Alexander Skarsgärd in The Legend of Tarzan

What Worked

Malkom Slaine absolutely stole the show in my opinion.

The MMC is deeply traumatized yet lovable in a Neanderthal kind of way.

Malkom is a vemon—a demon poisoned with vampire blood, cursed to retain traits of both species. Once a proud warrior, he was captured centuries ago and turned into what others believe to be a mythic abomination.

His isolation, innocence, and barely restrained brutality make him one of Cole’s most compelling heroes. And while you might not expect a warrior to be innocent, there’s a reason for it.

The story shifts to the present day with Carrow, a witch captured by the Order. In exchange for her and her adopted daughter’s freedom, she’s tasked with the impossible job of capturing a mythical vemon named Malkom so the Order can experiment on him. The clock is ticking, and failure isn’t an option.

Since I’m an action junkie, my favorite scene unfolds when Carrow is dropped into Malkom’s realm—an exile world reserved for immortal criminals. She barely has time to catch her breath before terrifying demons find her.

As she tries to convince them she isn’t a possession to be claimed, something unseen arrives, and the demons she once feared begin to run, screaming, “It comes.” She runs too, suddenly terrified of whatever has joined the hunt. Soon, the monsters that initially surrounded her are fleeing with her, passing her by, desperate to escape the far greater horror tearing through the landscape.

Cole excels at threading dark humor through her chase scenes, and this scene is one of the more entertaining. Naturally, that unseen horror turns out to be Malkom.

The language barrier between Carrow and Malkom adds both charm and comedy. Malkom’s complete inexperience with women leads to awkward, endearing attempts at courtship (what woman wouldn’t want a severed head as a gift?).

He’s both innocent and barbaric, which makes for a fantastic MMC.

Spice & Violence

The sex scenes are quintessential Cole: open-door, detailed, and plentiful, with dialogue and internal thoughts that push the relationship forward. They toe the line of erotica and will absolutely not work for readers who prefer close-door or fade to black.

Readers will certainly remember Malkom’s first taste of Carrow when he asks, “Kiss?” and Carrow responds, “Oh yes. Kiss.” (I am not talking about on the mouth here.😉)

The fight scenes are gory and intense, yet written so well that they play like a movie in your head.

Cole is also a master at emotional pacing. Just when you think the couple might get their footing, she pulls the rug out from under them.

While Malkom carries significant trauma, he isn’t one of Cole’s crueler heroes. I personally prefer her more cinnamon-roll-adjacent MMCs, and Malkom strikes that balance beautifully beneath the savagery.

What Didn’t Work

There wasn’t much I disliked. That said, the witches are often portrayed with a sorority-girl vibe that doesn’t quite land for me. Many live communally while learning their craft, and the portrayal can feel shallow compared to the depth given to other immortals.

Who Should Read This?

Recommended for readers who:

Love high-stakes paranormal romance

Want explicit, open-door spice paired with plot

Enjoy fated mates who must maim and claw their way to a hard-won HEA

Find Tarzan-esque heroes endearing

Not recommended for readers who:

Prefer closed-door romance

Want cozy rom-com vibes

Need realism over escapism

Aren't a fan of Tarzan

Comparable Reads

J.R. Ward

Larissa Ione

Fans of J.R. Ward and Larissa Ione will likely love this book. While each author brings a unique voice and world, Demon from the Dark easily holds its own at the top of the genre.

POV: Deep third-person, dual POV, with occasional additional perspectives.