The Entangled Dragon by DS LaLonde

Blurb:

Rick is plodding along through an uneventful life, just a regular family guy working at a coffee shop. His life will be irrevocably changed when a stranger spots his most unexpected potential and offers him the chance to become something more.

Soon, Rick discovers that the world is not as it seems. Demons walk among us. Actually, they don’t walk, they ride, carried along in the bodies and souls of otherwise ordinary people. Such people are categorized as either fiends or paragons. Fiends are classically possessed, their souls entangled with a sentient demon, whereas paragons are conduits for simpler demonic energy that crafts them into idealized humans. These fiends and paragons are powerful entities, incredibly hardy, with abilities far beyond those of mortals. A secretive industry with an unusual business model has spawned from this strange phenomenon. Security companies leverage these special people and their diabolical soulmates, harnessing their powers to keep the public safe from all manner of evil.

This dark reality is thrust upon Rick when he becomes entangled with a demonic dragon, a fearsome beast of immense appetites and ill intents. As he acclimates to this new monstrous normal, he is put on a team working to track and defeat a group of rampaging vigilante paragons.

While Rick and his family enjoy the financial benefits of his mysterious new career, they quickly realize that all is not well. The dragon may be more than Rick’s mild persona can handle. He is quickly becoming a passive bystander in his own mind as the dragon takes control and seeks to fulfill its own agenda, one of death, destruction, and hoarding treasure. Rick’s grip on humanity is slipping.

Maintaining the straight and narrow path in the company of demons, especially those that reside within you, can be a torturous task.

Review:

What a whirlpool of dark humor, crazy action and mind-numbing violence!

Who is this for? Are you the kind of person who repeatedly fantasizes about driving a nail into the skull of that one person who was rude to you—once—ten years ago? Perhaps you are an MCU fan who reveled in the grisly humor and bloodsoaked action of Deadpool. This book is written for you. 

Part superhero action, part fantasy, part horror—this book was an unexpected, thrilling adventure.

Wouldn’t it be fun if you are struggling with life, and suddenly fate drops a fantastic job opportunity right into your lap? Comes with great housing, benefits and all expenses taken care of. Perhaps it sounds too good to be true. Turns out, it absolutely is! 

“This house had weird acoustics, perverting noises or generating ones that shouldn’t exist.”

Rick goes in for a suspicious job screening process for a mysterious security company. He comes out with a demon latched onto his soul. And not just any demon—a mighty megalomaniac dragon from another dimension—one who happens to love burritos. The burrito lover in me rejoiced at this discovery, though it turns out that the rest of our culinary preferences are not quite as aligned.

“Come, flesh pouch, let’s get more beverage.”

From there, Rick is plunged into a shady world of competing security companies who are trying to, at least on paper, make the world a safer place by leveraging “Entangled” folks like him. 

The problem though, is that the otherworldly beings they are entangled with don’t particularly care about human values and moral boundaries. Between the wide range of demons we come across—cannibalism, wanton violence, mental manipulation, possession, subvertive demoralization—are all fair games. I particularly loved the gargoyle who kept whispering utterly demoralizing things into its host’s mind. 

“The only person that can truly be trusted is a dead one.”

And of course, some of the people who get entangled didn’t have a moral compass to begin with. And even the ones, like Rick, who did, see the boundaries of their values and beliefs shift bit by bit into the territory of chaos and madness as the demons continue to exert their influence.

“Its words carried the righteous indignation best summoned up by an otherworldly monster that suspected it should probably be someone’s deity somewhere.”

The humor laced narration covers the full spectrum from comically chaotic to utterly deranged, and mostly works out well for the theme of the book. In some places it may nudge your brain into directions that you might have wanted to leave unexplored.

There is also quite a bit of progressive messaging woven in, ranging from correct pronouns, gender equity to shedding light on the dark side of religious zealotry and moral extremism. They all resonated well with me. The author incorporates them with broad strokes, without fumbling around with subtlety.

I did find myself wishing that the middle part of the book moved forward at a bit faster pace. The story shifts between many PoVs and that slows things down at times. But when shit does hit the fan, things move forward at a dizzying pace. 

“They were just in a decapitating sort of mood that day.”

The plot has good twists and turns to keep you engaged. But you might need to tune out the overly analytical parts of your brain. After all, you are in this for the mayhem! 

I loved the way the flickering manifestations of the demons were presented, along with the themes of corporate rivalry and political backstabbing. Grandma Ruth carefully setting aside her knitting kit to gear up for murder was just hilarious.

So grab a large bag of burritos, and settle down for a thrilling roller coaster ride. Maybe don’t get too attached to the pets.