The Incubus’s Assistant has a premise with genuine comic potential: a human temp worker dropped into a paranormal bureaucracy, navigating the gap between his mundane competence and his employer’s supernatural demands. Padilla keeps the tone light and the pacing brisk, but the series opener leans too heavily on setup, using the novelty of its world in place of developed character chemistry. The romance moves a bit too quickly and without much friction, which keeps things pleasant but prevents any real investment. There are moments of charm, mostly in the workplace dynamics, but not enough to distinguish the book from the crowded field of paranormal temp romance it’s operating in. It’s a functional, inoffensive start that reads like an extended pilot episode: setting the stage without yet giving you a reason to care who takes the stage next.