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Daughter of Gods and Shadows #1
Daughter of Gods and Shadows
Eden Reid is not interested in prophesy. The problem is that a doozy of a prophesy is bearing down on her. Such is the case when you're a twenty-four-year-old from Brooklyn, New York who is about to discover she is an ancient god. A truly powerful one. And with power comes problems. A truly formidable demon is gunning for her; a zombie-like pandemic is spreading across the country, creating creatures who are hungry for flesh, fast on their feet and clever; and there is the mysterious, handsome stranger with powers of his own who claims to have been her lover from a time and a life that Eden cannot remember. He promises to help awaken her powers for the upcoming war. A war where there is only one survival…in Daughter of Gods and Shadows from debut author Jayde Brooks.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 3, 2015
7 people are currently reading
808 people want to read
About the author
Jayde Brooks
6 books49 followersJayde Brooks lives in Colorado. She loves the mountains, Greek food, deep space, jewelry, God, and everything super hero-ish. "Daughter of Gods and Shadows" is her debut novel, and is the first in a planned series of three books, the second of which, City of Dark Creatures, is scheduled for release in November 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
December 24, 2014
3 1/2 out of 5 Stars for me.
The cover was not doing it for me, I don't see the connection between it and what's inside the book. I loved the writing style; this was definitely a page turner and the author made you feel the same emotions as the characters. Ah the characters, lets' get to them, I can go on and on about them, but I won't.
I don't know how I feel about Eden to be honest. In the beginning, I guess she was okay, she was whiny to the point that it was annoying. Like I understand that you're afraid, but what your doing is getting on my nerves, like woman up Eden. In the end she did, and I end up disliking her as a character, which I don't think is supposed to happen. She end up being the 'b' word. I have a whole rant about her, but I won't get into that; I just don't like her as a main character. Then there's Prophet, I didn't like him the moment he was introduce into the story, it was just something about his character that put me off. The villain, Sakarabru, didn't feel like one to me, he wasn't really important, it was more Koifu than him. What he did in Theia and Earth was horrible, but he wasn't the type of villain that I actually hated and wanted him to die; I kind of liked him. There's Khale nee Khale, I liked her, I don't know if we are meant to like her/ trust her, but I do. She came off like she's a manipulator and what not but I agreed with her through out the book, though one act she did was out there, but again I can see why she did it. Which was another reason why I didn't like Prophet; yes I know you are her Guardian but you're not doing anything but ogling at her. Jarrod, is a Were and I loved him even though he wasn't a major character. There are more characters, like Rose, whose like a mother to Eden, Andromeda the Seer, Koifu the Djinn, a pair of Seer twins and another Seer. I really didn't care about any of the characters besides Khale and Jarrod.
Wow that was longer than I expected it to be, but the level of annoyance that I had for them was so high.
Now on to the book in its self. It starts off with Eden Moore having a nightmare where she meets Mkombozi, the Redeemer, who Eden is reincarnated as. We find out that Eden must find the Omens and bind with them to help defeat the demon, Sakarabru. Eden of course doesn't want to bind with them, she wants to be normal and live a normal life. She's afraid and often runs away from it, not wanting to face reality. As the story progresses we see that Sakarabru is growing stronger and people are dying and returning back to life; killing people and eating them like some type of zombie; yet still Eden doesn't want to be bother with it she wants to leave and she does. But not before she almost gets sexual assaulted by two men from the train ride to work; she kills them and runs into her Guardian then runs away from him because she know who he is.
Through out the story we deal with a complaining Eden who doesn't really want to save her world because she's afraid. The first Omen ends up finding while she was in hiding with her Guardian, after she nearly dies they end up having sex, because that's what you do when you experience something traumatic like that.
It's written in third person and switches to different characters when one chapter ends, it is sometimes confusing because you don't know who it is until there name is mentioned. We learn things about Khale, Sakarabru, Andromeda, Koifu, and the Guardian. There are more characters involved but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
Anyway back to the story, the ending was a huge 'WTF' for me, . I admit it was annoying that I threw the book and kept saying 'WTF'. Just... ugh. I can't forget that. I don't know if I will continue on with the trilogy.
Also, the idea of the Ancients being some of he gods we know from mythology was pretty awesome.
The cover was not doing it for me, I don't see the connection between it and what's inside the book. I loved the writing style; this was definitely a page turner and the author made you feel the same emotions as the characters. Ah the characters, lets' get to them, I can go on and on about them, but I won't.
I don't know how I feel about Eden to be honest. In the beginning, I guess she was okay, she was whiny to the point that it was annoying. Like I understand that you're afraid, but what your doing is getting on my nerves, like woman up Eden. In the end she did, and I end up disliking her as a character, which I don't think is supposed to happen. She end up being the 'b' word. I have a whole rant about her, but I won't get into that; I just don't like her as a main character. Then there's Prophet, I didn't like him the moment he was introduce into the story, it was just something about his character that put me off. The villain, Sakarabru, didn't feel like one to me, he wasn't really important, it was more Koifu than him. What he did in Theia and Earth was horrible, but he wasn't the type of villain that I actually hated and wanted him to die; I kind of liked him. There's Khale nee Khale, I liked her, I don't know if we are meant to like her/ trust her, but I do. She came off like she's a manipulator and what not but I agreed with her through out the book, though one act she did was out there, but again I can see why she did it. Which was another reason why I didn't like Prophet; yes I know you are her Guardian but you're not doing anything but ogling at her. Jarrod, is a Were and I loved him even though he wasn't a major character. There are more characters, like Rose, whose like a mother to Eden, Andromeda the Seer, Koifu the Djinn, a pair of Seer twins and another Seer. I really didn't care about any of the characters besides Khale and Jarrod.
Wow that was longer than I expected it to be, but the level of annoyance that I had for them was so high.
Now on to the book in its self. It starts off with Eden Moore having a nightmare where she meets Mkombozi, the Redeemer, who Eden is reincarnated as. We find out that Eden must find the Omens and bind with them to help defeat the demon, Sakarabru. Eden of course doesn't want to bind with them, she wants to be normal and live a normal life. She's afraid and often runs away from it, not wanting to face reality. As the story progresses we see that Sakarabru is growing stronger and people are dying and returning back to life; killing people and eating them like some type of zombie; yet still Eden doesn't want to be bother with it she wants to leave and she does. But not before she almost gets sexual assaulted by two men from the train ride to work; she kills them and runs into her Guardian then runs away from him because she know who he is.
Through out the story we deal with a complaining Eden who doesn't really want to save her world because she's afraid. The first Omen ends up finding while she was in hiding with her Guardian, after she nearly dies they end up having sex, because that's what you do when you experience something traumatic like that.
It's written in third person and switches to different characters when one chapter ends, it is sometimes confusing because you don't know who it is until there name is mentioned. We learn things about Khale, Sakarabru, Andromeda, Koifu, and the Guardian. There are more characters involved but I can't remember them off the top of my head.
Anyway back to the story, the ending was a huge 'WTF' for me, . I admit it was annoying that I threw the book and kept saying 'WTF'. Just... ugh. I can't forget that. I don't know if I will continue on with the trilogy.
Also, the idea of the Ancients being some of he gods we know from mythology was pretty awesome.
April 13, 2017
Reminded me of a Sherrilyn Kenyon novel, but the writing was pretty sucky
August 1, 2017
This is more like 3 1/2 stars. Overall I liked it and I want to know more about these characters. The world building was pretty decent and the discriptions were believable. The ending came a little to quickly for me though, after so much set up. All in all, not bad for a debut novel.
February 9, 2015
Like much of my Twitter feed, I first became interested in this book after seeing the cover. Much to my surprise, I won an advanced copy from a giveaway. Overall, I really enjoyed this fantasy novel that includes practically every creature of myth we have ever grown up with.
Admittedly, it took me a while to get into the novel. There are so many characters with multiple names that is it difficult to keep track of them at times. Furthermore, it appears I received an advanced copy that still had some editing errors that left me confused for a while. However, once I got back into the story, I began to enjoy the story again.
It focuses on Eden Moore, a young woman who has been told all her life that she is the reincarnation of an ancient entity meant to save the world from a powerful demon. Of course, Eden is reluctant to fulfill the prophecy and only comes to terms with her destiny when she realizes she must survive in a world suddenly turned chaotic when the Ancients bring havoc and destruction in their wake.
I enjoyed the book because I tend to like showdowns between good and evil. At times it's difficult to tell which side is which, another factor I liked. Also, while the book takes place in the US, mostly NYC, the chaos extends worldwide. Brooks builds an already familiar and populates it with Ancients who have adapted and blended in when they are not displaying their superhuman abilities, so I think it's safe to call the book urban fantasy.
While the large array of Ancients makes it difficult to navigate at first, eventually the reader can follow the ones who matter and watch how they all relate to each other. Even those who avoid urban fantasy may find this one worth a read.
Admittedly, it took me a while to get into the novel. There are so many characters with multiple names that is it difficult to keep track of them at times. Furthermore, it appears I received an advanced copy that still had some editing errors that left me confused for a while. However, once I got back into the story, I began to enjoy the story again.
It focuses on Eden Moore, a young woman who has been told all her life that she is the reincarnation of an ancient entity meant to save the world from a powerful demon. Of course, Eden is reluctant to fulfill the prophecy and only comes to terms with her destiny when she realizes she must survive in a world suddenly turned chaotic when the Ancients bring havoc and destruction in their wake.
I enjoyed the book because I tend to like showdowns between good and evil. At times it's difficult to tell which side is which, another factor I liked. Also, while the book takes place in the US, mostly NYC, the chaos extends worldwide. Brooks builds an already familiar and populates it with Ancients who have adapted and blended in when they are not displaying their superhuman abilities, so I think it's safe to call the book urban fantasy.
While the large array of Ancients makes it difficult to navigate at first, eventually the reader can follow the ones who matter and watch how they all relate to each other. Even those who avoid urban fantasy may find this one worth a read.
February 21, 2015
THIS AUTHOR CANNOT WRITE SMUT.
Okay, with that off my chest, we can proceed.
The premise for this book was fantastic, and Eden herself was a great heroine, but the writing style was very disjointed (a lot of flashbacks in italics shoved randomly into chapters) and very much 'he did this and then he did that and then they went there.' It was hard to really get into the flow, and it didn't help that the author kept introducing character after character, with so many subplots (some of which aren't even resolved).
The main romance I also found...dubious? The whole reincarnated lover trope was played out at a pretty skeevy angle as Prophet was pretty much determined to get back into Eden's life whether she wanted him there or not, and his internal monologue had a few VERY disturbing moments of 'IT WAS ALMOST TOO HARD TO RESIST JUST THROWING HER DOWN AND HAVING MY WAY.' Also, was it really necessary to go into THAT much detail about his monster dick? Especially when he is so large it literally reduces Eden to tears of pain????
There was a running theme of gross sex in this book, with a succubus essentially being used by the Demon and sleeping with the entire army to keep them in line. She literally has no purpose outside of being a sex toy, it's pretty goddamn gross.
Also, any sex scene that uses the words 'juices' is gonna make people either shudder, laugh, or both.
Okay, with that off my chest, we can proceed.
The premise for this book was fantastic, and Eden herself was a great heroine, but the writing style was very disjointed (a lot of flashbacks in italics shoved randomly into chapters) and very much 'he did this and then he did that and then they went there.' It was hard to really get into the flow, and it didn't help that the author kept introducing character after character, with so many subplots (some of which aren't even resolved).
The main romance I also found...dubious? The whole reincarnated lover trope was played out at a pretty skeevy angle as Prophet was pretty much determined to get back into Eden's life whether she wanted him there or not, and his internal monologue had a few VERY disturbing moments of 'IT WAS ALMOST TOO HARD TO RESIST JUST THROWING HER DOWN AND HAVING MY WAY.' Also, was it really necessary to go into THAT much detail about his monster dick? Especially when he is so large it literally reduces Eden to tears of pain????
There was a running theme of gross sex in this book, with a succubus essentially being used by the Demon and sleeping with the entire army to keep them in line. She literally has no purpose outside of being a sex toy, it's pretty goddamn gross.
Also, any sex scene that uses the words 'juices' is gonna make people either shudder, laugh, or both.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 4, 2015
If there is any series I wished was finished before I started reading book 1, it would be this one.
Eden has been told from birth by her caregiver, Rose, that she is the Redeemer reborn, the only one who can save Earth from a soon-to-be reawakened Demon named Sakarabru. Eden can see the true forms of Ancients, alien beings that have hidden in human skin for 4000 years after the fall of their world, Theia. Khale, who deserves the title of [insert unflattering word here] is the original Redeemer's mother, and the leader of the Ancients, once worshipped as a god. Eden is, understandably, frightened and insecure and attempts many times to run away from her "fate". Insert shapeshifters, races that can be likened to fae, a zombie army, a giant angel-bird man Guardian, and a few graphic sex scenes, and you've gotten urban fantasy taken to the next level. Many of the characters are described as having brown skin and wear dreadlocs, which is a big draw. Some parts feel just a bit rushed, and certain romance is based more on " destiny" and the rebirth as opposed to actually developing naturally. The book is a page turner, and worth the read. Plan to read the next book, as well.
Eden has been told from birth by her caregiver, Rose, that she is the Redeemer reborn, the only one who can save Earth from a soon-to-be reawakened Demon named Sakarabru. Eden can see the true forms of Ancients, alien beings that have hidden in human skin for 4000 years after the fall of their world, Theia. Khale, who deserves the title of [insert unflattering word here] is the original Redeemer's mother, and the leader of the Ancients, once worshipped as a god. Eden is, understandably, frightened and insecure and attempts many times to run away from her "fate". Insert shapeshifters, races that can be likened to fae, a zombie army, a giant angel-bird man Guardian, and a few graphic sex scenes, and you've gotten urban fantasy taken to the next level. Many of the characters are described as having brown skin and wear dreadlocs, which is a big draw. Some parts feel just a bit rushed, and certain romance is based more on " destiny" and the rebirth as opposed to actually developing naturally. The book is a page turner, and worth the read. Plan to read the next book, as well.
March 3, 2015
I really wanted to like this, but in the end it just wasn't for me. I'd say this felt more like YA than adult if it weren't for all of the explicit sex scenes. There were a lot.
August 2, 2015
Urban fantasy -- 4 thousand years ago, war broke out on another world -- one where shapeshifters, trolls, and dragons live, among others -- and evil swept across the land. Thankfully they had a Prophecy of a Redeemer who would cast down the evil. Unfortunately, they kept on casting down, and the entire world was destroyed before the Redeemer could herself be dissolved.
Now the surviving races hide among humans, keeping their secrets under wraps. They are more powerful than humans but not invincible. And unfortunately the prophecy is not ended ... the great Demon from before might be back.
The author has a real gift for giving a quick sketch of characters in a few pages, that made me feel for side characters. But the main plot ended up being fairly typical urban fantasy, including somewhat creepy predestined love.
Now the surviving races hide among humans, keeping their secrets under wraps. They are more powerful than humans but not invincible. And unfortunately the prophecy is not ended ... the great Demon from before might be back.
The author has a real gift for giving a quick sketch of characters in a few pages, that made me feel for side characters. But the main plot ended up being fairly typical urban fantasy, including somewhat creepy predestined love.
November 7, 2016
This was a really interesting world and the premise is a good one. I will definitely pick up the next book when it's released. Full Review to come.
February 25, 2016
This book started much stronger than it finished. I read the acknowledgments in which the author says the book went through six versions and I can't figure out if the result was that the book was too edited or still not edited enough.
First, the positives. Eden makes for a sympathetic character to me. I've seen other reviews that call her whiny, but that's an accusation leveled at any female character who so much as sniffles - even at their own grandma's funeral. Eden's been raised without a real family unit and with her identity as human being constantly being broken down. She's isolated in a very real way, and Khale is no sort of mother. Imagine everyone telling you, your whole life, that you're in the way of someone better they like, someone else they want. You're an unfortunate byproduct, nothing more. I think you'd be this depressed or more.
The book keeps a quick, if often uneven, pace. I appreciate when an author just gets on with it.
There's some very interesting hints of worldbuilding, but that's where we get into the negatives. The worldbuilding is woefully incomplete and doesn't quite hold up to a closer look. There are a lot of things that don't make sense because it's not established.
Why are the Omens called Omens, and why are they the key to defeating Sakarabru, why are there these three pieces of him floating around out there like that? How does that even work?
How did these Ancients and other supernatural creatures get, en masse, from Theia to Earth and was Earth their only option? And what's stopping all these creatures from getting together and deciding that even if they can't kill Sakarabru, maybe they can contain him or something. Also, they have modern technology. Could they maybe, I dunno, hit him with a nuke or launch him into outer space? Why is it down to just Eden and the Omens?
Why is the Demon so impossible to kill? Without his army, is he totally invincible, because if not then why not get all your strongest Ancients together, get Sakarabru alone and just keep kicking his ass until he's really, really, really dead.
And for that matter, why doesn't Andromeda just go to Eden from the get go and tell her everything? Andromeda could've prevented, like, all of this.
There are about a thousand of these questions you can ask of this book and get no answers. I feel like there's a rich, vivid world in Theia that just didn't get developed. It's not that every single detail that would've answered my questions needed to be included. It's that it's clear when a writer has an internally logical world built up and when they don't.
As for world building, or destroying: this book contains probably the most irrelevant, backgrounded zombie apocalypse I've ever seen. You could literally take out the apocalypse, change a few cosmetic details, and it's the same story. The apocalypse felt pasted on at the last moment.
I find myself often weary of books that feel like if the entire planet isn't at stake, it's not enough to be an interesting motive. I think this book might have benefitted greatly from being scaled down to a tale about a family struggle left over from a distant, ancient apocalypse and focusing in on identity and relationships rather than the fate of the planet. The book is at its best when it's intimate and character-driven.
This book also makes the apocalypse unconvincing. It's a common sin in the SF/F genre, so it's not just this book. If you're going to have a zombie apocalypse that derails civilization in less than, say, six months you need to explain to me - in well researched detail - how it is that all these massive systems have failed. Especially in large cities like New York where there are plans in place to cope with a massive disaster. And when people start to understand what's happened why aren't their reactions more survival minded than building places to hide? Especially if your zombies are like Paul and have all their normal mental faculties, just with a lust for human flesh on the side.
Why aren't they saying "hey, we're gonna run out of food if we all turn into zombies, and we should probably not let civilization collapse".
I know I may sound nit picky, but the book honestly could've done with a great big logic check.
I got a bit tired of the sex scenes in this book. Maybe it's partly just my preferences as a reader, but I'm done with big penises. I'm done. Can we have a guy with a normal penis, please? Just once, I wanna have the male love interest have just a normal six inch dick. The sex is boring and I had some issues with the whole Lillith as Team Sakarabru's offical designated slut.
Also, everyone's straight. Just about everyone is from another planet but everyone is straight. And cis. So you can have Weres and Ancients and Omens, but nobody's of a gender besides cis male or cis female and everyone's heterosexual? Everyone's genders and sexuality fit perfectly with the way human Earthlings conceive of them? You couldn't at least nod and say "oh, look, over there, some lesbians!"
The ending is where the wheels really come off of this book. The quick but reasonable pace becomes a scramble to tie up loose ends such that it feels like the book just stopped rather than ended at a natural stopping point.
All that talk of Mkombozi the Redeemer being unable to handle the Omens, of Eden becoming Mkombozi, of it being a risk to the entire planet if she can't contain it all. This enormous build up, the emotional crux of our story, and perhaps the biggest cliffhanger. And we get an ending scene with Eden being contemplative and Prophet cooking her some fish in Vermont.
Okay, then.
There's a lot of unevenness in the style. There's a lot of switching of POV's and some of those POV's aren't all that interesting. There's also places where Eden goes from speaking in a more formal tone to breaking out into more colloquial speech without there being a reason why. There's also a ton of "As You Know Bob" with people constantly stating the obvious about how bad things have gotten.
As I said at the beginning, I don't know if the book was over edited and maybe a lot of the best bits were chopped away or if it needed more editing (or different editing). There's bits and pieces of a fantastic book inside this book, but the actual novel I read fell short of it's potential.
I hope to see more of Brooks as an author, however, because I'm convinced she can write. The first 50 pages show tremendous promise and kept me interest. While it's definitely not what it could be, this is also a first novel. I'd like to see what Brooks can do if she were able to tell more of the Theian story or just another story entirely.
First, the positives. Eden makes for a sympathetic character to me. I've seen other reviews that call her whiny, but that's an accusation leveled at any female character who so much as sniffles - even at their own grandma's funeral. Eden's been raised without a real family unit and with her identity as human being constantly being broken down. She's isolated in a very real way, and Khale is no sort of mother. Imagine everyone telling you, your whole life, that you're in the way of someone better they like, someone else they want. You're an unfortunate byproduct, nothing more. I think you'd be this depressed or more.
The book keeps a quick, if often uneven, pace. I appreciate when an author just gets on with it.
There's some very interesting hints of worldbuilding, but that's where we get into the negatives. The worldbuilding is woefully incomplete and doesn't quite hold up to a closer look. There are a lot of things that don't make sense because it's not established.
Why are the Omens called Omens, and why are they the key to defeating Sakarabru, why are there these three pieces of him floating around out there like that? How does that even work?
How did these Ancients and other supernatural creatures get, en masse, from Theia to Earth and was Earth their only option? And what's stopping all these creatures from getting together and deciding that even if they can't kill Sakarabru, maybe they can contain him or something. Also, they have modern technology. Could they maybe, I dunno, hit him with a nuke or launch him into outer space? Why is it down to just Eden and the Omens?
Why is the Demon so impossible to kill? Without his army, is he totally invincible, because if not then why not get all your strongest Ancients together, get Sakarabru alone and just keep kicking his ass until he's really, really, really dead.
And for that matter, why doesn't Andromeda just go to Eden from the get go and tell her everything? Andromeda could've prevented, like, all of this.
There are about a thousand of these questions you can ask of this book and get no answers. I feel like there's a rich, vivid world in Theia that just didn't get developed. It's not that every single detail that would've answered my questions needed to be included. It's that it's clear when a writer has an internally logical world built up and when they don't.
As for world building, or destroying: this book contains probably the most irrelevant, backgrounded zombie apocalypse I've ever seen. You could literally take out the apocalypse, change a few cosmetic details, and it's the same story. The apocalypse felt pasted on at the last moment.
I find myself often weary of books that feel like if the entire planet isn't at stake, it's not enough to be an interesting motive. I think this book might have benefitted greatly from being scaled down to a tale about a family struggle left over from a distant, ancient apocalypse and focusing in on identity and relationships rather than the fate of the planet. The book is at its best when it's intimate and character-driven.
This book also makes the apocalypse unconvincing. It's a common sin in the SF/F genre, so it's not just this book. If you're going to have a zombie apocalypse that derails civilization in less than, say, six months you need to explain to me - in well researched detail - how it is that all these massive systems have failed. Especially in large cities like New York where there are plans in place to cope with a massive disaster. And when people start to understand what's happened why aren't their reactions more survival minded than building places to hide? Especially if your zombies are like Paul and have all their normal mental faculties, just with a lust for human flesh on the side.
Why aren't they saying "hey, we're gonna run out of food if we all turn into zombies, and we should probably not let civilization collapse".
I know I may sound nit picky, but the book honestly could've done with a great big logic check.
I got a bit tired of the sex scenes in this book. Maybe it's partly just my preferences as a reader, but I'm done with big penises. I'm done. Can we have a guy with a normal penis, please? Just once, I wanna have the male love interest have just a normal six inch dick. The sex is boring and I had some issues with the whole Lillith as Team Sakarabru's offical designated slut.
Also, everyone's straight. Just about everyone is from another planet but everyone is straight. And cis. So you can have Weres and Ancients and Omens, but nobody's of a gender besides cis male or cis female and everyone's heterosexual? Everyone's genders and sexuality fit perfectly with the way human Earthlings conceive of them? You couldn't at least nod and say "oh, look, over there, some lesbians!"
The ending is where the wheels really come off of this book. The quick but reasonable pace becomes a scramble to tie up loose ends such that it feels like the book just stopped rather than ended at a natural stopping point.
All that talk of Mkombozi the Redeemer being unable to handle the Omens, of Eden becoming Mkombozi, of it being a risk to the entire planet if she can't contain it all. This enormous build up, the emotional crux of our story, and perhaps the biggest cliffhanger. And we get an ending scene with Eden being contemplative and Prophet cooking her some fish in Vermont.
Okay, then.
There's a lot of unevenness in the style. There's a lot of switching of POV's and some of those POV's aren't all that interesting. There's also places where Eden goes from speaking in a more formal tone to breaking out into more colloquial speech without there being a reason why. There's also a ton of "As You Know Bob" with people constantly stating the obvious about how bad things have gotten.
As I said at the beginning, I don't know if the book was over edited and maybe a lot of the best bits were chopped away or if it needed more editing (or different editing). There's bits and pieces of a fantastic book inside this book, but the actual novel I read fell short of it's potential.
I hope to see more of Brooks as an author, however, because I'm convinced she can write. The first 50 pages show tremendous promise and kept me interest. While it's definitely not what it could be, this is also a first novel. I'd like to see what Brooks can do if she were able to tell more of the Theian story or just another story entirely.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2017
This was a really hard book to get into, because it was more like a game of chess than interactions between characters. There was a backstory about Ancients who were destroyed by a demon in a war, but the leader of the good guys created a daughter who was The One who could destroy him...only she wound up destroying the whole world as well. Now all of them--Ancients, Shifters, Weres, Vampires, Seers--etc. are in our world. So that totally foreign world that was destroyed was populated by familiar earth folklore--with the requisite snark about humans Get It Wrong, of course. That heroine who destroyed everything has been reincarnated as a young woman in Brooklyn and the demon is back. Oh, and she has a Guardian who was in love with her in the past so now he's in love with her again.
The book has a lot of lines about how the heroine can't wrap her mind around the awesomeness of what she's supposed to do, but that sort of thing just has the opposite effect that it's going for. She's trying to tell us how huge it is, but as a reader it's just pretty standard. You're The One. You've been assigned Tasks to get Weapons to save World. You're very special but totally not free. Even her great love is just assigned to her--it's unclear whether her former self would seem like a different person or not since it seems she, also, was defined by the same burden of Destiny and fear that she was going to Become The Thing She Hates. etc.
The book has a lot of lines about how the heroine can't wrap her mind around the awesomeness of what she's supposed to do, but that sort of thing just has the opposite effect that it's going for. She's trying to tell us how huge it is, but as a reader it's just pretty standard. You're The One. You've been assigned Tasks to get Weapons to save World. You're very special but totally not free. Even her great love is just assigned to her--it's unclear whether her former self would seem like a different person or not since it seems she, also, was defined by the same burden of Destiny and fear that she was going to Become The Thing She Hates. etc.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2018
The book was all over the place. It was like True Blood, Charmed, Twilight and Supernatural all rolled up into one bad episode. The beginning seemed promising but then there was just too much of everything but not enough of anything. It's like the author couldn't decide on anything so ended up throwing in everything. Shifters, vampires, werewolves, mermaids and genies oh my! African, Muslim, Latin, American and Egyptian? It's not good enough to just say that all those cultures were influenced by Theians, a made up race of monsters/creatures, without giving some history or explanation of Theia. The bad guy is a demon? What? Why? Then there's Lilith the succubus, servicing the whole Brood Army. All these creatures were having very human sex. The whole story read like a high school creative writing assignment written by a teenage virgin. This book is part of a trilogy but I don't have confidence that the others will be any better so I'll stop at this one.
November 14, 2017
What could have been an interesting premise, mixing non-Eurocentric fantasy with modern elements, is badly let down by two factors. First of all, the writing style is overly simplistic and even crude at times, reading more like a young adult novel — just with added f-bombs and clumsy sex scenes. Second, and more importantly, the story is about as basic as you can get. It’s black and white, good versus evil, with a bland cowardly heroine who only starts to become interesting when she’s in danger of “turning bad.” She has a generic hot, brooding love interest, who is of course her soulmate, and he ends up saving her so much that she barely has any agency. Everything comes to an abrupt, confusing, and unsatisfying ending. This type of story has been done to death, and there are much better versions of it that you’d be better off checking out.
November 28, 2014
Jayde Brooks does an amazing job of creating characters that have emotional appeal. I thoroughly enjoyed Daughter of Gods and Shadows! Let's do a very quick recap of the story:
Eden suffers terrible nightmares and visions of an ancient being that speaks of "Omens". While growing up with her surrogate mother, an ancient being named Rose, she learns her fate as the savior of the modern world and destroyer of the strongest Demon, Sakarabru. She denies her fate and hates that she was backed into a corner and not able to have the life she always dreamt of. As she gets older, Sakarabru gets stronger and starts to take over the world with his mental, physical and magical powers. Eden must link to three Omens before fighting him or else she will be destroyed.
The lead up to this fight involves many characters with cool powers. The story is a mix of fables and Greek mythology. It has lots of action and emotion from the characters that will leave the reader turning pages quite quickly. My favorite character was Kifo. He really had multiple levels to his personality. Eden was a good lead character but I thought she was a little two dimensional throughout the book (the most we really had on her was that she was supposed to fulfill her fate and was scared to). Prophet was also two dimensional because he loved the last ancient and now, he loves Eden. It would be fun to have had more information about him when he was on Theia. I enjoyed Khale but I would have enjoyed her even more if I would have read more between her and Sakarabru...because that was a very interesting dynamic that seemed to be left hanging in the wind...no real closure between the two.
The storyline was very entertaining and if I could give any pointers to the writer it would be...proofreader is needed. There were typos that could throw the reader off the story and some punctuation errors. Also, I would explain more depth into the characters and their lives on Theia if you have 368 pages to do so. We should absolutely despise characters and fall in love with others...but I did not. I just enjoyed the story but have no ties to the characters. Overall, I enjoyed the story immensely and felt that it was something new and fresh. The author did a great job moving the story along so that there were no lulls in reading. I appreciate that in books this length.
Raging Book Reviews recommends this book for fantasy readers!
Eden suffers terrible nightmares and visions of an ancient being that speaks of "Omens". While growing up with her surrogate mother, an ancient being named Rose, she learns her fate as the savior of the modern world and destroyer of the strongest Demon, Sakarabru. She denies her fate and hates that she was backed into a corner and not able to have the life she always dreamt of. As she gets older, Sakarabru gets stronger and starts to take over the world with his mental, physical and magical powers. Eden must link to three Omens before fighting him or else she will be destroyed.
The lead up to this fight involves many characters with cool powers. The story is a mix of fables and Greek mythology. It has lots of action and emotion from the characters that will leave the reader turning pages quite quickly. My favorite character was Kifo. He really had multiple levels to his personality. Eden was a good lead character but I thought she was a little two dimensional throughout the book (the most we really had on her was that she was supposed to fulfill her fate and was scared to). Prophet was also two dimensional because he loved the last ancient and now, he loves Eden. It would be fun to have had more information about him when he was on Theia. I enjoyed Khale but I would have enjoyed her even more if I would have read more between her and Sakarabru...because that was a very interesting dynamic that seemed to be left hanging in the wind...no real closure between the two.
The storyline was very entertaining and if I could give any pointers to the writer it would be...proofreader is needed. There were typos that could throw the reader off the story and some punctuation errors. Also, I would explain more depth into the characters and their lives on Theia if you have 368 pages to do so. We should absolutely despise characters and fall in love with others...but I did not. I just enjoyed the story but have no ties to the characters. Overall, I enjoyed the story immensely and felt that it was something new and fresh. The author did a great job moving the story along so that there were no lulls in reading. I appreciate that in books this length.
Raging Book Reviews recommends this book for fantasy readers!
December 2, 2014
I received this book as a First-Reads Advance Reader Copy from Goodreads. Thanks, Goodreads, Ms. Brooks and St. Martin's Griffin.
This first book in a planned trilogy had a very interesting narrative. I enjoyed being introduced to some unique and gripping characters through the books multiple third person viewpoints (a-la Song of Ice and Fire) Tension and excitement flowed throughout the entire book. It constantly felt like it was leading up to something big, and although it didn't have quite the climax I expected, I can't say I was disappointed by the conclusion. I also enjoyed the interesting take on earth's mythology and will be interested in seeing how that is farther developed in the coming sequels.
There were a few things that I didn't like. The main thing would be the protagonist, Eden. For the first two thirds of the book, Eden is just whiny and annoying. Through final third of the book, she's turned into a total bish. I get it. There's lots of girls who are just like Eden, and her reactions given her situation weren't exactly unbelievable, they just rubbed me the wrong way so I had a very hard time connecting with this character. Luckily, all of the supporting characters, good and bad had excellent depth and personality to make up for it. The second thing that bothered me throughout the entire book was the main villain’s name. Sakurabru? All I could think of is someone saying Sacrebleu in a very poor, very fake, French accent. It made it kind of hard for me to take the guy seriously. My third and final complaint was that I ran across several spelling errors. They were very minor. I understood what was meant, and it didn't detract from the narrative. It just irked me. I haven't read many advance reader copies before though and this might be a common thing for them that will be fixed in time for the final market edition.
Even with these complaints though, I have to say that this was a very enjoyable book that I feel privileged to have read and I am definitely looking forward to the sequels. I will now be passing my copy on to friends to spread the word of this great new trilogy.
This first book in a planned trilogy had a very interesting narrative. I enjoyed being introduced to some unique and gripping characters through the books multiple third person viewpoints (a-la Song of Ice and Fire) Tension and excitement flowed throughout the entire book. It constantly felt like it was leading up to something big, and although it didn't have quite the climax I expected, I can't say I was disappointed by the conclusion. I also enjoyed the interesting take on earth's mythology and will be interested in seeing how that is farther developed in the coming sequels.
There were a few things that I didn't like. The main thing would be the protagonist, Eden. For the first two thirds of the book, Eden is just whiny and annoying. Through final third of the book, she's turned into a total bish. I get it. There's lots of girls who are just like Eden, and her reactions given her situation weren't exactly unbelievable, they just rubbed me the wrong way so I had a very hard time connecting with this character. Luckily, all of the supporting characters, good and bad had excellent depth and personality to make up for it. The second thing that bothered me throughout the entire book was the main villain’s name. Sakurabru? All I could think of is someone saying Sacrebleu in a very poor, very fake, French accent. It made it kind of hard for me to take the guy seriously. My third and final complaint was that I ran across several spelling errors. They were very minor. I understood what was meant, and it didn't detract from the narrative. It just irked me. I haven't read many advance reader copies before though and this might be a common thing for them that will be fixed in time for the final market edition.
Even with these complaints though, I have to say that this was a very enjoyable book that I feel privileged to have read and I am definitely looking forward to the sequels. I will now be passing my copy on to friends to spread the word of this great new trilogy.
May 24, 2015
Do I recommend it: Yes,
Diversity: 5
Characters: 5
Story: 4
No Shame to My Game. I bought this book solely based on the book cover.
This is what I wrote before I finished the book: Because I bought it for its cover, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I didn't like it. I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. In fact, I wasn't even going to finish the book. But I decided it had fey and black people. And since Coal has fey and black people I forced myself to finish. And OHEMGEE. I'm so glad I did. I ended up loving it! Absolutely loving it.
What I liked:
-The unique twist on fey. Y'all know I'm all about fey.
-Her descriptions of the troll Andromeda. I really hope Book 2 will focus on her.
-Lilith the succubus who haunts everyone's dreams.
Khale the Shapeshifter. I also heart shapeshifters and Coal has shapeshifters. Khale would make Octavia Butler cheese with pride.
A great fight at the end with a silverbacked gorilla
The seer twins Ursa Major and Ursa Minor
Kifo the Djinn
The theme: How sometimes we have to become evil to defeat it
What I didn't like:
The zombies. I'm tired of zombie books and there was nothing in Daughter of Gods and Shadows to change my mind. Thankfully, they were gone by the end of the book.
The cliche bad guy who felt he was born to rule and do bad, bad things.
The convenient soul mate for the main character. UGH. I wanted them to work harder for their relationship. But I think I just have a grudge against uncomplicated love.
The main character, Eden. I never connected with her. But Andromeda, Kofi, and Khale, I heart.
Neutral
More sex than I was used to. It felt out of place at first, but it became less jarring at the end.
http://www.constanceburris.net/2015/0...
Diversity: 5
Characters: 5
Story: 4
No Shame to My Game. I bought this book solely based on the book cover.
This is what I wrote before I finished the book: Because I bought it for its cover, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I didn't like it. I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. In fact, I wasn't even going to finish the book. But I decided it had fey and black people. And since Coal has fey and black people I forced myself to finish. And OHEMGEE. I'm so glad I did. I ended up loving it! Absolutely loving it.
What I liked:
-The unique twist on fey. Y'all know I'm all about fey.
-Her descriptions of the troll Andromeda. I really hope Book 2 will focus on her.
-Lilith the succubus who haunts everyone's dreams.
Khale the Shapeshifter. I also heart shapeshifters and Coal has shapeshifters. Khale would make Octavia Butler cheese with pride.
A great fight at the end with a silverbacked gorilla
The seer twins Ursa Major and Ursa Minor
Kifo the Djinn
The theme: How sometimes we have to become evil to defeat it
What I didn't like:
The zombies. I'm tired of zombie books and there was nothing in Daughter of Gods and Shadows to change my mind. Thankfully, they were gone by the end of the book.
The cliche bad guy who felt he was born to rule and do bad, bad things.
The convenient soul mate for the main character. UGH. I wanted them to work harder for their relationship. But I think I just have a grudge against uncomplicated love.
The main character, Eden. I never connected with her. But Andromeda, Kofi, and Khale, I heart.
Neutral
More sex than I was used to. It felt out of place at first, but it became less jarring at the end.
http://www.constanceburris.net/2015/0...
May 18, 2015
If you’re looking for a sweeping, dark adventure/quest novel, look no further. This story had what I love to read in a book: strong female characters and the ultimate in high stakes – saving the world. Blend that with a Black protagonist and stir in a healthy helping of African culture and you have Jayde Brooks’ new release. Daughter has its roots in 4,000 years in the past, all of it filtered through our modern day heroine, Eden. (Love that name!)
It’s mature, well paced, and tough. While there are horrific scenes, this is not a gore fest. Eden starts the story fragile and awkward and plagued with nightmares. Soon, she finds herself the last hope to save the world. How often is that role assigned to a Black woman? But Eden isn’t sure she’s up to the task. To help decide, Brooks has created a host of characters—djinn, fae, and other supernatural beings—to support, cajole, and push Eden to become what she fears most.
If I had to name a criticism, it would be that the characters used each other’s names too often. When you’re in conversation, especially a heated one, most people don’t call each other by their given names. But that is a small—no, tiny—comment about an otherwise brilliant work.
I also appreciated the break from the “strong Black woman with smart-mouthed attitude” stereotype. Eden is shy and awkward and has to grow by leaps and bounds in order the face the challenges in front of her. Taking the “coming into her own” journey with her made me root for her to succeed even more.
- See more at: http://www.graveyardshiftsisters.com/...
It’s mature, well paced, and tough. While there are horrific scenes, this is not a gore fest. Eden starts the story fragile and awkward and plagued with nightmares. Soon, she finds herself the last hope to save the world. How often is that role assigned to a Black woman? But Eden isn’t sure she’s up to the task. To help decide, Brooks has created a host of characters—djinn, fae, and other supernatural beings—to support, cajole, and push Eden to become what she fears most.
If I had to name a criticism, it would be that the characters used each other’s names too often. When you’re in conversation, especially a heated one, most people don’t call each other by their given names. But that is a small—no, tiny—comment about an otherwise brilliant work.
I also appreciated the break from the “strong Black woman with smart-mouthed attitude” stereotype. Eden is shy and awkward and has to grow by leaps and bounds in order the face the challenges in front of her. Taking the “coming into her own” journey with her made me root for her to succeed even more.
- See more at: http://www.graveyardshiftsisters.com/...
January 14, 2015
While this book's cover did not draw my attention, the inside definitely did. This book was a first reads good reads giveaway. IT is an advance reading copy so there were some typos and corrections that will need to be made but these did not deter from the story. This is a well planned novel with suspense, adventure, sex (yes - not a PG book), and gruesomeness.
I felt that some things were left out of the story- perhaps some could have been added at the end or maybe these were left out on purpose to allow for a second novel? I do not like to leave spoilers in my reviews, so I won't tell the story...
I wasn't fond of the gruesomeness but I am not sure it could have been left off and still made a good story. We are dealing with demons here after all. I was a bit shocked at the sex scenes because up to that point I felt it could have easily been a young adult novel. However, I would say adult novel is a better description...nothing young about the details in those scenes.
I enjoyed the character development throughout the book. I am just curious why is that nearly all books with female heroines seem to have our young heroine whiny or wimpy in the beginning and a little bit throughout. This novel was no different in that sense. It does make for a good opportunity to develop one's character though. Change over time and maturity are a basic themes in many stories why should this one be any different?
Well done!
I felt that some things were left out of the story- perhaps some could have been added at the end or maybe these were left out on purpose to allow for a second novel? I do not like to leave spoilers in my reviews, so I won't tell the story...
I wasn't fond of the gruesomeness but I am not sure it could have been left off and still made a good story. We are dealing with demons here after all. I was a bit shocked at the sex scenes because up to that point I felt it could have easily been a young adult novel. However, I would say adult novel is a better description...nothing young about the details in those scenes.
I enjoyed the character development throughout the book. I am just curious why is that nearly all books with female heroines seem to have our young heroine whiny or wimpy in the beginning and a little bit throughout. This novel was no different in that sense. It does make for a good opportunity to develop one's character though. Change over time and maturity are a basic themes in many stories why should this one be any different?
Well done!
January 25, 2015
Just to let you guys know, I won this particular title through one of Goodreads giveaways. Review is all my own.
Brooklyn has many interesting things about it but none more so than Eden a young woman who lives there. She can see mystical beings who came to Earth thousands of years ago when their Redeemer destroyed a great evil and in the process gave into her powers and decimated their world as well. The Ancients know Eden is the Redeemer reborn and when the great demon Sakarabru is resurrected she becomes the central focus of all Ancients, some who want her dead. Eden's unwillingness to accept her destiny is the beginning of Earth's fight for survival against Sakarabru's army of Brood, once human and now man's worst nightmares. Eden has a choice, she can run or she can face the fact that she is the Redeemer reborn and this is what she is meant for. Three Omens await to battle her; Thought, Rage, and Passion. If she can control them they will give her the power to defeat Sakarabru and end him forever, otherwise she will be consumed by their powers and destroyed along with the rest of the world.
With a background story that could be the unraveling of the Redeemer, this tale is woven with just the right amount of intrigue, lust, betrayals, and redemption. This first book of the trilogy is a first class debut into contemporary fantasy. Jayde Brooks is definitely a writer to keep an eye on.
Brooklyn has many interesting things about it but none more so than Eden a young woman who lives there. She can see mystical beings who came to Earth thousands of years ago when their Redeemer destroyed a great evil and in the process gave into her powers and decimated their world as well. The Ancients know Eden is the Redeemer reborn and when the great demon Sakarabru is resurrected she becomes the central focus of all Ancients, some who want her dead. Eden's unwillingness to accept her destiny is the beginning of Earth's fight for survival against Sakarabru's army of Brood, once human and now man's worst nightmares. Eden has a choice, she can run or she can face the fact that she is the Redeemer reborn and this is what she is meant for. Three Omens await to battle her; Thought, Rage, and Passion. If she can control them they will give her the power to defeat Sakarabru and end him forever, otherwise she will be consumed by their powers and destroyed along with the rest of the world.
With a background story that could be the unraveling of the Redeemer, this tale is woven with just the right amount of intrigue, lust, betrayals, and redemption. This first book of the trilogy is a first class debut into contemporary fantasy. Jayde Brooks is definitely a writer to keep an eye on.
January 19, 2026
My best friend recommended this book to me. He prefers high fantasy novels, and I generally read Horror and SciFi novels. However, when I do read fantasy novels I generally like contemporary and low fantasy.
All the main characters of people of color, which I love because it's rare to find fantasy novels with PoC as the main characters: Cat people, humanoids, and sentient squid tentacles are a-okay. Black people, Native American, and latinx, say whaaat!
Eden is a compelling character in that she is trying to have a normal existence even while knowing she has the essence of a warrior/goddess inside of her. I liked that could envision her stress and confusion...she just wanted to Netflix and chill, but she has to save the world!
The only thing I don't like about Ms. Brooks' novels is that her second and third book will only be available as e-books. The second book is only available in an e-bundle with this book. This has nothing to do with the quality of the writing, it's just really annoying when you prefer hardcopies over e-book (eReaders give me bad eye-strain, even the paperwhite *sadface*).
All the main characters of people of color, which I love because it's rare to find fantasy novels with PoC as the main characters: Cat people, humanoids, and sentient squid tentacles are a-okay. Black people, Native American, and latinx, say whaaat!
Eden is a compelling character in that she is trying to have a normal existence even while knowing she has the essence of a warrior/goddess inside of her. I liked that could envision her stress and confusion...she just wanted to Netflix and chill, but she has to save the world!
The only thing I don't like about Ms. Brooks' novels is that her second and third book will only be available as e-books. The second book is only available in an e-bundle with this book. This has nothing to do with the quality of the writing, it's just really annoying when you prefer hardcopies over e-book (eReaders give me bad eye-strain, even the paperwhite *sadface*).
December 30, 2014
I received this book through a Good Reads Giveaway.
While I was excited by the premise, I had a very hard time staying focused while reading it.
There were moments where it was moving fine and other sections were I just couldn't seem to get through it.
Most of the problem I had was with Jayden, considering she had been raised knowing what fate was coming her way, and was told the stories and given (most) of the information. I felt like she was kinda whiny and not strong enough for a main character as being that she was the reincarnation of a great warrior being. I felt like something in their personality some sort of grit should have been present.
It was okay for me. I don't think this now will be staying on my shelf. I really wanted to get sucked in, but it just didn't happen.
While I was excited by the premise, I had a very hard time staying focused while reading it.
There were moments where it was moving fine and other sections were I just couldn't seem to get through it.
Most of the problem I had was with Jayden, considering she had been raised knowing what fate was coming her way, and was told the stories and given (most) of the information. I felt like she was kinda whiny and not strong enough for a main character as being that she was the reincarnation of a great warrior being. I felt like something in their personality some sort of grit should have been present.
It was okay for me. I don't think this now will be staying on my shelf. I really wanted to get sucked in, but it just didn't happen.
June 5, 2015
I received this book from a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. Thank you, Ms. Brooks and St. Martin's Griffin, for the opportunity to read an Advance Reading Copy.
I really wanted to like this book because the story is interesting and there are loads of characters based on myths and legends. However, the writing needs refinement, there is too much repetition and the characters are a bit flat.
This book has so much potential! The writing has some very good moments, but some parts of the story and character development are over simplified, and the dialogue is uninteresting.
I'm sorry for the harsh rating. I know it's a début novel and an ARC, but I found myself cringing and wanting it to be over the majority of the time.
I really wanted to like this book because the story is interesting and there are loads of characters based on myths and legends. However, the writing needs refinement, there is too much repetition and the characters are a bit flat.
This book has so much potential! The writing has some very good moments, but some parts of the story and character development are over simplified, and the dialogue is uninteresting.
I'm sorry for the harsh rating. I know it's a début novel and an ARC, but I found myself cringing and wanting it to be over the majority of the time.
October 11, 2015
I do enjoy a good mystical, supernatural book. I love to read about legendary creatures and believe me this book has plenty! Eden was a bit challenging to like in the beginning, but I understood her emotions. If I was the only hope to save a race against a scary, powerful demon then I would say to hell with life as well. I adored her relationship w/ Prophet, who was my favorite character by the way. Andromeda was my second. I kind of got confused on very few pieces here and there but overall I liked it enough to buy the second book.
Also, I've read many reviews on here where there's an exaggerated amount of sex that takes place and sort of drove interest away from the book. That's a lie. There were very minimal sexual encounters and the plot wasn't tainted by them.
Also, I've read many reviews on here where there's an exaggerated amount of sex that takes place and sort of drove interest away from the book. That's a lie. There were very minimal sexual encounters and the plot wasn't tainted by them.
February 11, 2015
I received this book though the goodreads.com giveaways.
The cover of this book through me off, to me it looks more like a young adult book. That’s what I was expecting, and in my opinion that is not what I got. This book has quit a bit of swearing and sex scenes in it that put me off to the book. However, that could have been because I was not expecting it. Besides that I liked the story line. It has several characters that it follows, and I found it interesting seeing the view of the “good” characters and the “evil” characters. These views made me feel bad for the “evil” characters and at times made me dislike the “good” characters. That’s what makes a good story.
The cover of this book through me off, to me it looks more like a young adult book. That’s what I was expecting, and in my opinion that is not what I got. This book has quit a bit of swearing and sex scenes in it that put me off to the book. However, that could have been because I was not expecting it. Besides that I liked the story line. It has several characters that it follows, and I found it interesting seeing the view of the “good” characters and the “evil” characters. These views made me feel bad for the “evil” characters and at times made me dislike the “good” characters. That’s what makes a good story.
April 24, 2016
I'm kind of iffy on this book. If I could, I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of five. It was a solid, but not really exciting books. The ideas were great (demon and redeemer battle it out in a fantasy world, but in the end, the redeemer goes crazy and destroys the world. Survivors come to our world and wait for it all to start again), and the writing was perfectly serviceable.
However, I didn't much care for any of the characters on either side. As well, the sex scenes were closer to erotica than I normally would expect in this sort of book (and verging on gratuitous).
And seriously, what the heck does the cover have to do with anything in the book?
However, I didn't much care for any of the characters on either side. As well, the sex scenes were closer to erotica than I normally would expect in this sort of book (and verging on gratuitous).
And seriously, what the heck does the cover have to do with anything in the book?
February 21, 2015
First...I loved the scenes early in the book where Eden can see things that no one else can.
I enjoyed this story a lot. The characters of Eden, the Guardian, Kifo and Rose were my favorites. Admittedly it took me a bit to get into the story but once in, I was hooked and had to read until I was finished. I felt like these characters and their feelings were drawn in color instead of black and white and I really appreciated that.
I love a good vs. evil story and this combined with old god/goddess storytelling made this a fun read!
I enjoyed this story a lot. The characters of Eden, the Guardian, Kifo and Rose were my favorites. Admittedly it took me a bit to get into the story but once in, I was hooked and had to read until I was finished. I felt like these characters and their feelings were drawn in color instead of black and white and I really appreciated that.
I love a good vs. evil story and this combined with old god/goddess storytelling made this a fun read!
December 1, 2019
This Is a Interesting story from other fiction books that I have read and I love it , the type of book you don't want to stop reading, and you want to know what's next... Jayde Brooks is a excellent writer I can't wait to read her next book.
I won "Gods And Shadows" in a giveaway here in goodreads, and I am really glad that I did...
Thank you I love the book.
I won "Gods And Shadows" in a giveaway here in goodreads, and I am really glad that I did...
Thank you I love the book.
October 4, 2016
I wanted to like this more than I did.
Pros: Diverse cast of characters, short bite sized chapters, an intriguing premise and plot.
Cons: The sexual violence, too many characters to follow (for me) and not enough time on the important things.
Everything felt too neatly settled for me at the end. it took no effort and there was no clean up. Glad I read it though!
Pros: Diverse cast of characters, short bite sized chapters, an intriguing premise and plot.
Cons: The sexual violence, too many characters to follow (for me) and not enough time on the important things.
Everything felt too neatly settled for me at the end. it took no effort and there was no clean up. Glad I read it though!
March 16, 2019
I was a little confused for like the first 2 chapters.
Overall a good book but there were times where I felt that things were added in just to move the plot forward.
I didn't like the relationship between Eden & Prophet, it felt fake....and happened way too fast. He only fell for her because she was the reincarnation of a goddess.
Overall a good book but there were times where I felt that things were added in just to move the plot forward.
I didn't like the relationship between Eden & Prophet, it felt fake....and happened way too fast. He only fell for her because she was the reincarnation of a goddess.
January 8, 2015
For the most part the book was ok. Parts of the book dragged on and on and hard to get thru. All in all I liked the plot and the characters.
I received this book in exchange from goodreads for an honest review
I received this book in exchange from goodreads for an honest review
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