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No Gods, Only Daimons
World War II introduced atomic weapons to the world.
World War III introduced daimons.
The daimons killed more people. A LOT more people.
The Nemesis Program is the West's last line of defense against supernatural terrorism and World War IV. But when a simple assassination of a scientist goes badly awry, special operative Luke Landon finds that his place in Nemesis, and his life, are both very much at risk.
The timing could not be worse, as the rising powers of the East are actively striking at the heart of the weakened Western nations in with machine guns, explosives, scientific sorcery, and deadly supernatural creatures from other planes of reality.
NO GODS, ONLY DAIMONS is the first volume of The Covenant Chronicles, the supernatural Mil-SF series by Kai Wai Cheah, Hugo-nominated author of Titan. It was a 2017 Dragon Award Finalist for Best Alternate History Novel.
World War III introduced daimons.
The daimons killed more people. A LOT more people.
The Nemesis Program is the West's last line of defense against supernatural terrorism and World War IV. But when a simple assassination of a scientist goes badly awry, special operative Luke Landon finds that his place in Nemesis, and his life, are both very much at risk.
The timing could not be worse, as the rising powers of the East are actively striking at the heart of the weakened Western nations in with machine guns, explosives, scientific sorcery, and deadly supernatural creatures from other planes of reality.
NO GODS, ONLY DAIMONS is the first volume of The Covenant Chronicles, the supernatural Mil-SF series by Kai Wai Cheah, Hugo-nominated author of Titan. It was a 2017 Dragon Award Finalist for Best Alternate History Novel.
- GenresScience Fiction
378 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 4, 2017
54 people are currently reading
56 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 25, 2017
This book looked badass just from the cover, but I was hesitant because I don’t really do alternate history stories. They’re really not my thing, and trying to keep track of multiple timelines like that is not fun for me.
After finishing this book I can confidently say that I wish all alternate histories handled it this way. It flows extremely well and was a lot of fun to discover how much was the same and how much had changed.
The author’s writing style is fluid and comfortable. I never felt dragged out of the book, nor did I ever feel the need to tell him to hurry things along. He hits the right points at the right time and keeps it interesting throughout.
Action is heavy and intense without seeming contrived or overdone. Characters were pretty cool, although don’t expect intense navel-gazing and crying about childhood disappointments. They’re pretty much what you’d expect from an 80s-90s action movie cast, which is to say they’re human enough to attach to without being bogged down by emotional baggage. Think Die Hard and you’re close.
The bits of humor sprinkled throughout were a nice touch, and had me laughing a few times.
Definitely worth a read. Looking forward to the sequel.
After finishing this book I can confidently say that I wish all alternate histories handled it this way. It flows extremely well and was a lot of fun to discover how much was the same and how much had changed.
The author’s writing style is fluid and comfortable. I never felt dragged out of the book, nor did I ever feel the need to tell him to hurry things along. He hits the right points at the right time and keeps it interesting throughout.
Action is heavy and intense without seeming contrived or overdone. Characters were pretty cool, although don’t expect intense navel-gazing and crying about childhood disappointments. They’re pretty much what you’d expect from an 80s-90s action movie cast, which is to say they’re human enough to attach to without being bogged down by emotional baggage. Think Die Hard and you’re close.
The bits of humor sprinkled throughout were a nice touch, and had me laughing a few times.
Definitely worth a read. Looking forward to the sequel.
May 17, 2017
Fascinating Alternate Earth
Tech works. Magic works. Earth developed a similar, but distinctly different civilization. And even still, it's still the jihad from the East against the Civilization of the West. Yet the Creator is nowhere to be found, he's gone Elsewhere. And left the Archangels in charge. So to speak. Nanotech and Djinnis. And the Gods may be returning. With a cameo appearance of the equivalent of Lucifer.
All packed into a tightly-written thriller. Bring on the next book!
Tech works. Magic works. Earth developed a similar, but distinctly different civilization. And even still, it's still the jihad from the East against the Civilization of the West. Yet the Creator is nowhere to be found, he's gone Elsewhere. And left the Archangels in charge. So to speak. Nanotech and Djinnis. And the Gods may be returning. With a cameo appearance of the equivalent of Lucifer.
All packed into a tightly-written thriller. Bring on the next book!
February 6, 2018
Wow, just...Wow!
Definitely one of the best books I’ve read. I couldn’t put it down. It was impeccably well written, with realistic, albeit fantastic characters, action, plot, back story. It just doesn’t get much better than this. As an analogy of current world politics the book was right on target. Read this book!
Definitely one of the best books I’ve read. I couldn’t put it down. It was impeccably well written, with realistic, albeit fantastic characters, action, plot, back story. It just doesn’t get much better than this. As an analogy of current world politics the book was right on target. Read this book!
May 20, 2017
One part urban fantasy, one part black ops spy novel, No Gods, Only Daimons is a fun, fast read, and an action-packed ride. Cheah’s book takes place in a world close to our own with near-future tech and magic violently mixed in. On Cheah’s Earth, not-America is engaged in an asymmetric war with not-Islam. The main character Luke Landon is part of a paranormal/paramilitary outfit engaged in spying and small-scale military operations for the U.S. government.
When Landon’s team is sent to knock off a Persian mage attempting a powerful summoning, his future career is drastically altered. It turns out the mage was summoning an archangel, and succeeded. But, in a result no one expected, the archangel kills the summoning mage, passes judgment on all his comrades, and secretly marks Landon as his agent, giving him tremendous power and a not-clearly-defined mission. That making such a covenant with a supernatural creature is a crime in Hesperia . . . a capital crime, is yet another complication in Landon’s life
After mitigating the damage of a terrorist attack on Hesperia (not-America), Landon works both for the Hesperian government and Al-Hakem (the archangel) to track back the planners and funders of the attack and prevent more.
The characters are involving, with enough backstory that we get their motivations but not enough to be a drag on the action-focused plot. The magic is explained well enough that we get a general sense of what the characters can and can’t do, although it is not given Sanderson-style detailed rules. I know nothing about the reality of such spy operations, and I haven’t read much other such fiction to compare it to, but I found those parts believable.
I’d say the only real problem, and it’s not a big one, is one that many speculative fiction stories have to deal with, the info dumps scattered throughout can go on a bit long at times. This isn’t a major flaw, but I’ve seen it handled better.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the future of this series.
When Landon’s team is sent to knock off a Persian mage attempting a powerful summoning, his future career is drastically altered. It turns out the mage was summoning an archangel, and succeeded. But, in a result no one expected, the archangel kills the summoning mage, passes judgment on all his comrades, and secretly marks Landon as his agent, giving him tremendous power and a not-clearly-defined mission. That making such a covenant with a supernatural creature is a crime in Hesperia . . . a capital crime, is yet another complication in Landon’s life
After mitigating the damage of a terrorist attack on Hesperia (not-America), Landon works both for the Hesperian government and Al-Hakem (the archangel) to track back the planners and funders of the attack and prevent more.
The characters are involving, with enough backstory that we get their motivations but not enough to be a drag on the action-focused plot. The magic is explained well enough that we get a general sense of what the characters can and can’t do, although it is not given Sanderson-style detailed rules. I know nothing about the reality of such spy operations, and I haven’t read much other such fiction to compare it to, but I found those parts believable.
I’d say the only real problem, and it’s not a big one, is one that many speculative fiction stories have to deal with, the info dumps scattered throughout can go on a bit long at times. This isn’t a major flaw, but I’ve seen it handled better.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the future of this series.
March 21, 2023
I read this book on the basis of the good impression the author made with Flashpoint: Titan in the "There will be War Vol. X" anthology. To be honest, I was looking for his work connected to Flashpoint: Titan, a space naval adventure, as opposed to this book, which is a fantasy spec ops sort of book.
This was a very enjoyable novel, with a good premise and some interesting adaptations of the military fiction genre. The thinly veiled alternate world with Tom Kratman style naming of recognizable entities seems less fresh in the post-pandemic age, with its War on Terror connotations, but I appreciate the nods to difficult discussions on assimilation, identity and the inherent hypocrisies of modern day radicalism. The action scenes are very dynamic, but the author manages to avoid muddling them, making them quite readable. The prose is crisp.
Will definitely be reading the sequels.
This was a very enjoyable novel, with a good premise and some interesting adaptations of the military fiction genre. The thinly veiled alternate world with Tom Kratman style naming of recognizable entities seems less fresh in the post-pandemic age, with its War on Terror connotations, but I appreciate the nods to difficult discussions on assimilation, identity and the inherent hypocrisies of modern day radicalism. The action scenes are very dynamic, but the author manages to avoid muddling them, making them quite readable. The prose is crisp.
Will definitely be reading the sequels.
October 8, 2018
I am not really a mil-SF fan, but I loved this book. The author accomplishes something very difficult and he made it look easy. The alternative universe allows the author to make some very pointed social commentary about current events without coming across as heavy-handed and pedantic. The characters are realistic and sympathetic. The system of magic is interesting and compelling. However, it is the book’s theology that is most refreshing. Using the alternative history as a foil, the author gives the reader some compelling perspective on Christianity and Islam’s current clash. I really enjoyed reading No Gods, Only Daimons, and cannot wait to start the second book in this series.
August 31, 2017
Good book
Good book waiting for the next one. There are no sex scenes and it is mostly pg13 ish with minor cussing.
Good book waiting for the next one. There are no sex scenes and it is mostly pg13 ish with minor cussing.
November 6, 2017
The Dragon Awards is def. leading me to interesting books. Very interesting alternate history earth with unique magical system.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews