Demonscourge

Fallen Goddess #2

by Niall Teasdale

When Mysara, goddess of magic and mischief, was kicked out of the home of the gods, she set about living the normal life of an adventurer with her mortal friends. Normal may not be entirely the right word when you are dealing with a woman who puts the fear of gods into dragons.

Genres: Fantasy

220 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 30, 2022

About the author

I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.

Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.

I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing Dungeons & Dragons. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing City of Heroes. I still loved the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.

As of 2015, I have thrown in my lot with writing. After thirty years of being a computer programmer I am making enough money to quit the day job and write full time. Dreams, occasionally, come true. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, and (recently) Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

It’s entertaining. Things move along briskly.

But. There is almost no peril. No real danger of one of the good guys getting so much as a boo-boo.

So really, it’s kind of boring.

I can’t really recommend this series, but it’s not badly written. It just takes all the fun out of it.

[Tony Hisgett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose this was a decent read, but like the first book there is no jeopardy in the story. In fact the majority of the characters are almost pointless as Mysara can just take on all comers without anybody’s help.
Also I really dislike the way the book starts, the main characters are about to confront a dragon, then you move on a couple of pages and the book suddenly goes back three days.

[charles clayson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished book 2 and unfortunately unless we are fortunate enough to get a book 3 from this series it is the end❗
Although I can't understand why she would add another team member to entourage ❓
Also this latest adventure that they had been on though they accomplished the task set before them. The task was incomplete❗

[Donald Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the two books in this series are Novella's (only about 200 pages) the character depth is not as good as if they were full length. But the story's are fun and quirky, while the world setting is interesting and unique. Worthy works by one of my favorite authors.

[michael hooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's ok

This is one of my favorite authors and I don't want to mess up their books sales. That why I gave four stars. It's really a three. I won't get the next book in this series but I will still keep reading their books and recommend you check them out

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lighter than the first one

The writing and craft are up to the author's usual quality.

Unfortunately, she is faced with the usual dilemma when the protagonist is super powerful.

The villain(s) need to be just as powerful and nearly as tricky.

Buy something else by her.

[Jason Houlden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better story

I really liked how this came together and ended up being really fun read. I hope we can get more adventures soon.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth the asking price for the business with the dragons in the first section. I was worried that Mysara being so overpowered would spoil this book, but Niall seems to have managed get the balance right.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continues the journey well.