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caligirlrae's review
4.0
This was an awesome read that I daresay enjoyed even better than the first book.
Stones of Time starts off right where Demons of the Past ended as Nadia is imprisoned by the scientists and her betrayer Maurdruik. She gets to know one of her guards, Shaden, probably my favorite character in the book, a soldier who is well read and unlike his brethren. Soon Nadia gains his trust and somewhat manipulates him in helping her escape, after revealing his dismay toward the way the other soldiers think. The opening scenes are interspersed between flashbacks of horrific experiments to create super soldiers and one genetically enhanced "demon" child (whom it is hinted as being Shaden) is subjected to countless painful experiments.
As Nadia and Shaden escape, she stops at a door where her old friend/love interest/former mentor Vestro is being held and still kept alive. Insistent on taking him, Nadia and Shaden then make their escape toward the city of Colorado Springs (with a stop here and there) and run into some old friends, the demon hunter Damien and the former would be king of the Pearl Isles Andrew who has changed a bit in appearance and moved on with a new love interest Anna. From there, they devise a plan to stop the Ordi and the vicious experiments while attempting to gather the last remnants of the Pearl Isles together to rise up and retake the kingdom from the growing Ordi empire.
There are some nice moments between Shaden and Nadia earlier on that I believed would turn into an interesting triangle but instead gave way to another connection that would band Shaden, Nadia and Vestro together. I was taken aback with the revelation and also how Shaden changed from a hardcore warrior to somewhat child-like in mentality and curiosity but it was understandable after getting a bit used to it.
The beauty in this story not only lies within the depth and complexities of the characters but in the detail of this future world. From steam energy powered lights in the future city of Colorado Springs to the fact that California had broken off the rest of the continent, the technological future that was hinted at in book 1 is fully shown as Nadia makes her way out of the city. Genetically enhanced beings are treated with contempt and subhumans and we see in the low paying jobs they are given, the way they are treated as property and the disapproving glances they are thrown on the streets.
This was a great addition to the Damewood trilogy and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how the series is tied up as the final confrontation looms and the characters begin to settle with each other and in their home to prepare for war once again.
Stones of Time starts off right where Demons of the Past ended as Nadia is imprisoned by the scientists and her betrayer Maurdruik. She gets to know one of her guards, Shaden, probably my favorite character in the book, a soldier who is well read and unlike his brethren. Soon Nadia gains his trust and somewhat manipulates him in helping her escape, after revealing his dismay toward the way the other soldiers think. The opening scenes are interspersed between flashbacks of horrific experiments to create super soldiers and one genetically enhanced "demon" child (whom it is hinted as being Shaden) is subjected to countless painful experiments.
As Nadia and Shaden escape, she stops at a door where her old friend/love interest/former mentor Vestro is being held and still kept alive. Insistent on taking him, Nadia and Shaden then make their escape toward the city of Colorado Springs (with a stop here and there) and run into some old friends, the demon hunter Damien and the former would be king of the Pearl Isles Andrew who has changed a bit in appearance and moved on with a new love interest Anna. From there, they devise a plan to stop the Ordi and the vicious experiments while attempting to gather the last remnants of the Pearl Isles together to rise up and retake the kingdom from the growing Ordi empire.
There are some nice moments between Shaden and Nadia earlier on that I believed would turn into an interesting triangle but instead gave way to another connection that would band Shaden, Nadia and Vestro together. I was taken aback with the revelation and also how Shaden changed from a hardcore warrior to somewhat child-like in mentality and curiosity but it was understandable after getting a bit used to it.
The beauty in this story not only lies within the depth and complexities of the characters but in the detail of this future world. From steam energy powered lights in the future city of Colorado Springs to the fact that California had broken off the rest of the continent, the technological future that was hinted at in book 1 is fully shown as Nadia makes her way out of the city. Genetically enhanced beings are treated with contempt and subhumans and we see in the low paying jobs they are given, the way they are treated as property and the disapproving glances they are thrown on the streets.
This was a great addition to the Damewood trilogy and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how the series is tied up as the final confrontation looms and the characters begin to settle with each other and in their home to prepare for war once again.
tachyondecay's review
4.0
I won a copy of Stones of Time through Goodreads' first reads giveaway.
This is the sequel to Demons of the Past, and immediately I liked Stones of Time better. Although Demons of the Past was OK, I felt that its plot did not delve deep enough into the social ramifications of this neo-medieval America, nor was the plot complex enough to make up for the dearth of dimension in Durante's characters. Stones of Time went a long way toward both improving the plot and increasing the complexity of its characters.
Three years have passed since the end of the first book, and Nadia is now a prisoner of the devious Ordi ex Machina. They plan to return Earth to the pastoral times of advanced technology and fast food franchises, but in order to do this, they need Nadia's eggs! Nadia, now a "demon" who can shift into the form of a puma, manages to convince her new guard to help her escape. She meets up with her old flame, Prince Andrew, rescues her other old flame, Vestro the Kelpie, and they and sundry characters flee Colorado Springs and head for Andrew's kingdom, the Pearl Isles (actually the now-island of California). Their goal: detonate an orbital nuclear bomb to set off an electromagnetic pulse that will disable electronics across America, levelling the playing field for the technology-inept forces of good. I must say, that's a fair step up from "rescue the magic ocarina and keep the demons imprisoned."
Indeed, the main characters' increasing tech savvy was refreshing. Nadia now casually mentions things like computers and cameras, although she's still surprised by some modern things, such as flashlights and paper money. She even tries to use a gun once or twice (rubbish at it so far). My predictions in my last review, that Nadia would mature from a petulant princess into a truly worthy Action Girl, have largely come true—and I'm quite glad. It made the story so much more enjoyable. Moreover, there are genuine moments of emotional turmoil for Nadia, as opposed to the manufactured love triangle we got in the first book. It helps, I think, that she has a fellow female companion on this trip; Andrew's new hotness, Anna, is a foil to Nadia, a nemesis and potential ally. I loved how Nadia discovered Anna was pregnant and then later she had to confront the fact that her own coupling with Vestro (her second time having sex, as far as we're aware) has left her pregnant and is complicating her ability to shift into the form of an animal—although, this keeps up, I may start thinking that this is a horror series instead of a fantasy series, and only the virgins are safe....
Speaking of virgins, the guard who helps Nadia escape is one of the first demons bred from Nadia's eggs. Shaden, part-human, part-dragon, can't but help bonding with Nadia and seeing her in a maternal light, even before he knows that she is, biologically, his mother. I applaud the twisted moral gradient here. It's just the right amount of disconcerting without skewing over the line to downright wrong. Also, it emphasizes the cold, clinical nature of the Ordi Ex Machina, who will go so far as to offer up their own bodies if it helps the breeding program—Shaden wasn't grown in a test tube but matured in a surrogate mother, who later acted as Nadia's "therapist" during her incarceration. Yeah, it's all one big twisted family....
Stones of Time, like Demons of the Past, is chock full of action scenes. Its action is even better, in part because Nadia is more combat-capable, but also because the fights are more varied. There's some urban warfare against Ordi Ex Machina guards as well as woodland combat and a chase sequence in a minefield. What's not to like?
Well, the book again doggedly adheres to quest-style fantasy's travel motif: book begins in point A and ends at point B, with a largely linear journey in between. The characters must hack and slash their way from A to B, once and a while pausing for some exposition or a little conflict among the protagonists, but the majority of the book is spent getting to the Pearl Isles so that they can find the launch facility. Although Durante's writing is smooth enough that I never felt like abandoning the book, I still get the sense that, in some ways, Stones of Time is just Demons of the Past redux with new-and-improved characters and extra special effects—I get story déjà vu.
For the most part, I enjoyed the new characters (particularly Shaden and Anna), and I praised Nadia's changes above. Andrew is still pretty variable, unfortunately; his unsavoury habits tend to come and go as the story requires. Vestro, although not as annoying as he was in the first book, also has a conceit that crops up only when the plot requires it (and I'm not sure I follow why "kelpie107" was the password for the bomb detonator...). As much as Stones of Time tries to give us interesting character development, however, it lacks something that Demons of the Past also lacked: a compelling and personable villain.
I don't mean the Ordi Ex Machina or its flunkies, Maurdruik the Ex-Wizard and Dr. Reichard. Yes, the Ordi Ex Machina is the story's organizational antagonist and serves that purpose well. But evil needs a face, someone who is plotting and scheming behind the scenes to dispose of the good guys before they run everything. We don't see enough of evil's face, in my opinion. Although our protagonists occasionally encountered some resistance, it seemed a safe bet they would reach the Pearl Isles and succeed in their mission—sometimes, you need a cackling villain to instill a little concern over the hero's survival. It's a shame, too, because the Ordi Ex Machina could create such a powerful villain or group of villains to oppose Nadia; so far, the most opposition she gets is from her temperamental two-year-old son and his unwitting kelpie father.
Stones of Time is a good step forward for the Damewood trilogy. I'd even go so far as it recommend it even if you don't want to read the first book—I seldom advocate this, but it's sufficient to read a plot synopsis for Demmons of the Past and then skip directly to this one.
This is the sequel to Demons of the Past, and immediately I liked Stones of Time better. Although Demons of the Past was OK, I felt that its plot did not delve deep enough into the social ramifications of this neo-medieval America, nor was the plot complex enough to make up for the dearth of dimension in Durante's characters. Stones of Time went a long way toward both improving the plot and increasing the complexity of its characters.
Three years have passed since the end of the first book, and Nadia is now a prisoner of the devious Ordi ex Machina. They plan to return Earth to the pastoral times of advanced technology and fast food franchises, but in order to do this, they need Nadia's eggs! Nadia, now a "demon" who can shift into the form of a puma, manages to convince her new guard to help her escape. She meets up with her old flame, Prince Andrew, rescues her other old flame, Vestro the Kelpie, and they and sundry characters flee Colorado Springs and head for Andrew's kingdom, the Pearl Isles (actually the now-island of California). Their goal: detonate an orbital nuclear bomb to set off an electromagnetic pulse that will disable electronics across America, levelling the playing field for the technology-inept forces of good. I must say, that's a fair step up from "rescue the magic ocarina and keep the demons imprisoned."
Indeed, the main characters' increasing tech savvy was refreshing. Nadia now casually mentions things like computers and cameras, although she's still surprised by some modern things, such as flashlights and paper money. She even tries to use a gun once or twice (rubbish at it so far). My predictions in my last review, that Nadia would mature from a petulant princess into a truly worthy Action Girl, have largely come true—and I'm quite glad. It made the story so much more enjoyable. Moreover, there are genuine moments of emotional turmoil for Nadia, as opposed to the manufactured love triangle we got in the first book. It helps, I think, that she has a fellow female companion on this trip; Andrew's new hotness, Anna, is a foil to Nadia, a nemesis and potential ally. I loved how Nadia discovered Anna was pregnant and then later she had to confront the fact that her own coupling with Vestro (her second time having sex, as far as we're aware) has left her pregnant and is complicating her ability to shift into the form of an animal—although, this keeps up, I may start thinking that this is a horror series instead of a fantasy series, and only the virgins are safe....
Speaking of virgins, the guard who helps Nadia escape is one of the first demons bred from Nadia's eggs. Shaden, part-human, part-dragon, can't but help bonding with Nadia and seeing her in a maternal light, even before he knows that she is, biologically, his mother. I applaud the twisted moral gradient here. It's just the right amount of disconcerting without skewing over the line to downright wrong. Also, it emphasizes the cold, clinical nature of the Ordi Ex Machina, who will go so far as to offer up their own bodies if it helps the breeding program—Shaden wasn't grown in a test tube but matured in a surrogate mother, who later acted as Nadia's "therapist" during her incarceration. Yeah, it's all one big twisted family....
Stones of Time, like Demons of the Past, is chock full of action scenes. Its action is even better, in part because Nadia is more combat-capable, but also because the fights are more varied. There's some urban warfare against Ordi Ex Machina guards as well as woodland combat and a chase sequence in a minefield. What's not to like?
Well, the book again doggedly adheres to quest-style fantasy's travel motif: book begins in point A and ends at point B, with a largely linear journey in between. The characters must hack and slash their way from A to B, once and a while pausing for some exposition or a little conflict among the protagonists, but the majority of the book is spent getting to the Pearl Isles so that they can find the launch facility. Although Durante's writing is smooth enough that I never felt like abandoning the book, I still get the sense that, in some ways, Stones of Time is just Demons of the Past redux with new-and-improved characters and extra special effects—I get story déjà vu.
For the most part, I enjoyed the new characters (particularly Shaden and Anna), and I praised Nadia's changes above. Andrew is still pretty variable, unfortunately; his unsavoury habits tend to come and go as the story requires. Vestro, although not as annoying as he was in the first book, also has a conceit that crops up only when the plot requires it (and I'm not sure I follow why "kelpie107" was the password for the bomb detonator...). As much as Stones of Time tries to give us interesting character development, however, it lacks something that Demons of the Past also lacked: a compelling and personable villain.
I don't mean the Ordi Ex Machina or its flunkies, Maurdruik the Ex-Wizard and Dr. Reichard. Yes, the Ordi Ex Machina is the story's organizational antagonist and serves that purpose well. But evil needs a face, someone who is plotting and scheming behind the scenes to dispose of the good guys before they run everything. We don't see enough of evil's face, in my opinion. Although our protagonists occasionally encountered some resistance, it seemed a safe bet they would reach the Pearl Isles and succeed in their mission—sometimes, you need a cackling villain to instill a little concern over the hero's survival. It's a shame, too, because the Ordi Ex Machina could create such a powerful villain or group of villains to oppose Nadia; so far, the most opposition she gets is from her temperamental two-year-old son and his unwitting kelpie father.
Stones of Time is a good step forward for the Damewood trilogy. I'd even go so far as it recommend it even if you don't want to read the first book—I seldom advocate this, but it's sufficient to read a plot synopsis for Demmons of the Past and then skip directly to this one.
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