As a huge lover of fantasy, I was psyched to win this from the Goodreads Giveaway program. I'm sorry that life (well, mostly school) kept me from reading/reviewing it for so long. The cover art made me a little skeptical, but as the story unfolded I found myself appreciative of how the artist actually depicted characters from the book rather than generic cover art.

In terms of plot, this first installment in a trilogy follows Nadia, a princess, as she joins a group attempting to deliver and play an ocarina (I had a hard time with this--all I think of when I hear the word ocarina is Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is an amazing video game btw)to prevent demons from escaping their magical mountainous incarceration. (try saying that three times fast) Nadia has a few secrets up her sleeve, though. For one, she is not as helpless as she may seem--she actually is quite good at fighting! Secondly, she disguises herself as a man in full-on knight gear so her travel companions don't know who she is--this I definitely appreciated because the 'lady dressed as a man' plot device is one of my favorites...no, it seriously is. Her other secret is that her horse is not actually a horse but a kelpie--whose human form she is actually using on her journey. (crazy!) Don't worry, these aren't spoilers.

The world-building in this novel was done rather well. It was easy to fall into Durante's world and to follow the narrative. One aspect of the work that I particularly enjoyed was its accessibility. The fantasy genre can often be alienating because of its inventive language, names, etc. [a:Erin Durante|2098439|Erin Durante|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1224683800p2/2098439.jpg] made this an easy read and I appreciated that. At times, I felt like it was a little bit dialogue-heavy and that characters were not acting consistently, but overall it was a very quick read so any faults can be compensated for by enjoyment levels and pacing:-)

In terms of the series, this edition wraps things up rather nicely but the epilogue foreshadows where the next installment will be going. (for those of you that hate cliffhangers)



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I received this book through the Early Reviewers program. I thought the book had an interesting premise, but it did not really hold my attention. I read about half of it before I started skimming the rest. I was a bit disappointed that the book did not match the synopsis in holding my interest.

I got this book through the Early Reviewers group on LibraryThing. I was pretty excited because it's a sub-genre I'd never tried before and the premise sounded cool. (The cover, however, is a tad off-putting, at least to me.) Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I was unable to get into the book. The characters weren't that compelling and I couldn't get past the first few chapters. The writing is decent but I just didn't find the material engaging. I've given it a few tries but maybe I'll be more in the mood later.

My complete review can be found here: Demons of the Past - Review ( )

After her beloved Damewood is attacked, Princess Nadia must leave the castle. But instead of heading for the safely of cousins in the Countryside, she begins a journey to join other royalty to fight and take back her kingdom. With danger at every turn and her life upside down, Nadia learns that nothing is what is seems.

First of all, this is not a genre that I usually read. I don't know if I would have picked this up had it not been given to me. But I was pleasantly surprised at how much I did enjoy it. I really liked the characters and their interaction. They felt very real to me and I found myself cheering them on. When I started reading Demons of the Past is was about Post Apocolyptic war. In the end, to me it was more about relationships and friendship. ( )