Daemons are Forever (Secret Histories, Book 2) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "The world isn't what you think it is..." (more)
Key Phrases: new torcs, golden fists, armoured strength, Daemons Are Forever, Loathly Ones, War Room (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This lighthearted second installment (after 2007's The Man with the Golden Torc) in the adventures of very secret agent Eddie Drood follows the former rogue and reluctant patriarch as he struggles against enemies within and without his temporally extended family. Fighting against the Droods' stiff-necked traditionalists and their previous deals with various devils, Eddie finds ways to combine the magic of his girlfriend, woods witch Molly Metcalf, and cousin Harry's hellspawn half-brother and lover, Roger Morningstar, with the high-tech gadgets of the family Armourer to save the world from an intrusion of the Hungry Gods. Other than some page-long character-developing digressions, the pace is fast and energetic, which keeps attention off the occasional giant plot hole. Green loves the wide-screen splash of cinematic battles against zombie hordes, and genuine traces of tragedy and nobility underlie the nonstop punning banter and pop culture references, lending surprising nuance to this merry metaphysical romp. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

After exposing corruption and backstabbing in his family and causing the loss of its greatest weapon and protection, Eddie Drood doesn’t have the old guard’s backing to lead the clan. Still, having demolished forces sent by the prime minister to test the rumors about the Droods losing their golden armor, he feels obligated to reunite the family in its mission of protecting the world from things too nasty to mention and to lead long enough to prevent a relapse into corruption. But he chooses to go after the Loathly Ones, who plan to destroy not just the world but the universe. Although hit-and-miss for a while, a fun read. --Regina Schroeder --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Roc; Reprint edition (June 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451462785
• ISBN-13: 978-0451462787
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #24,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 2 in The Secret Histories Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hungry Gods Are Coming, August 18, 2008

By	Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Daemons are Forever (Secret Histories, Book 2) (Hardcover)

Daemons Are Forever (2008) is the second fantasy novel in the Shaman Bond series, following The Man With the Golden Torc. In the previous volume, Edwin Drood and Molly Metcalf confronted the Heart. With the help of the strange matter within Eddie, they broke its power and shattered it into thousands of diamond shards. Then they confronted the family, faced down the Matriarch, and remade the Droods into a force against Evil.

The strange matter within Eddie had been chasing the Heart for a long time and thoroughly approved of the manner of its passing. Strange -- AKA Ethel -- decided to stay for a while (maybe a few thousand years) within this dimension to help Eddie and the Drood family. It gave Eddie a new torc and armor that was silver rather than golden.

In this novel, Eddie takes Molly out for a spin in a fully restored -- and enhanced -- 1933 Bentley to pick up some items at his Knightsbridge flat. When they near the place, Eddie notices a slew of spies and agents in the street. He takes the car through a lower dimension into the garage, discovers that his flat has been torn apart, gets whatever is left, and starts to leave.

Codename Alpha -- a rather overbearing sort -- is waiting for him outside the building, with two helicopters and dozens of men. Eddie does not pay any attention to his voice on the bullhorn while discussing the situation with Molly. Finally, they wipe out the lot, take down the helicopters, and then drive home. The Armourer is furious about the few scratches on his car.

It seems that the political animals are getting restless. The group waiting outside his flat were from the Department of Dirty Tricks within MI5. The Prime Minister is trying to take advantage of the family's perceived weakness, but he picked on the one man who still had his armor and paid the price.

Eddie convenes his Inner Circle and selects a target for a conspicuous display of family power. The Loathly Ones are soul eaters who were originally brought to this dimension by the family during World War II. Now they have grown to be a clear and pressing danger. So Eddie decides to totally destroy their power.

In this story, Eddie leads a raid against a Loathly One construction in South America and has a Pyrrhic victory. Only ten other Droods returned from the raid. Of course, they left the remains of thousands of Loathly One drones and an interdimesional gate on the battlefield, but nobody in the family noticed the victory.

Edwin finds that the family is backsliding. The Matriarch is bitter and just waiting for Edwin to fail so that the family can call her back to lead them. Only his Inner Circle is siding with him and even they are bickering about petty matters.

This tale shows Eddie having great frustrations and doubts about his abilities. Still, he looks for other family members to take over some areas where he feels deficient. He finds one in the past and another in the far future.

The family becomes less hopeful over time. When Eddie disappears for eighteen months on a journey to the future, the family lets Harry Drood take over the leadership. The Loathly Ones have almost taken over the world by the time that Eddie returns.

The story is typical of the author. Even this new series leads one into despair before the final -- and last minute -- save by the hero. The next volume is The Spy Who Haunted Me. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high adventure, various magics, and family intrigue.

-Arthur W. Jordin

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but flawed., June 9, 2008

By	Catfish Kozmo (Arlington, TX) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Daemons are Forever (Secret Histories, Book 2) (Hardcover)

I'll start out by saying that I'm a fan of Simon R. Green. His novels are witty and full of great sounding descriptors for all manner of beasties. You can't get more than 10 pages into a novel of his before you're finding out about elves, demons and all manner of such. Great stuff.

This novel is the second novel in a new series of books by him. Basically, think James Bond with magic instead of technology. Except that there still is technology. It's just a little bit more mixed. Since this is the second novel, this really is not a good place for anyone to start out reading here. Heck, I found that I had to go back to the first book and start re-reading sections to remember who the characters were. And without reading the first book, this novel would have been a lot more difficult to comprehend.

That being said, this novel picks up right after the end of the last one. The main character, Edwin Drood, is back cleaning up the mess he made in the first novel. No, I don't want to describe more here as it would all be a spoiler. Except for this: One negative I have with this book is that the author brings in a character from another series of his. So, here you are in the middle of this new series and poof! you're reading about another one of his characters from another series. I can only speak for myself but I did not think it worked at all. In fact, I kept thinking that the author needed something to beef up the book and ran out of ideas. Oh, but wait, I can bring in another plot line, blah blah. Just didn't work for me. For someone who doesn't know the other series, maybe it's just fine.

All in all, it was action packed and a fun read. Just that distraction of another character I could have done without.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More camp and witty dialog!!!!, July 19, 2008

By	SA_Ron "happilyreading" (WV Panhandle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Daemons are Forever (Secret Histories, Book 2) (Hardcover)

As I said in my review of the first book, The Man With The Golden Torq, I haven't read anything from Mr. Green but his Hawk and Fisher series, which I loved for the same reasons I like this series.

Well, Eddie Drood, field agent extraordinaire (according to him) has broken the evil power that held his family in sway and gave them their power. Basically, Eddie broke the family and now it's up to him to fix it.

From supernatural threats as well as his own family's machinations, Eddie must save the world yet again, but this time as a symbol of authority (which he hates being).

With the help of his British wit and his love, the witch Molly Metcalf, Eddie must put everything to right yet again and do it with the flair that only he possesses.

If you like droll British humor, this series is for you. I happen to love it. Plus, I'm not burdened with having read his Nightside series, which seems to ruin it for other readers.

This second book is better than the first, I dare say, and I look forward eagerly to the next one.