Customer Reviews

Eye of the Daemon

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The premise of the book -- that Evan, half-daemon/half human, his father (a daemon), and his cousing (also a daemon) run a more-than-your-average detective agency -- has potential. What prevents this book from being a truly outstanding work in this genre is the lack of a cohesive back story. The book reads like two books stuffed into one, with neither story (the first, how Evan, Badad, and Lirion came together; the second the current case they are working on) given adequate attention. The pivotal relationship in the book, that of Evan and Badad, is not thoroughly explained or explored, leaving the reader with lingering doubts and questions about the motivations of all the characters.

In spite of what is missing, this is an entertaining book, with lots of action, and I do plan to read the next in the series.

I was somewhat misled by the plot description, essentially "a detective agency, run by demons, investigates a kidnapping." I expected, well, something more of a mystery to be involved. But the identity of the kidnapper is never a mystery, nor is the mysterious Eye of Omage that the kidnapper claims to want for ransom. Villains explain their dark plans at the slightest prompting, and every character introduced, like in a Scooby Doo cartoon, proves to have a role in the Big Plot. Had I been expecting something more in the vampire genre of "sex, death, and angst" I might have been better prepared to like this book.

The description of daemon thinking was interesting, and is what gives this book its second star, for me. One daemon explains: "You see a painting and feel a set of emotions you translate as appreciation. [...] If you could become the painting, love your own beauty, and then pass on, [...] then you'd be getting close [to how daemons experience things]." However, while the description of how daemons are different was interesting, by the fourth or fifth time it was explained in detail that for daemons, it's always now, I was ready for more plot, less exposition. Or, please, a little mystery.

This is entertaining reading. It's a story about the involuntary entanglement of other-dimensional beings in human affairs. The sex is a bit too graphic for my tastes, and I don't think the motivations of the daemons are adequately explained for one of the major actions in the plot.

The portrait of the daemons' native society is interesting and well done, but it didn't convey to me a sense that I was looking at fundamentally alien thought processes in certain respects. But making aliens feel both truly strange and comprehensible at the same time is a very difficult art; the author perhaps errs on the side of comprehensibility. The work is not trite or cliche in any sense; I've never seen this subject addressed from this angle.

Far too many recent novels are much too long for their plots, filled up with irrelevancies that bog down the story; that is, most emphatically, not among the author's faults; her craftsmanship in keeping the tale moving and exciting is superb. The sequel to this book, Eyes of the Empress, is dramatically stronger still.

I don't know what to make of this book. On one hand you have a classic "Coming of Age" scenerio and on the other you have some completely new elements. Evan Davis is half-daemon/half-human. His father was sent to kill him and instead saved him from another daemon who had him in chains and was torturing him for a year.

Somehow or another this is a detective novel as well. As usual in that genre your client is lying to you. The extent of the lie is breathtaking.

What I find interesting in this book is that the morality of daemons is explored rather well. If you were 10+ billion years old, how would you view humans?

The level of emoting in the book is higher than I would want. The switches between the daemon as friend to daemon to deadly enemy and back are awe inspiring. One minute the female daemon is threatening to utterly destroy Evan and the next she is having rapacious sex with him.

I pulled this one off my shelves the other day and decided to read it right away. But things started out confusingly with references to adventures made in a way that made me think I had missed a previous volume.

What we have is a detective agency that specializes in retrieving lost or stolen art (so why does their ad mention the occult?). The agency is made up of a father, a son and a distant cousin. Father and cousin are daemon lords and the son is a half-breed. Their new case has been thrust upon them and it brings up old memories of how dad got reunited with son (this part really seems like a reference to an earlier book). The case takes them around the world and involves a rival daemon lord.

Much of the plot revolves around the mythology of the seven spheres (humans in the first, daemons in the second) and the interactions of daemon lords and princes. By the last third of the book things are clearer and it became enjoyable to read even if the ending was a bit cliched. I found the cosmology interesting but not the way it was integrated into the story. Since none of heroes are human, their actions, motives and dialogue are hard to understand. I don't feel the reader is brought into the picture properly but if you can handle a book that starts slow and confusing it could be worth sticking with it to the end.

I was really amazed by this book. I got it as an interesting read, not expecting such a great tale! I do agree with one problem, and that is i felt there should or was a book before this since the large reference to the past. However, the past is all explained in this book, but i was disapointed to learn there is NOT a book before this one , otherwise i'd be reading it now. The book doesn't qualify as a mystery but more a sci-fi, which makes it all the better to me, and paranormal type book. The book was NEVER boring and happily i never has to skip any "slow parts". If you like daemons, paranormal, etc. i can almost gaurantee you'de like this book. To be more clear on what it is ABOUT, its about a woman who goes to a private detective agency of Bradely, Ryan, and Davis, that specialize in handling "cases involving the occult with descretion", though by some rather daemonic means...However, the plot is raveled with alterial motives and our protagonists soon find themsleves in a rather difficult situation. I highly recomend this book, as well as "Eyes of the Empress." to add a last quote from the hardcover additoin Daemons, Inc.--"They're detectives on a mission. And their methods are...diabolical."

This is how Daemons should be, but it really deserves a sequel to tell how everything works out after the meeting between Thoth and the Daemons.

This was a good book. The biggest thing wrong with it is that I kept thinking there was a book before it I should have read. It keeps refering to events in the past, like I should already know of it. I eventually figured it out, but I think that this one should have been a sequel, not a first book. I would recommend it to most people though, it is a good book. They run a detective agency, and all of them seem to be trying to figure out why they like Evan. Kevin is struggling to understand his paternal feelings. Lily occasionally gets confused by her emotions for Evan. Even Evan is trying to figure out why he wants to stay alive. Meanwhile, you are trying to figure out why they don't know. I mean, he is such a great guy!

There are seven spheres in the heavens. Each one is ruled by an angel, sometimes called a daemon. None of the ruling angels want anything to do with that abomination called earth. Though the two species can mate, their offspring are insane monsters who die young. Ironically, a daemon can be tricked into being bound to a human as has happened to Badad, host of Ariton, who learned about a son he was unaware even existed until they met and felt the connection. For four years, Evan Davis bound his father and his cousin Lily to him so as to insure they never leave him.

Although circumstances force Evan to break the spell, neither Badad nor Lily vanishes. Instead, the trio continue with their detective agency and uneasily work together on the disappearance of the dowager Empress' crystal balls. The last one that is missing, the Moon Stone was previously on display at the nearby Philadelphia Art Museum. It is imperative to retrieve the missing objects because they are much more valuable than just art. They possess a power that might prove too strong for two daemons and a halfling to overcome.

The sequel to the EYE OF THE DEMON magnificently depicts the struggle of beings beyond mortal understanding who feel more human than they would like. Though the hybrid mating of human and daemon seem like the ideal from two planes, bias on both sides make it difficult for the halfling. Camille Bacon-Smith has created a brilliant urban fantasy in EYES OF THE EMPRESS that effortlessly merges horror and mystery. This series will appeal to fans of both genres and anyone who wants something a bit different.

Harriet Klausner

I really like the story but it would be better if there was another book explaining what Evan was going through before Badad showed up.