Scan barcode
willrefuge's review against another edition
4.0
4 / 5 stars
Originally reviewed on: https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/
Time’s Demon is the second in the Islevale Cycle, proceeding the events of Time’s Children. It began with a very unexpected character, at a very unexpected time. It ended with an unexpected result, following a series of rather unexpected events. At first I thought it marked a departure from the initial book, as neither Tobias nor Mara appeared for the first third or so. But then they did, and the story proceeded. In an unexpected, if not… unpredictable manner. Let me say plainly: I couldn’t predict the turns this story took. If I had (which, I tried; I always do), they would’ve been wrong. All in all, Time’s Demon was quite an entertaining read, though if one started into it hoping to immediately continue the adventure that had just left off, they would be disappointed.
This marks the tenth book I’ve read by David B. Coe, including 6 under the pseudonym of D. B. Jackson. So, there’s that. Cool, huh? Instead setting the scene this time, here’s the official blurb.
Fifteen year-old Tobias Doljan Walked back in time to prevent a war, but instead found himself trapped in an adult body, his king murdered and with an infant princess, Sofya, to protect. Now he has been joined by fellow Walker and Spanner, Mara, and together they must find a way to undo the timeline which orphaned the princess and destroyed their future. Arrayed against them are assassins who share their time-traveling powers, but have dark ambitions of their own, and the Tirribin demon, Droë, whose desperate quest for human love and Tobias leads her into alliances which threaten all of Islevale.
Time’s Demon presents another slow build, in some ways even more than that seen in the first. The hook is set and baited early on, as it was in the prior tale, but this is populated with different characters than before. Characters with their own wants and needs (and backstories), that were under utilized in the previous book. Again, it’s important to note that Tobias, Sofya and Mara will return—and that the heart of the story still very much revolves around then.
And yet, their story, while entertaining, furthers the overarching storyline very little. And so we exit Time’s Demon little further than when Time’s Children left off. That’s not to say the book accomplishes nothing. Instead, the storylines are pushed off to other characters—in particular Droë, a Tirribin notable in the first entry. Actually, her story was good enough in this that it distracted me from the lack of progression in Tobias and Mara’s tale. Until writing this review, even.
In my opinion, it was the characters of Time’s Children that made it such an entertaining read. Not only does Demon continue this trend, but builds upon it. In addition to Mara and Tobias’s backstory—as well as a new character I won’t spoil—Droë adds an unexpected element to the story. Until this book, demons (Tirribin, Belvora, Shonla, Arrokad) are viewed mostly as savage and conniving beasts, excepting maybe the rogue elements like Droë or Teelo, who still fed on humans, but occasionally interacted with them as well. Droë’s adventure wrecks this all. I mean, yeah, half the demons still eat people, but it turns out they are much more complex than I’d thought before. Additionally, the dynamic between Sofya and Tobias (and Mara) has changed—as the princess is now an infant—but not so much. It were her interactions with Tobias that sold the first book for me. While in this one her role is reduced somewhat (due to the influx of other characters’ POVs), she still represents an important member of the cast.
Time’s Demon capitalizes on the successes of Time’s Children with strong characters, immersive world-building and superior dialogue. While the expanded cast of characters did push some of my favorites from Book #1 aside for a third of the text, their arcs were more than entertaining enough to keep me ingrained. The second Islevale book does little to further the plot from the first, however (with the murdered royal family, walking back in time and such). And yet Droë’s adventure stole the show, giving anyone more than enough reason to read Time’s Demon. If you liked the first one, you’ll enjoy the second.
Time's Demon comes out May 28, 2019
Originally reviewed on: https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/
Time’s Demon is the second in the Islevale Cycle, proceeding the events of Time’s Children. It began with a very unexpected character, at a very unexpected time. It ended with an unexpected result, following a series of rather unexpected events. At first I thought it marked a departure from the initial book, as neither Tobias nor Mara appeared for the first third or so. But then they did, and the story proceeded. In an unexpected, if not… unpredictable manner. Let me say plainly: I couldn’t predict the turns this story took. If I had (which, I tried; I always do), they would’ve been wrong. All in all, Time’s Demon was quite an entertaining read, though if one started into it hoping to immediately continue the adventure that had just left off, they would be disappointed.
This marks the tenth book I’ve read by David B. Coe, including 6 under the pseudonym of D. B. Jackson. So, there’s that. Cool, huh? Instead setting the scene this time, here’s the official blurb.
Fifteen year-old Tobias Doljan Walked back in time to prevent a war, but instead found himself trapped in an adult body, his king murdered and with an infant princess, Sofya, to protect. Now he has been joined by fellow Walker and Spanner, Mara, and together they must find a way to undo the timeline which orphaned the princess and destroyed their future. Arrayed against them are assassins who share their time-traveling powers, but have dark ambitions of their own, and the Tirribin demon, Droë, whose desperate quest for human love and Tobias leads her into alliances which threaten all of Islevale.
Time’s Demon presents another slow build, in some ways even more than that seen in the first. The hook is set and baited early on, as it was in the prior tale, but this is populated with different characters than before. Characters with their own wants and needs (and backstories), that were under utilized in the previous book. Again, it’s important to note that Tobias, Sofya and Mara will return—and that the heart of the story still very much revolves around then.
And yet, their story, while entertaining, furthers the overarching storyline very little. And so we exit Time’s Demon little further than when Time’s Children left off. That’s not to say the book accomplishes nothing. Instead, the storylines are pushed off to other characters—in particular Droë, a Tirribin notable in the first entry. Actually, her story was good enough in this that it distracted me from the lack of progression in Tobias and Mara’s tale. Until writing this review, even.
In my opinion, it was the characters of Time’s Children that made it such an entertaining read. Not only does Demon continue this trend, but builds upon it. In addition to Mara and Tobias’s backstory—as well as a new character I won’t spoil—Droë adds an unexpected element to the story. Until this book, demons (Tirribin, Belvora, Shonla, Arrokad) are viewed mostly as savage and conniving beasts, excepting maybe the rogue elements like Droë or Teelo, who still fed on humans, but occasionally interacted with them as well. Droë’s adventure wrecks this all. I mean, yeah, half the demons still eat people, but it turns out they are much more complex than I’d thought before. Additionally, the dynamic between Sofya and Tobias (and Mara) has changed—as the princess is now an infant—but not so much. It were her interactions with Tobias that sold the first book for me. While in this one her role is reduced somewhat (due to the influx of other characters’ POVs), she still represents an important member of the cast.
Time’s Demon capitalizes on the successes of Time’s Children with strong characters, immersive world-building and superior dialogue. While the expanded cast of characters did push some of my favorites from Book #1 aside for a third of the text, their arcs were more than entertaining enough to keep me ingrained. The second Islevale book does little to further the plot from the first, however (with the murdered royal family, walking back in time and such). And yet Droë’s adventure stole the show, giving anyone more than enough reason to read Time’s Demon. If you liked the first one, you’ll enjoy the second.
Time's Demon comes out May 28, 2019
lostinagoodbook's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: I received this book free from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
I’ve been fighting with myself over this review. I enjoyed the first book in this series. But this second installment has failed to capture me and I’m feeling disappointed. I don’t want to give it 3 stars but that’s where I am.
First I’d like to talk about what I liked. This book opens with a recap for the first book!! I LOVE this feature. I really wish that other series would adopt this method. I have a really bad memory, especially when there has been a gap between books, I frequently have to go back and re-read a first book in order to familiarize myself with the plot before I continue. Not so bad when it’s a small series, but imagine when Winds of Winter comes out and I have to re-read all of Game of Thrones to get caught up! Oh it’s happening. But not this time. I was so happy to feel caught up when I started Time’s Demon.
A lot of the interesting elements of the story are still here in this second novel. The time travel, the multiple interesting creatures that inhabit the world, the excellent world building, and the diversity of the main cast of characters. These were all things I loved about the first book.
However, I feel like the story itself has derailed. The focus in this book has switched from Tobias, the main character in the first book, to a couple of new characters in this book and with that change some of my interest has died. I feel that with this expansion of point of view, the story has started to become unfocused, and focus in a time travel book is crucial. I’m starting to lose the thread. I’m not sure where they are going. I realized 3/4 of the way through this book that I don’t know what the point is. Are they trying to get back to their time? Biding their time until they catch up with their original time stream? Just staying alive? What are we doing here?
The time-travel aspects of the story are also starting to unravel a little bit. We are starting to get into the scenario where if we go forward in time to stop something that happens in the past but we meet ourselves then what! Will we all stop existing and the time space continuum will dissolve … or was that Star Trek? I’m getting confused. I honestly don’t know how an author can possibly write a time travel book and not run into these dilemma. It’s a head-scratcher for sure.
As I said, I’m conflicted about this book. I really liked the first one. I like the author. I’m just feeling a little lost.
I’ve been fighting with myself over this review. I enjoyed the first book in this series. But this second installment has failed to capture me and I’m feeling disappointed. I don’t want to give it 3 stars but that’s where I am.
First I’d like to talk about what I liked. This book opens with a recap for the first book!! I LOVE this feature. I really wish that other series would adopt this method. I have a really bad memory, especially when there has been a gap between books, I frequently have to go back and re-read a first book in order to familiarize myself with the plot before I continue. Not so bad when it’s a small series, but imagine when Winds of Winter comes out and I have to re-read all of Game of Thrones to get caught up! Oh it’s happening. But not this time. I was so happy to feel caught up when I started Time’s Demon.
A lot of the interesting elements of the story are still here in this second novel. The time travel, the multiple interesting creatures that inhabit the world, the excellent world building, and the diversity of the main cast of characters. These were all things I loved about the first book.
However, I feel like the story itself has derailed. The focus in this book has switched from Tobias, the main character in the first book, to a couple of new characters in this book and with that change some of my interest has died. I feel that with this expansion of point of view, the story has started to become unfocused, and focus in a time travel book is crucial. I’m starting to lose the thread. I’m not sure where they are going. I realized 3/4 of the way through this book that I don’t know what the point is. Are they trying to get back to their time? Biding their time until they catch up with their original time stream? Just staying alive? What are we doing here?
The time-travel aspects of the story are also starting to unravel a little bit. We are starting to get into the scenario where if we go forward in time to stop something that happens in the past but we meet ourselves then what! Will we all stop existing and the time space continuum will dissolve … or was that Star Trek? I’m getting confused. I honestly don’t know how an author can possibly write a time travel book and not run into these dilemma. It’s a head-scratcher for sure.
As I said, I’m conflicted about this book. I really liked the first one. I like the author. I’m just feeling a little lost.
melloplayer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lili90738's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
readerreborn's review against another edition
5.0
D. B. Jackson does it again! Great sequel! Can’t wait for book 3.
itabar's review against another edition
4.0
A decent, not too annoying ending for a middle book. Loose ends to lure you to read the next one. I was afraid it would end of a horrible cliffhanger.
scriberjack's review against another edition
5.0
D. B. Jackson does it again! Great sequel! Can’t wait for book 3.
drunknnninja's review against another edition
5.0
This is the second book in the series, and it's even better than the first.
It's a tough thing to write changing timelines in time travel stories, without getting overly complex and complicated, but this book pulls it off. I love it. It's a seamless blend of fantasy and time travel, and I can't wait for more installments in this series.
It's a tough thing to write changing timelines in time travel stories, without getting overly complex and complicated, but this book pulls it off. I love it. It's a seamless blend of fantasy and time travel, and I can't wait for more installments in this series.
cheyannelepka's review against another edition
5.0
So, I’m not sure if my prayers for books actually funnel towards D.B. Jackson, but he has melded everything I love into one series and I absolutely cannot wait for the next one. Time travel + epic fantasy = perfection. And he has achieved it.
I’m mostly going to keep this review short and sweet. This book is a wonderful follow up from Time’s Children, and I think does a great job of setting up the next book. I love the world-building in this series so much—it’s comprehensive and clearly complicated, and the best thing is that it doesn’t overpower the narrative. This book definitely did a great job of adding more about the world, and rounding out some of the information about the demons. Additionally, and I’ll be brief on this so no spoilers, but I love the character arcs in this book, especially for Dröe.
Overall, this is great book for anyone who loves high or epic fantasy, and wants to read something with a new twist (seriously, I love the time travel aspect of this series).
Want more reviews like this? There are more on my blog!
https://www.cheyannealepka.com/chey-s-reviews
I’m mostly going to keep this review short and sweet. This book is a wonderful follow up from Time’s Children, and I think does a great job of setting up the next book. I love the world-building in this series so much—it’s comprehensive and clearly complicated, and the best thing is that it doesn’t overpower the narrative. This book definitely did a great job of adding more about the world, and rounding out some of the information about the demons. Additionally, and I’ll be brief on this so no spoilers, but I love the character arcs in this book, especially for Dröe.
Overall, this is great book for anyone who loves high or epic fantasy, and wants to read something with a new twist (seriously, I love the time travel aspect of this series).
Want more reviews like this? There are more on my blog!
https://www.cheyannealepka.com/chey-s-reviews
alexiacambaling's review against another edition
4.0
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Angry Robot Books.
Time's Demon is the second book in D.B. Jackson's The Islevale Cycle and follows Tobias Doljan and Mara who are stuck about fourteen years in the past and have now aged and must take care of the princess Sofya after an assassination which took the lives of her entire family. Being the last of her royal line, Tobias must protect the princess if she is ever to reclaim her legacy- while being essentially a teen in the body of a grown man.
This book contains a recap of what happened in the previous book which I find to be a really welcome and helpful thing to add in fantasy books. I really wish that more books have this feature besides the also very helpful glossary because fantasy books tend to be very dense when it comes to detail and it can get hard to remember certain events that happened. That said, I very much liked that this was present and it helped me a lot.
Time's Demon is considerably slower than the first book although there were still a lot of things happening here. I attribute the slowness to the fact that there's a lot of backstory concerning the villain here and I liked how this book actually fleshes out his character. In fact, through the course of this book, he becomes almost like a secondary protagonist as we learn of his motivations, his past life, his current life, etc. I like it when antagonists are given more depth and I think it was handled quite well here.
Meanwhile, Tobias and Mara now have to deal with having to become accustomed to their new life and adjust to growing up too quickly. They have a lot of years lost between the two of them, years that are crucial to growth and maturity so they really did have to grow up fast. In this book, they had to conceal their and Sofya's identities and play the part of a loving family. I think this part was pretty adorable and they do grow a lot here as characters.
I still do kind of side-eye Tobias and Mara's relationship because in my mind, they're kind of like children who has to play house or there will be deadly consequences. I still get whiplash because of how fast they have to grow up. I do understand that because of the consequences of time travel in this series, they cannot go back to being kids and are stuck as adults. Still, I can't shake off my discomfort although it does kind of make sense for them to fall in love.
Droe the time demon or Tirribin also gets a lot of screentime in this book. Due to her obsession with Tobias and the concept of love and desire, she strikes a deal which leads to her essentially transcending what she was before. She also exhibits a lot of character growth in this book, especially towards the end where she comes to terms with what she is and also where she stands with her emotions and stuff. I don't want to spoil anymore but I really enjoyed her character arc.
The negative thing that I can really say about this book is that it does feel like it suffers from second book syndrome where it serves to get the characters from one point to another. It's a lot of backstories getting told- flipping back and forth between past and present-day narration, Tobias and Mara avoiding been found and getting assassinated...and Droe. Still, it wasn't a bad to read about and I did enjoy it. I think it sets up the next book and I'm looking forward to reading about what's going to happen next.
Overall, I can recommend Time's Demon if you liked the first book. It expounds on a lot of character history, builds up the character arcs better, and expands the scope of the story more. I give this a 3.75 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer
Time's Demon is the second book in D.B. Jackson's The Islevale Cycle and follows Tobias Doljan and Mara who are stuck about fourteen years in the past and have now aged and must take care of the princess Sofya after an assassination which took the lives of her entire family. Being the last of her royal line, Tobias must protect the princess if she is ever to reclaim her legacy- while being essentially a teen in the body of a grown man.
This book contains a recap of what happened in the previous book which I find to be a really welcome and helpful thing to add in fantasy books. I really wish that more books have this feature besides the also very helpful glossary because fantasy books tend to be very dense when it comes to detail and it can get hard to remember certain events that happened. That said, I very much liked that this was present and it helped me a lot.
Time's Demon is considerably slower than the first book although there were still a lot of things happening here. I attribute the slowness to the fact that there's a lot of backstory concerning the villain here and I liked how this book actually fleshes out his character. In fact, through the course of this book, he becomes almost like a secondary protagonist as we learn of his motivations, his past life, his current life, etc. I like it when antagonists are given more depth and I think it was handled quite well here.
Meanwhile, Tobias and Mara now have to deal with having to become accustomed to their new life and adjust to growing up too quickly. They have a lot of years lost between the two of them, years that are crucial to growth and maturity so they really did have to grow up fast. In this book, they had to conceal their and Sofya's identities and play the part of a loving family. I think this part was pretty adorable and they do grow a lot here as characters.
I still do kind of side-eye Tobias and Mara's relationship because in my mind, they're kind of like children who has to play house or there will be deadly consequences. I still get whiplash because of how fast they have to grow up. I do understand that because of the consequences of time travel in this series, they cannot go back to being kids and are stuck as adults. Still, I can't shake off my discomfort although it does kind of make sense for them to fall in love.
Droe the time demon or Tirribin also gets a lot of screentime in this book. Due to her obsession with Tobias and the concept of love and desire, she strikes a deal which leads to her essentially transcending what she was before. She also exhibits a lot of character growth in this book, especially towards the end where she comes to terms with what she is and also where she stands with her emotions and stuff. I don't want to spoil anymore but I really enjoyed her character arc.
The negative thing that I can really say about this book is that it does feel like it suffers from second book syndrome where it serves to get the characters from one point to another. It's a lot of backstories getting told- flipping back and forth between past and present-day narration, Tobias and Mara avoiding been found and getting assassinated...and Droe. Still, it wasn't a bad to read about and I did enjoy it. I think it sets up the next book and I'm looking forward to reading about what's going to happen next.
Overall, I can recommend Time's Demon if you liked the first book. It expounds on a lot of character history, builds up the character arcs better, and expands the scope of the story more. I give this a 3.75 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
This review is also on The Bookworm Daydreamer
More...