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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
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
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