Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Taming Demons for Beginners by Annette Marie Narrator: Cris Dukehart
Series: The Guild Codex Demonized #1
Published by Tantor Audio on December 31, 2019
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 7 hours, 52 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
Rule one: Don't look at the demon.
When I arrived at my uncle's house, I expected my relatives to be like me—outcast sorcerers who don't practice magic. I was right about the sorcery, but wrong about everything else.
Rule two: Don't listen to the demon.
My uncle chose a far deadlier power. He calls creatures of darkness into our world, binds them into service contracts, and sells them to the highest bidder. And I'm supposed to act like I don't know how illegal and dangerous it is.
Rule three: Don't talk to the demon.
All I had to do was keep my nose out of it. Pretend I didn't find the summoning circle in the basement. Pretend I didn't notice the shadowy being trapped inside it. Pretend I didn't break the rules.
But I did, and now it's too late.
This is a joint review between Robin and me. Since the main character is Robin I will be using bold to indicate our Robin from Books of my Heart.
Guild Codex Demonized series is a different aspect of the Guild Codex Spellbound world. I have read the Spellbound series and Robin has not yet. I would say you can read Demonized without Spellbound first but I wouldn’t. I really prefer to read in order, yes, but there is also background on the world, the guilds and some of the characters which is really helpful if you ever have first book in a series issues. PLUS the Spellbound books are awesome!
Robin pointed out it was refreshing that Robin isn’t your typical kick ass heroine, was sheltered, and a bit naïve but that it really works for this story especially in her interactions with Zylas. Robin comes to her uncle’s home after her parent’s death? We both suspect something is fishy since there is not much detail on their deaths. They apparently knew magic but kept her away from it. Why?
The uncle is an asshole and her cousins, Travis and Amalia, aren’t much better. Travis is TSTL. Amalia has had bad examples with no one caring about her; she may develop into a decent friend, and at least, she is smart. We found their treatment of Robin terrible from stealing from her, to lies and emotional abuse. They are likely to be key characters in the series.
Zylas is the main demon in this series. His interactions with Robin are hilarious and the book has a good sense of humor overall. He is apparently from the 12th house of demons, which is new. We hope to learn a lot more about the demon houses, and the skills of the different houses.
Robin and I spent an hour in wild speculation which we won’t share as it is too spoilery, probably mostly wrong, and I didn’t want to spoil Robin for the Spellbound series. I will mention we are hoping for some romantic action with Robin and Zylas, even though though this is urban fantasy.
Robin is completely unprepared to become involved with demons in any way. Taming Demons for Beginners ends up colliding with the other series and the Crow & Hammer Guild, so it will be interesting to see how the series intermix. It’s a great start to this Demonized series. There are a lot of fascinating threads to be explored about Robin’s family, and demons. The books are in KU and I had to check out the next one, Slaying Monsters for the Feeble to verify spelling and such, and I might be forced to read it before the next audio book is available at the end of January.
Narration:
Cris Dukehart is my voice for Tori from the Spellbound series and is handling Robin in Demonized books well. With the main point of view being these females, it is a comfortable stream from their thoughts. Her male and female voices seem appropriate. Dukehart is one of my favorite narrators, but new to Robin. We both enjoyed her performance and were able to listen at 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Annette Marie
Annette Marie is the author of YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter. Her first love is fantasy, but fast-paced urban fantasy, bold heroines, and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She proudly admits she has a thing for dragons, and her editor has politely inquired as to whether she intends to include them in every single book.
Annette lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad). She shares her life with her remarkably patient, comparatively sensible husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Releases
- COYER Friends
I enjoyed this one as well. I still need to read the second one
I need to read the other series first, but I’ll definitely be continuing on.
I’m really enjoying this world.
Anne thanks for the discussion yesterday for the joint review, it was fun.
It was so fun, thanks for doing it with me. I love getting your perspectives and you always have a view I didn’t consider.
This sounds like one I want to read. Great review guys!
Thanks Barb! My experiences with this author have all been fun. I recommend it.
Nice review ladies! Glad you could both enjoy.
Thank you! I really am enjoying this world with the two cities.
Great review. It sounds like I should probably read the other series first?
That was Anne’s suggestion to me. She said I’d understand the world more and they are awesome so have at it. So I got them all the other day.
I hope you love them!
Thank you. What Robin said. I am loving both series. I have been listening on audio but got the first series at the library.
I read this series in e-format so far and am really enjoying it. Both series are awesome and I do think it’s best to read them in order so you get more world building and such. I am hoping for some romantic action too, but who knows if it will go in that direction. I have to say i really like reading about how those two interact. Good to know that the audio version is good too.
I am very tempted to read some of the ebooks as the audio won’t be out for a bit and I have KU right now.