Daemons Are Forever

by Simon R. Green

Book Overview

Join supernatural agent Eddie Drood on a dangerous adventure in the second Secret Histories novel from New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green. "Fans of fast-paced heroics, featuring a snarky knight armored in silver and sarcasm, need look no further; Eddie Drood is your guy."--SF Revu For centuries, the Droods have been fighting the monsters in the shadows so that the rest of you lot can go about your everyday lives. These days, I'm the...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451462785
• ISBN13: 9780451462787
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Ace Books
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.2" x 6.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Eddie saves the word - again.

From time immemorial, the powerful Drood family has worked behind the scenes, saving the world from every imaginable threat. Until, centuries past, an alien entity corrupted the family's governing body. Since then, their agenda has been ruling the world. When field agent Eddie Drood is declared rogue, he discovers the family's corrupt secret, destroys the Heart and takes control. (The Man with the Golden Torc.) In Daemons are Forever, Eddie Drood is not a popular man. He is resented by some, hated by others, and does not know who to trust within his own family. What is more, when he destroyed the Heart, the Droods lost their golden armor, and now the powers of the world think they have a chance to bring the family down. Only Eddie has armor, this time silver, given to him by the strange matter that replaced the Heart. He decides to show the world that the Drood family is still a force to be reckoned with and targets the Loathly Ones, alien creatures who can infect and eventually take over both human beings and animals. The Droods, who are responsible for bringing the Loathly Ones to Earth in the first place, do not see them as a significant threat, Eddie included. But although his army destroys the Loathly Ones' nest it does so with much loss of life, and he learns that this is just the tip of the ice-burg. The Loathly Ones are working to bring the Hungry Gods to Earth from their own dimension, and when that happens they will destroy the world. Eddie, as the narrator, shares his doubts and disappointments, both his own and with his family. He needs their help, but refuses to compromise his decision to return them to honor and decency. Eddie has always believed that "family comes first," but his resolve is tested when his love, Molly Metcalf, is infected by the Loathly Ones, and Eddie realizes that she is more important to him than family. Characters from the first book return and new ones are introduced; we see a different side to some, and lose others. Some reviewers do not like the introduction of characters from Green's Nightside and Deathstalker series', but I think they fit the plot, in which Eddie travels to the past and future, and to other worlds, in search of help. "Daemons are Forever," is chockfull of battles, duels, blood and gore, mayhem, heroics, sacrifice, magic and alien technology, well-defined characters, and a dab of British humor; narrated with Green's trademark rapid-fire style and wit. Will Eddie triumph in the end? How could he not?

The Hungry Gods Are Coming

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

fun book to read

It was hard to put down this book once you started reading. The action is non stop. I can't wait for the final book in this trilogy so that I can see if his way of handling his family is the right way.

Over the top, and loving it...

A SPOILER here, a SPOILER there... - The Armourer (gazing at the ultimate weapon): "You have got to let me get that down to the Armoury and take it apart." - Edwin Drood: "No, Uncle Jack." - The Armourer: "Oh come on, I've got this really cool hyper-hammer I've been dying to try out." British writer Simon R. Green's imagination seems limitless. The Man With the Golden Torc (Roc Fantasy) introduced his readers to a new realm of magic, sci-fi, and desperate, against-the-odds adventuring. We learned of the all-powerful Drood family, which for almost two thousand years has secretly ruled the world, even as it protects humanity from unnatural menaces. And we met Edwin Drood (known as Shaman Bond to the unwitting world), an elite field agent who was framed as a traitor and forced to go on the run, relentlessly pursued by his family. By the end of THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC, Eddie had turned the tables around and, by destroying the Drood Heart (the source of the Drood's power), had shattered the long-held family status quo. DAEMONS ARE FOREVER opens with Eddie in wobbly charge of the family. Rumors of the Droods' current vulnerability had leaked out, and various forces are up and about, seeking to test the family's strength. In response Eddie intends to make an example of one of the Big Bads, to lend an impression that his family is still powerful and in control. He targets the the soul-consuming Loathly Ones, the worst of the demonkind. But, in this, the Droods may have bit off more than they can chew, because the Loathly Ones are already on the move... There's an extra incentive here, as the Droods were the ones responsible for the Loathly Ones' presence on earth. Worryingly, the Droods come to find that the Loathly Ones serve merely as the vanguard for other-dimensional creatures called the Invaders, or the Hungry Gods, seeking a foothold on Earth. And these monsters are ready to burst thru into our reality. Man, what must it be like to be inside Simon Green's head? Pound for pound, he has to be one of the most consistently inventive fantasists out there. DAEMONS ARE FOREVER may be an obvious wink to the James Bond literature and flicks, but it doesn't lack for originality in terms of wild ideas and cool concepts. Green packs in the pages with nifty characters such as the Hungry Heart and the Vodyanoi Bros - and these are only the throwaway characters! And what would a 007 homage be without some crazy gadgets? The Droods' Armourer (Eddie's Uncle Jack) comes up with amazing knick-knacks, with my favorite being the dimension-hopping Bentley. Speaking of gadgets, how unreliable is the Time Train and just what is the ultimate weapon called the Deplorable End? Intrigued yet? Of course, Eddie is still with his Molly, the anarchic witch of the wild woods. But, happily, Green reintroduces other supporting characters from the first book. Eddie thinks that, over the centuries, the family had relied much too much on their golden armour and that the Droo

An Excellent Sequel

This is part two of an ongoing series describing the hectic, adventure filled life of Edwin Drood (Druid); when last we left Eddie, he had destroyed his family, who secretly ruled the world, eliminated the Heart, the demonic energy that powered the Drood family, and fallen in love with the Wild Witch, who hated the Drood family. This book takes off where the last ended. Throw in the political machinations of other family members, gay demons and enough gadgets to make Maxwell Smart jealous and you have a whole lot of fun. I've read the book twice (once, reread Golden Torc, then again), and it was great both times. With the dearth of good urban fantasy, this series is a real prize!