Moonshadow's Guardian by Dianna Gunn

 

After being punished, again, by Loki when he finally deigns to visit Reina in her new cell she is not expecting much from him. She most certainly isn't expecting him to tell her that she has not only been summoned to the mortal world but personally requested by the current king of Moonshadow Jacob VIII, a kingdom she once called home. Even more surprising is that Loki tells her that if she is successful in her mission, he will release her from the curse she carries, that she will be free to live in the mortal realm, no longer being summoned and controlled by humans. However, you don't live as long as Reina has without knowing that gods do not make deals without there being a price and this one may be too steep for Reina to pay. 

Alright so I think we all know by now that I'm not a big fan of any book that has really any western gods in them, especially Norse or Greek, so to say I rolled my eyes and seriously considered just not reading this in the prologue would be an understatement. The only thing that kept me going was that I've read Gunn's work and it's fantastic so I figured she wouldn't let me down. I happy to see that this exceeded my expectations both as a fantasy and a book by an author I'd only read horror from up until this point! So, while sure it says it's a five-star rating, there is a bonus sixth there!

Reina is awesome, she has led a not so fun life to say the least, and I suppose that should be expected as a couple thousand-year-old demon but thanks to her absolute unwillingness to just bow down to her demon overlords or Loki her's has been probably a harder life than most demons. But she still remains good through it all, and I think that says a lot, especially when you realize that all of these humans that have summoned her (more on this later) just used her in one way or another. The one thing you get to realize really quickly is that Reina may not have fully saw these mortals as friends, but she felt far more kinship to them than they did to her, especially Eternia. Reina becomes the cause of all problems for Eternia especially and ya know what I dislike her greatly. Moving back to Reina, she is also a large smart ass (double checks in my box), a quick and clever thinker, and I mean she's a demon so of course she's a bad ass. 

The King is psychotic. To be honest I wouldn't actually bring him up if he wasn't a prime example of what I was referring to in terms of Reina's relationships with the humans. He doesn't see her as anything other than a being that he has the right to control and as the story progresses it's clear he is clearly not the only person who has seen her this way throughout her long life. But I think with him specifically it's worse because of his connection to both Jacob II and Jacob III, the second being the whole "human" who ever saw her truly as a person and the third being complicated and still angering beyond belief. The fact that both Jacob III and Jacob VIII refuse to listen to her on the same freaking topic speaks volumes.

Now, my absolute favorite part of this whole book the absolutely amazing world it is! Seriously, we have: Vampires, People that can use mind control, Gods, Demon Lords, Demons Necromancers, A whole country of evil human sorcerers, I could go on. The thing is in the grand scheme of things this book should not be long enough to hold all of these and not have it be a convoluted mess, but Gunn pulls it off beautifully and if it was just that she somehow got all of these races to fit into the world without it being messy that's just awe inspiring she brings in complicated politics and a crap ton of history without it ever feeling like she's lost sight of the story she is telling now. I know so much about this little corner of this world now but not enough I need *more* and luckily, I have book two! 

Genuinely this blew me away in the way only an author you've read a completely different genre before can. The story is compelling, the mc is immediately not just likable but lovable and she managed to contain a huge world in such a manner that leaves you begging for more. Oh, and for those who have read this there was no way I wasn't going to leave this without mentioned Rolf because he is the very best dragon!