Daimon by Jennifer L Armentrout
Published: 05.10.2011 (Spencer Hill Press)
Pages: 62
Series: The Covenant (.5)
Rating: 3 1/2 of 5 stars
Find the author online
Love in my world usually ended up with someone hearing “I smite thee!” as she was cursed to be some lame flower for the rest of her life.
For three years, Alexandria has lived among mortals—pretending to be like them and trying to forget the duty she'd been trained to fulfill as a child of a mortal and a demigod. At seventeen, she's pretty much accepted that she's a freak by mortal standards... and that she'll never be prepared for that duty.
According to her mother, that’s a good thing.
But as every descendant of the gods knows, Fate has a way of rearing her ugly head. A horrifying attack forces Alex to flee Miami and try to find her way back to the very place her mother had warned her she should never return—the Covenant. Every step that brings her closer to safety is one more step toward death… because she's being hunted by the very creatures she'd once trained to kill.
The daimons have found her.
My Review
Alexandria has been trying to acclimate into normal, everyday human life, but she has a secret she can't tell anyone: she is not normal, and she does not truly belong in everyday, human life. Alex is the offspring of a mortal and a demigod, which means she has ties to a part of the world that most people never know about. Alex and her mother formerly called the Covenant home, where if they had stayed, Alex might have trained as a guard or another role in that life. Instead, she and her mother are on the run, and laying low to not draw attention to themselves, either from the Covenant, or from daimons, who crave the aether half-bloods and pure-bloods have running in their veins.
Right away I developed a huge soft spot for Alex. She's tough, and she's strong, and she can fight. But she also, on some level, wants to belong, and since she is so different, it just isn't happening for her. She has a smart mouth at times, but she has a big, huge heart, and it's easy to see in her interaction with her mother just how much she cares about the people that she loves. She's pretty fierce. I've seen a lot of people comparing her to Rose from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series, and I can see the similarities, but Alex is a unique character all her own, too.
When a daimon tracks down Alex and her mother, Alex takes flight, desperately hoping to make it back to the nearest Covenant, and some sort of safety. Reeling from the shock of the daimon's attack, and the losses she suffered, Alexandria nevertheless perseveres, making difficult choices to leave behind the life she'd been trying to build, and go back to the first home she ever knew. She doesn't know if they will accept her. She doesn't know if her mother's fears about the Covenant were right. All she knows is that they may be her only chance at survival.
Leaving off on a breathless cliffhanger, Daimon leaves you anxious for more, as Jennifer Armentrout sets up this wonderful teaser to her novel, Half-Blood, due out in September. The perfect mix of the paranormal, some mythology, and a hint of romance, Daimon is a fantastic prologue to Half-Blood.
(Note: If you'd like to read Daimon, it is available for free at Spencer Hill Press's site, here.)
Memorable Quote
"Okay. He had a point but it wasn’t like I could tell him anything. I could see me now: Guess what? You ever watch Clash of the Titans or read any Greek fables? Well those gods are real and yeah, I’m sort of a descendant of them. Kind of like the stepchild no one wants to claim. Oh, and I hadn’t even been around mortals until three years ago. Can we still be friends?"- Alex
