Rating - ⭐⭐⭐1/2
"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."
Taming Demons for Beginners is the first installment in the urban fantasy Guild Codex: Demonized series by Annette Marie.
I wasn't expecting much going into this, but I actually didn't mind this. The plot was interesting enough to keep me going, but I did have some issues with this.
Firstly, we have our MC Robin, who, to sum her up in one word, is kind of useless. She doesn't really know anything about the world since she was told by her mother to stay away from magic. Needless to say, her naivety and recklessness gets her into bad situations (in which I have no sympathy for her due to her stupidity). She also just thought of everything on a shallow level, not realizing how complicated the magical world is.
I felt like there was this huge power imbalance between her and Zylas, like to show how strong he was the author made her really weak. While her weakness was mostly consistent throughout the entire book, at the end, however, there is a sudden shift.
Besides Robin, we are also not given a lot of contexts when it comes to certain plots. The story begins straightaway with Robin moving into her uncle's house. We are told that she is there to get her inheritance, but it is unknown as to what happened to her family to end up in this situation. Another thing that is not explained enough are the magic users (mythics?). Unless I missed something, I don't get why there are sorcerers in this.
Overall, I may or may not pick up the next book.
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