Taming Demons for Beginners

Taming Demons for Beginners is a fun, quick read I devoured in a little over 2 hours. With complicated demon contracts, rune-based magic, 12 demon houses, a nerdy bookworm and a cookie-loving demon, there’s a little bit of everything here. 

Although, I admit, my favourite part was the cookie-loving demon because obviously. And the descriptions of these cookies made me really wish I had cookies, which overall was a negative, because there’s none in the house. 

I digress… Taming Demons for Beginners starts a little bit slow, introducing the reader to the characters, the world and the complication that comes summoning and contracting demons. I stuck with it, because I could see the tension and drama building. Hell, I didn’t have to predict it, the first chapter doubles as a hint of what’s to come and I had to know what happens next. 

The thing with this book is the main character isn’t necessarily my favourite ever. In fact, I finished reading the book 5 minutes ago and her name escapes me, but that could be because the book is first person. 

After looking it up, the main character is Robin Page. Her personality can be summed up as a nerdy, socially awkward bookworm who bakes when she’s anxious. Which is also how you could sum me up, so I should love her. Maybe that’s why I don’t, but I wanted a little more. A little more fight, a little more willingness for action. It begins to happen come the end, so I think it’ll come in future books in the series and I’ll be able to rave about the character growth. Or maybe it won’t, and she’ll stay true to her nerdy socially awkward bookworm thing, which isn’t a bad thing. I guess I was just hoping for her to be occasionally badass and not leave it all up to the demon. 

Speaking of the demon, Zylas is where this whole books strength was for me. From mysterious smokey darkness to powerful crimson magic and very few rules. Oh, and don’t forget about the adoration for cookies or food in general. And the disregard for human life, that’s always a bonus. I loved reading the interaction between Zylas and Robin. And that’s a bonus for the book overall. 

The dialogue flows well and naturally. All the characters have well-defined voices that make the whole story a breeze to read as it’s not bogged down with heavy descriptors or constant need to identify who is speaking. 

If you’d like to read a book in an interesting modern-day magical world with a 20-year-old bookworm and a powerful cookie loving demon, then Taming Demons for Beginners may just be for you.