Daimones by Massimo Marino

Trying to be as honest as possible with a review can sometimes be quite difficult especially if it is negative overall.  Authors put a great deal of time and effort into their work and deserve credit for that,  Having said that I feel I would be doing myself (and the author) an injustice if I try to create positives where, in my humble opinion, virtually none exist.

I found 'Daimones' to be a struggle from beginning to end for a variety of reasons.  The plot, such as it is, is simply a clichéd rehash of an already tired idea - a cataclysmic event leaves a small band on survivors trying to make the best of things.  The first half of the novel is effectively a handbook for the survivalist with whole chapters devoted to how best to ransack a supermarket, what hardware supplies should be stockpiled, what gun to pick for which scenario and so on.

The main character, Dan, struck me as shallow and misogynistic.  He is written as the reluctant hero who must protect his women (in this instance his wife and daughter but there is a further addition later on which just made my skin crawl) at all costs, makes fun of their reluctance to handle weaponry and acts as if he is their only hope.  There are far too many mentions of 'Hollywood Blockbusters' and comparisons to 'Mad Max' which made Dan even more insufferable.  There is even a large section given over to Dan decided which cigars he is going to take and how to store them!  Also, naming one of the dogs that he finds and trains perfectly (with no prior knowledge) after a giant spider really didn't help - but maybe that is just my arachnophobia talking?!

The language of the writing was jarring to say the least,  There were a lot jumbled phrases and the English itself was stilted and incredibly repetitive in places. There was no sense of flow to the narrative which made it even more disjointed when a plot development occurred, though these were few and far between.

There is a possibility that this may have worked well as a short story as there a few passages and ideas that were quite good but they were far too few.  Unfortunately 'Daimones' is not a book I could recommend and I will not be returning for the next instalments.