Moonshadow's Guardian

Moonshadow’s Guardian by Dianna Gunn is a unique fantasy story. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first. But I kept reading and after the first few chapters I just couldn't put it down.

What caught my attention was a specific name in the description, Loki. I love Loki. I read everything that has his character in it. So this was a must read for me. He doesn’t have that many lines but when he does appear he is amazing.

The story is set in a fictional place called Moonshadow. A plague ravages the country so its king summons Riana to help them. As she goes through a whole lot of difficulties she changes, evolves. Some things get revelead from her past in the form of her nightmares. I really liked this because it was more interesting this way.

Riana was human once with a different name. What’s more important is that she is a demon now. A demon with a conscience. She always gets into trouble but we are given only a little information about that. I really liked Riana, her attitude towards her being a demon. Her attitude towards people. Not the usual way demons behave.

Rolf, the dragon. He is such a sweet thing, definitely one of my favourite character. He is given to Riana by Loki. What is the most the interesting about him is that despite of being Loki’s creature, he is nothing like him.

Andre Vonstone...what to say about him. I fell in love with him along with Riana.

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this copy.

I really enjoyed this book. Characters include a demon haunted by her past, a royal family of vampires, mages with a bone to pick, and a loveable dragon, which is basically the recipe for a great read. This is fantasy with a slight political element, and a world that the author only touches the surface of in terms of its rich history and fascinating ruling families.
The story is interesting and switches between two character perspectives, using past events through our main character’s nightmares to provide more context to what is happening. Our main character’s demonic profession was something I thought was intriguing, and I wish we could’ve spent more time learning about her time below when she wasn’t being summoned to serve in the mortal world.
I wish the author would’ve done a bit more world building in this first book, something that I think is important when setting the stage for current events being caused by the layering of bad choices historical figures made and the devastating effects on the countries and populations. These elements seemed mostly on the surface for me when they could’ve gone a lot deeper and been more detailed for even richer context. I want more on the history of the royal beings whose names send shivers up the spines of those uttering them, and what all makes them so worthy of our fear. I want to travel back in time to the kingdoms mentioned, in their glory days before destruction ruined their nation. More on the telars and their everyday life as a god's chosen people before, during, and after Magdalene turned her back on them. I really wanted to examine more of this world the author has created. The imagination and creativity behind the overall story is wonderful and can give the reader so much more if pushed a little deeper.
Overall, I still enjoyed the journey the book took me on, and I will definitely be continuing with the series when the next book releases.

All Riana has ever wanted is freedom. Unfortunately, that’s the one thing her kind cannot have. Bound by the curse in her demonic blood for millennia, Riana has tried several times to bend the rules and live out her life in the mortal realm. Now her consistent rule breaking has drawn the attention of Loki, God of mischief, the man tormentor of Riana’s kind. But instead of punishing her, he offers her the escape she has always desired. All she has to do is save the kingdom of Moonshadow from a mysterious magical plague. Armed only with inherit power of her own blood and Loki’s pet dragon, Riana is determined to fight to create her own destiny. Moonshadow’s Guardian is a tale about the meaning of belonging, and the struggle to create a future not defined by your past.

This is a very complicated book to review.

To briefly explain. Riana is a demon. She has been alive for centuries. She wasnt born a demon however, she was born to a human mother who didnt want her to be a demon but took her to a special temple to see if her powers would kick in and she would change forms. In the process of this she killed her mother and then her father took her to hell i can assume although its never specified.

Riana is assigned by Loki the mischief God, to protect a young princess called Eternia, but things happen and Eternia dies and Riana is tortured for over 300 years. Then she gets a 2nd chance and Loki assigns her to a King called Jacob 8th who wants her to find out who has caused a plague that is not only killing his people, but his only son.

Now i have niggles. All the Jacobs confsed me, there was no need to name all the kings the same name, i was shaking my head at times going what, who, when did that happen and had to go back to clarify things. Also Rolf. Really? Not amused. And i dont see how her and Andre ended up together so quickly. It was bizarre and almost put there as an afterthought just to allow her to have some reason to live but there was no connection between them that i had read, i didnt see a romance coming because it was never there so that could have been written better.

I would however read book 2 but only to see Rolf come back.

Beautiful and enchanting loved this read! Amazing story, wonderful writing style kept me up long after my bed time