Beautiful Demons by Sarra Cannon [Book Review]

 lyWelcome back friends! If you’re new here, I’m Pamela, aka The Picky Bookworm. I love talking about books, and I love helping authors promote their books through various avenues. This week’s post is a little different from my usual book reviews, because I’m talking about a full series, and not just a single book. Don’t worry, it’ll still be spoiler free. The Shadow Demons Saga by Sarra Cannon is one of the most immersive series I’ve read in a long time. I read all 11 books in less than 3 weeks. As you can see by the Book Information image, that’s over 3000 pages worth of reading. I couldn’t put them down.

Long Series are The Best!

The Shadow Demons Saga is 11 books long, and while it was supposed to be 12 books, I’m not sure where book 12 is. Probably still in the author’s imagination somewhere. I’m not a happy camper, because I didn’t find out until literally the last page of book 11, so I didn’t even have the chance to put off reading a couple books before being told there were no more. I didn’t get the closure I would have liked to see, either.

So, while the series was amazing, and I want you to buy them all and devour them like I did, I want to warn you that book 11 is not the final book in the series. I wish I knew Sarra personally, like I do so many of you, so I could find out when book 12 is coming out, but I honestly have no clue. But, because it was such a fun series, I’m going to talk about it, and I’m going to promote it, because I want to, darn it!

This post may contain affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission through your purchase, and I’m so grateful!

I might be fighting a bit of word vomit in this post, because I haven’t written one in a while (last week was TOUGH, yo!) but also because I’m SO excited about this series. I can probably tell you at least two people who will add this series to their TBR, but I hope more of you do than I expect, because I promise you won’t be disappointed. Cat, you’re one of those people, so trust me… stop reading here, and just go find them somewhere. They’re not horror books, but you’ll love them. Here’s the books in order:

Ok, now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the synopsis…

Synopsis

Harper has been in foster care most of her life, if not all. She struggles with following rules, but after her adopted family died in a mysterious fire, she was labeled a troublemaker, and sent to the Shadowford Home for Girls in Peachtree, Georgia.

It looks like things might finally be looking up for Harper, until one of her school’s cheerleaders dies and she’s tied to the murder. Harper is tapped to join the cheerleading squad in the dead girl’s place, and introduced to a world of magic, demons, and power that she never knew existed.

Are the Blind leading The Blind?

That power doesn’t come without a cost, though. Harper has never been one to follow anyone blindly, so when she witnesses a ritual she shouldn’t have, she finds out that the world she belongs to is anything but neat magic tricks and the ability to learn new cheers at the drop of a hat. Her journey to the truth, and to freedom is anything but neat and tidy, but if Harper has learned anything, it’s that true freedom sometimes comes at a cost, and fighting is the only thing she knows how to do well.

My Thoughts

I haven’t read a series like this ever, which definitely says something, considering how many indie books I read, and how much I love them. I find every story and every series unique, and even among the unique, The Shadow Demons Saga stands alone. I’m not even sure I could ever find where Sarra overused tropes, and the only one I can really think of in this series is the Chosen One trope. If you read the series, and find others I missed, please leave a comment and let me know!

Characters

I already told you how quickly I devoured this series, so I think the fact that I liked the series is a given at this point. I want to go into a few reasons WHY I loved the series so much, though, and it all comes down to the characters. Even the evil ones were amazingly written, and while some of them were a little more morally gray than others, most of the time I knew exactly where I stood with each one, and I knew exactly why I hated/loved them. Some of them may or may not show up in later books, but I’ll never tell you which is which, so nothing will get spoiled, promise!

Harper

I absolutely love Harper. When she gets taken to the Shadowford Home for Girls, she’s been in foster care most of her life, and has abilities she has no idea how to control. She’s learned how to not get attached, and the only thing she knows about her abilities is that she can’t control them. I love watching her evolve over the course of the books, and really admire how Sarra wrote her.

Jackson

Jackson is the son of Shadowford Home’s caretaker, and when Harper meets him (glances at him, really) she feels an immediate connection. She has no explanation for it, though. Jackson is super cool, and I really like him. He begins his time with Harper kind of how Angel does in Buffy. He seems to think it’s his “job” to protect her. As many times as Harper tries to convince him otherwise, it bugs me that he takes way too long to actually let Harper handle certain things. He does a lot of growing up too, and I don’t hate him. I disliked some of his “boundary hopping” with Harper in the beginning, but so many books have this sort of “Me Tarzan, protect Jane” storyline that it almost feels like if a book doesn’t have it, then it’s missing something.

Aaerden

Aaerden is the Shadow Demon for Peachtree’s Prima line. His life is tied to the Prima, so if she dies, he does too. It’s the introduction of Aaerden that we start to realize the Shadow Demons aren’t willing participants in the witches’ bid for power and authority. I loved watching the various situations in which Aaerden is introduced, without actually giving too much away about the future of the story. So fun!

All the Other Characters

The whole series has so many characters that come into the story throughout the series, so in my attempt to avoid spoilers, I’ll simply say this: I have the characters I love, and the ones I love to hate. There’s even a couple that are technically evil, but who I’m rooting for anyway. The whole series is so immersive, and I promise that you won’t be disappointed when you start reading.

High Priestess

There is a power hierarchy in the witch community. They operate similar to terrorist cells, though, in that very few people actually know the full scope of what’s going on. The leaders tell those under them only that which will keep them in line. The High Priestess is the highest authority in this community. While people talk about her throughout the series, no one seems to know who she is. She operates in the background and fulfils her plans through the witches under her.

Town Prima

If a town has a portal to the Shadow Demon world, that town has a Prima. She’s the most powerful witch in that town, and is basically the leader. Peachtree has been without one for a long time. While some women have taken up the mantle of authority, they’re only stewards of power, not owners of the true power. Some of them, when they find the true Prima, will do whatever they can to take that power from her.

Stone Priestesses

A precious stone controls each portal. Several different priestesses are in charge of the different stones, and each stone has a network of portals. Peachtree’s portal is part the Sapphire Priestess’ network. I can’t go too much into how this part of the hierarchy works, without spoiling too much of the story, but suffice it to say, they’re cool, in an evil, morally bankrupt sort of way.

Would I read more Sarra Cannon Books?

I’m already planning which of her next series I want to check out. I have so many books on my TBR, though, so it might be a while before I can get to them. I would definitely read more books by Sarra, though. It’s just a matter of finding which I want to read first.

Unless Book 12 releases, in which case it’l be that one. and I hope it’s 800 pages long.

Pace and Plot

What surprised me most about the pacing and the plot was that the books weren’t all the same length, but they had the same pace. I never felt like the author rushed the story or anything. A couple books were almost 500 pages, but others were less than 200. I read at pretty much the same pace regardless of the length of the books, because I needed to know what was going to happen. Nothing was really predictable. I found a few things that I expected to happen, but others blew me away. I’m hoping to find other people who have read this series, so I can talk about specifics without ruining anything.

My Recommendation

Do you enjoy Urban Fantasy? How about unique characters, a unique magic system and an engaging plot? If so, then the Shadow Demons Saga is for you. When I started book one, I only owned the first 3. I found them for free somehow, but quickly bought the rest of the series. I am absolutely heartbroken that book 12 isn’t out yet, because I want so badly to finish the series. My husband did tell me the bright side, though. He said when book 12 comes out, I’ll have the chance to go back and read books 1-11 again. I’m looking forward to that. I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t like this series, so I’m gonna recommend it to you, dear review reader.

Interested? Purchase the Shadow Demons Saga on Amazon!

Conclusion

If you haven’t read The Shadow Demons Saga, what are you waiting for? I think everyone would enjoy this book series. I need people to cry with me about book 12 not being out yet. Sarra, if you’re reading this, PLEASE find me on social media, and tell me when you’ll know a release date!

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For the rest of you, I really hope you enjoyed this review of the Shadow Demons Saga by Sarra Cannon. I hope you’ll head over and at least buy books 1-3. Once you do, I don’t think you’ll be long for getting the rest of them. Until I can talk about this series with you, please share this review with your friends. Let’s spread the book love!

Until Next Time, Friends!