The Hidden Ones

Nadia Adeire has a perfect life among Manhattan’s elite. The CEO of a thriving nonprofit, she seems to have it all. Then one day, she’s abruptly kidnapped by three masked men and whisked off to Saudi Arabia, where the men reveal that they are part of an ancient secret society bent on protecting the world from an ancient danger: the djinn. They believe Nadia to be the notorious demon Lilith, who is working with terrorist cells to plot a devastating attack on the world. Nadia desperately tries to convince the men that she is in no way involved with Lilith. However, she recalls stories of the demon passed down from her deceased grandmother, Helene, and recounts them in an attempt to give the men what they want and help them find out what the djinn are planning before it’s too late. The Hidden Ones is an imaginative urban fantasy that blends retellings of ancient tales with a modern day thriller. It’s essentially three stories packed into one novel: Nadia’s, Helene’s, and Lilith’s. Like Scheherazade of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Nadia serves as both a protagonist and a storyteller. She tells the story about Helene’s life in the mid twentieth century—how she went from a 16-year-old British schoolgirl to a Saudi man’s second wife. Along the way, Helene encountered Lilith through her father’s archeological pursuits, and Lilith’s is a story within Helene’s. An arrogant and powerful woman in ancient Mesopotamia, Lilith lived in a time when angels roamed the earth. Madore uses Lilith’s story to combine Judeo-Christian mythology with Near Eastern tales, explaining how the djinn of the Near East are related to the angels and demons of Hebrew legend. Madore indicates which section we’re in at the beginning of each series of chapter (for instance, “Ancient Mesopotamia” indicates that we’ll be spending the next few chapters hearing about Lilith). Although Nadia’s is the main story, the other two are at least as interesting. Lilith’s story shows the reader who the djinn threatening the modern world are—how they lived, what they did, and how this all culminated in the war between angels and the Great Flood. Helene’s story serves as the bridge between Nadia’s and Lilith’s and tells us how the two are connected. The Hidden Ones is very well plotted, and I’m afraid my attempt above at explaining it doesn’t do the novel justice. Madore clearly put a lot of attention and thought into building her world—of angels and djinn that made their way into modern legend. She cleverly weaves together various pre-existing mythology and uses her own to explain how it came to be. For instance, Gilgamesh of the ancient Mesopotamian epic was the son of an angel from Judeo-Christian mythology, Lilith was not only a Judeo-Christian demon, but also a Near Eastern djinn, etc. All three female protagonists are admirably strong, albeit in different ways. Lilith, demonized in mythology, is portrayed as a warrior queen, a modern woman in ancient times vilified for refusing to bow to backward customs. She’s no saint – she’s arrogant, self-centered, and often cruel – but neither is she the being of pure evil she’s often portrayed as. Helene’s strength is of a quieter sort. A Western woman forced to bow to a misogynistic foreign culture, she chooses her battles carefully. Nadia is the epitome of the self-assured modern career woman, who finds herself in an unthinkable situation when she’s abruptly kidnapped. Although initially frightened, she refuses to take crap from anyone, even the masked men who knocked her out and tied her up. The three kidnappers turn out not to be the frightening thugs Nadia initially took them to be. Once they realize Nadia’s trying to help them, they develop sympathy for her, although they can’t let her go for security reasons. They’re not crazed cultists or thugs, but rather guardians of the Earth protecting the people from unseen dangers. Gordon, my personal favorite among the three, and Clive lighten up the mood with their antics, while Nadia finds herself increasingly intrigued by the enigmatic Will. Madore knows her subject matter well, and her assured, professional writing draws you into each scene. There’s so much going on in The Hidden Ones, and there’s never a dull moment. It’s unique, daring, well-written, captivating… I’m running out of adjectives here. A retelling of ancient myths and biblical tales, the story of a British girl trapped in a foreign world, modern day terrorists and secret societies… Oh, just read the damn thing.

Highly effective story telling combined with authentic historical accounts and realistic characters make this a great read. It begins with a kidnapping that leads to a race through time to prevent a terrible disaster of biblical proportions. Literally. I especially appreciated the historical stuff. I loved the way everything was handled. Very believable. Thank you for a fantastic story.

The best way to sum up this book, is a story within a story within a story. Yes, there are three separate stories that are intermingled with each other over hundreds of years. All though classified as a science fiction, in my opinion this is more of a fantasy novel. The only science in the book is archaeology the rest is all fantasy. Nevertheless, it had an interesting plot. Nadia is kidnapped and forced to tell the history of her grandmother Helena, that has been passed down to her verbally. Nadia recites the story to her captures, who are accusing her of being in line with those who want to attack and destroy the world. Helena's life is filled with twists in turns as she goes on an archaeological dig with her father where they successfully summons djinn from the old era, before everyone is killed but Helena who is then forced into marrying a man of Muslim faith.  Liltih life is also no walk in the park, as the author explores the possibility of a hybrid angel crossed with a human, a nephilim.  Now, you may think, wait I've just given away the major plot turns of the book, and in that you will be correct.  However, the author does this within the first few chapters of the book, so there is really no mystery as to what is going to happen to the characters in this book.  Although written technically correct, this is probably one of the driest books I've had to read in a while. It took me 2 weeks to sludge through it, but I made it. There were many and I repeat many chapters where the author did nothing but tell the reader history as opposed to showing it and making it alive. My eyes glazed over on those chapters. Frankly, in my opinion the author could have cut Lilith's story down to about two chapters (as opposed to half the book) and I would not have missed anything. There is too much in this one book, a story within a story within a story. If you're planning on reading this book, I recommend a strong dose of patients to way through it. The most interesting part of the book though, is how the author brought the Arabic culture to life.  Although even there, it was a bit stereotypical. As for family friendliness, this is definitely not a book for young people to read. There is too much questionable actions and mature content to way through.

I found this to be very different from other books I've read from this genre. I particularly liked the way the author weaved real events, past and present, into her story. This made it very believable. I love concept of ghosts, but they usually don't translate well into literature. But I read the whole book without rolling my eyes once. I was fascinated by what this author did with the myths.

I am in love with Will, Gordon and Clive. Immediately upon finishing the book, I had to get right into book 2 to see what happens to Nadia and Lilith. This is a great read for so many reasons. I particularly liked the historical aspects. This is an engaging read that you won't want to put down. 

The best thing about this new series is that its different. I have been getting sick of the same old same old. A young woman named Nadia gets kidnapped by three masked men and the adventure begins. They act like she's the bad guy and you quickly realize things aren't what they seem. Nadia realizes she's a suspect in a terrorist investigation. It all seems to have something to do with her grandmother and stories she was told when she was little. Next thing you know your going back in the past, first to post war Britain and Saudi Arabia and then even further back to ancient times and the flood. My favorite parts were going back in time. I loved the characters, especially Lilith. This interpretation of the ancient stories, especially that of the flood, were much more believable than the ones I learned in Sunday school. The Hidden Ones is smart and entertaining. I plan to start the second book this week.

When I was first approached by Nancy Madore to consider reviewing her Legacy of the Watchers Series, like most of the times, I was apprehensive about the content of the novels, blending what she considers historical, science fiction and speculative fiction into each novel. I would revise that genre blend and reclassify them as historical, science fiction and fantasy. While she does utilize the creation of the Nephilim from the Bible, the rest of the content dealing with their race and subsequent creation does not stem from anything found in the Bible. The Nephilim are mentioned in the book of Genesis as a race of being created from the fallen angels who bred with the daughters of man and created a sub race known simply as the Nephilim. Nancy utilizes this race of people who she refers to as the Watchers, those creatures who were born not from angels but from demons. Therefore their intent is simply to watch over the earth as it has been entrusted to them. Lilith was the only known female Nephilim to have survived while all the other females died at birth. The novel The Hidden Ones parallels the lives of three women, Helene, Nadia Adeire, Helene's granddaughter, and Lilith. This is where explaining what the novel is about can be a bit confusing just like reading it can confuse you. The novel begins with the abduction of Nadia Adeire by three masked men who believe that she is possessed by the spirit of Lilith, the former Nephilim who reigned during the creation of Mesopotamia and the rest of the Nephilim race. The men who have kidnapped Nadia believe that she is part of a huge terrorist plot of the djinn, or evil demonic spirits, who want to gain control of the earth again and eliminate the human race, known as the sons of man. The spirit of Lilith was conjured by a series of incantations by Helene's father and a group of archaelogists using a scroll identified at the Book of the Dead that controls the resurrection of the Nephilim's soul. The one that creates a ring with certain symbols along with metal shavings can harness control of the spirit and order it to do their bidding. They didn't expect this to work and are more than shocked when it does and soon realize they have bitten off more than they can chew and send her back into the nether world until they can figure things out. Nadia doesn't understand what is going on and has merely been told stories by her grandmother Helene as well as her mother Giselle so well that she can remember all the details. It is those details that these kidnappers hope to use to figure out where the spirit of Lilith may be hiding along with those other Nephilim from the past that are about to unleash a plague of biblical proportions to wipe out the human race and they believe that Nadia's stories may hold more clues than she believes. The novel toggles back and forth from the creation of the Nephilim, to Helene's part in conjuring the spirit, to the modern day dilemma with Nadia. While each chapter is highlighted with the time period, for instance Ancient Mesopotamia, 1948 or Present Day, you can maintain a level of where you are at, but by about 3/4 of the way through, you are almost completely confused by all the characters, times, and subplots going on within this novel. It might have worked better to keep the storyline a bit more simplified rather than attempt to throw it all together in the first novel. The writing style in engaging and deals with so many legends and myths from the Greek and Roman gods, to parallels to biblical stories like Noah and the flood and the walls of Jericho. That being said, from a Christian perspective, this is not a novel for believers. It deals with demons, and witchcraft with harnessing the spirit of the Nephilim by their human counterpart as well as possession of the body. If you keep it in those context as a science fiction and fantasy novel with a bit of historical fact, then you have an interesting novel. I can honestly say by the end, I was not looking forward to reviewing the next novels in the series, based on my personal beliefs and now knowing what the series is about. In my opinion, I would rate the novel a 3 out of 5 stars. It does contain some adult content, profanity and strong subject matter pertaining demons and possession that might not be suitable to all readers so I would recommend a mature audience only. I received The Hidden Ones from Nancy Madore compliments of the author's request for a honest review and did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable one.

This book was a mixed bag for me.  The historical details and explanations were amazingly detailed and accurate, but this did lead to several moments of “info dump” where the reader is told rather than shown, and that did cause the plot to lag.  While I appreciate the depth of research into several elements, providing so much information and managing the intertwining stories of the 3 generationally distanced female characters required several moments where I had to stop and contemplate who was where, and what was happening.  I also found myself stopping or struggling with conversations, particularly moments where dialog was being written with the ‘attempt’ at an accent.  This is a particular gripe of mine: if you find a need to ‘write’ an accent or patois into a character’s conversation, understand that many readers will find that difficult to process.  Unfortunately there were particular characters  that were bordering on caricature in their conversation, I do think an editor should have questioned that continued inclusion.  When the story was moving forward, it was quite engaging and there were so many different elements coming into play: action, romance, old grudges and mythology.  Keeping it all straight from a plotting perspective is a Herculean task, and the effort was evident.  For me, however, the sheer volume of information to process made this a good, not great read.   I received an eBook copy from author for purpose of honest review for the Indie Authors Rock promotion at I am, Indeed.  I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.