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. For more information about The Hidden Ones, Nancy Madore or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:
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