Gideon is the second in the Nightwalkers series by Jacquelyn Frank, the first being Jacob. It doesn't matter if you haven't read the first book in the series when reading this one as the backstory is given fairly early on (in fact in a rather clumsy and inelegant fashion). Still, it helps to set the scene for what is, unfortunately, rather a thin plot but in an interesting world.

Gideon and Magdalegna are both Demons - not demons as we know them, but a race of people with special talents (ability to manipulate fire, to heal, to teleport, to work with emotions, etc.) who keep away from humans. Human necromancers can occasionally catch demons, and their influence somehow turns demons into evil creatures, thus the cause of the legends of evil demons amongst humans. The demons are just a part of the "Nightwalkers", things that go bump in the night such as vampires and lycanthropes, who have all been warring against each other for hundreds of years.

As this book starts, the wars between demons, vampires and lycanthropes have ended and the races are just beginning to settle into the peace, albeit with considerable mistrust. Gideon, the oldest of the Demons, at over a thousand years old, has been working with Damian, the head Vampire, and with Siena, the queen of the werewolves, to build bridges. Gideon has a reputation as an emotionless man whose wisdom comes from his advanced age and whose healing skills are legendary, but who doesn't have many close friends.

Magdalegna is the sister of the king, Noah, and she's a young thing at just 300-odd years old. She's always been aware of Gideon as she was growing up, but an unfortunate brief kissing session nine years ago with him, which ended with him running away from her, caused her to dislike and resent him. However, at the beginning of this book, she finds herself in company with him, especially after her half-druid friend, Isabella, is seriously injured by some mystery foes. Gideon helps to heal Isabella and comes into contact with Legna, and they discover a strange affinity for each other. We are informed of something in Gideon's history that may cause Magdalegna to permanently turn away from him when she finds it out, although the novel didn't really make much of this possible plot twist.

The world of the Demons works with "imprinting", that there is one special person for each, and Magdalegna and Gideon discover fairly early on in the book that they are Imprinting one another. This means that their powers and skills are partially transferred to each other, enabling them to work together with other Demons to uncover who was behind the attack on Isabella and who is plotting against the other demons and druids. At the end of the book, there's a kind of crescendo as the Nightwalkers fight against the evil humans to protect themselves, but mostly this book is a little slow in action with rather long passages where Gideon and Magdalegna talk about Imprinting with each other and talk to each other telepathically, talk to their relatives, and generally don't do a lot.

Although written in lush prose and with some interesting characters and skills, the paucity of the underlying plot is a weakness in Gideon. If you are happy to read about a romance which isn't actually a choice between people but their destiny, and how they learn to live with knowing each others' thoughts, this book is interesting enough. If you are interested in reading more character development and action and events, then Gideon may disappoint.