3 out of 4 stars
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Raven’s Peak is the first book in the World on Fire trilogy of fantasy horror novels by author Lincoln Cole.
The battle between good and evil is a staple of many fictional stories and Raven’s Peak is no exception. However, Lincoln Cole manages to do what many others can’t, he blurs the line between good and evil and forces his character’s to make many decision that put a strain on their moral compass.
The book starts off with one of the best Prologues I have ever read. We meet Arthur; a dark, mysterious and clearly troubled character, locked in a prison of sorts. The events that unfold throughout the Prologue are deliciously dark and tense and set the pace for a read I knew I wouldn’t be able to put down.
In Chapter 1 we meet Haatim, back in his old college town where he’s mourning for his little sister whose life was so unnecessarily cut short by cancer. The loss of his sister results in him questioning his faith and causes a rift between him and his oft absent father. Haatim struggles to pull himself out of the depths of his despair until he meets Abigail.
Abigail is the former apprentice of Arthur, a tough girl by all accounts and in many ways the polar opposite of Haatim. But by the mysterious workings of fate Haatim is pulled from his sheltered life into Abigail’s world of danger, demons, and tough decisions. Together they form a slightly odd team but through strength of character and force of will they battle it out to the very end.
All and all it was a very enjoyable read and I finished the book in no time at all, there are however a few faults. The biggest fault being that the characters felt a bit one-dimensional, I can’t really put my finger on a concrete reason for this, but I struggled to connect with Haatim and Abigail. I felt like I had much more of a connection with Arthur. The other was that the story ran out of steam near the end. I do however, appreciate the fact that the author has to reserve material for the sequels and look forward to reading those. Lastly there are the editorial issues, there were quite a few punctuation and spelling errors throughout the book. This is not uncommon in pdf versions such as the one I was reading, but there were an uncommonly large amount of both.
I rate the book 3 out of 4 stars and think that with slightly “stronger” characters it could have been a 4 out of 4. I would recommend this book to anyone new to the genre, as the horror element is not too overboard and the story is easy to follow and highly enjoyable.
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Raven's Peak
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