4 out of 4 stars
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Who does not like a thriller book that starts out with a character that has similarities to Claude Frollo from Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame?
With Lincoln Coles Raven’s Peak, the first book of the world on fire series; The reader gets thrown into a dank, chilling setting with a man called the Reverend. This Character appears to be self destructive due to his self mutilating tendencies "Last winter he thought he might lose a finger to frostbite. He’d cherished the idea, but it wasn’t to be. He had looked forward to cutting it off. " (pg.12). As the story continues, one can't help but to start to sympathies with Reverend. After all, he did choose to imprison himself.
There is a turn of events for Reverend, a higher up hierarchy woman comes to ask the Reverend to do one more task for The Ninth Circle. A task that cannot be declined, as it is to combat a deadly demon. Reverend is the best at what he does. He is a hunter, a deadly demon hunter. Unknowing to the ninth circle, he will have to sacrifice himself to save the only true person he has in this world; his daughter, Abigail.
Abigail is an early twenties vixen. She is a power house leading female that most demons do not have a chance against. After all, her father is the Reverend. She will have to travel to a small hamlet named Ravens peak, with an accidental stowaway named Haatim. Abigail will have to face her past, present and future if she wants to escape the old mining town alive.
I personally enjoyed this book. It was suspenseful, and thrilling. There was no drag points that made you want to take a break from the book and maybe skip a few pages to the next entertaining part. I really enjoyed not having a drawn out character development period. I got to feel the characters out by the actions of the story. Essentially, I am being told that Abigail is a rough and tough young adult female but the use of action made the character more believable. The way that Haatim is basically a wimp, "He looked up, cowering, and saw the lithe black woman—Abigail" (pg. 53) and then he grows to this strong alley, defying demons; "You hide within that body because you are pathetic and malformed,” Haatim said. (pg.196). The growth of the characters were beautiful and fluid.
There is also the absolutely charming development of the smooth cliff hanger. I was consoled with how the story ended and still have curiosity for the next book. I dislike it when it seems like the author had a set number of words he or she wanted to write and just rushes the end. This was not at all Lincoln Coles writing style, he had excitement throughout the book and gave a refreshing conclusion. Wrapping up all the loose ends, except for one, the one that will make you come back for more. Brilliant. I rated this book 4 out of 4
There are two sentences in this novel that I thought were basically the same, "It was as if she'd just ran a marathon while taking an exam"(pg. 131) and "He felt sick to his stomach and ached all over like he’d just finished running a marathon while simultaneously writing a graduate-level term paper." (pg. 73) I completely understand that the author is trying to enforce the feeling of physical and mental exhaustion but I feel as if the author could have used another example; Like swimming across the ocean while using a new life saving device that needed exact mathematical equations or climbing mount Everest while trying to convince your spouse that bringing the children would not be a great idea regardless how great the experience. The first sentence is a gem, I find the second one being so closely related made this gem of lesser value.
The people I think that would enjoy this book are adults and young adults because of the content, there is some pretty gory spots but nothing a teenager couldn't handle. I would regard this novel as a thriller or suspense. It was exciting works and I cant wait to pick up the next novel.
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Raven's Peak
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