3 out of 4 stars
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I was given a free digital copy of Raven's Peak by onlinebookclub in exchange for an honest review.
The story follows Demon Hunter Abigail on a personal crusade fueled by guilt and rage towards the demons who took something irreplaceable from her. Abigail is headstrong and does not play well with others. She repeatedly breaks the rules and ignores direct orders. Haatim, is an intelligent yet naive rich boy with Daddy issues who fled his native India, returning to America - the place he went to college - after the death of his sister. He blames God for her death and is engulfed in a crisis of faith when he is offered a unique and strangely tempting job offer.
Abigail and Haatim's worlds collide as Haatim finds himself trapped in supernatural crossfire. Abigail is forced to save his life, initially a major inconvenience to her, she discovers he is more than the shy book smart, world shy boy she thought he was. Thrown together they follow reports of strange happenings in the sleepy mountain town of Raven's Peak where they stumble into the path of an incredibly powerful demon who has possessed a young boy and is wreaking havoc throughout the town. Our unlikely duo fight to save the town from annihilation whilst battling demons of their own.
Overall, there were a lot of things I liked about this book. The character development of Abigail and Haatim being a high point. Haatim matures and Abigail softens. They become friends and help affect other in lasting ways.
Another positive for me was the action scenes,the fast paced tension made me want to keep reading. Parts of this book were real page turners. Paranormal aspects were fantastic and sprinkled with just enough realism to keep the story grounded and believable.
I liked the paranormal gore. Descriptions of gore, torture and murder may not be to everyone’s taste but I’m a huge fan of the Walking Dead so this was right up my street. This book includes heads on spikes, torn out intestines, throat slitting and a variety of other ways to die. I also appreciated the diversity of the main characters. Abigail is black, Haatim is Indian this breaks the all too familiar mold of the white male operative in this genre. I also liked that the book covers all different religions are under Haatims studies and knowledge.
Onto the not so good stuff, the first chapter of Raven’s Peak is absolutely sensational, the story starts with a hell of a bang but then fizzles and takes a while to get going again. Some parts of description are superfluous such as repeated use of ‘hand cross bow’ in a later chapter and over use of cliches such as he ‘released a breath he didn’t know he was holding’ and ‘hit her like a ton of bricks’. There are also a couple of errors in writing. For example at one point a character changes gender in the course of one sentence ‘This one had his sleeves rolled up and tattoos covering her arms’.
The novel is called Raven’s Peak but we don’t arrive there until past the halfway point of the story.
My biggest bug bear with this book though is the ending. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it, I will say though that I understand that this is book one of a series and that the author wants us to read the next installment but this book stops abruptly. We go from action, action, action to the end in a matter of a page. A huge disappointment. I can see the cliff hanger but for me instead of ‘I must get the next book now’ I felt ‘is that it?’.
Overall, I have to say that I did enjoy the book, plus first books can be a bit wobbly. I'd like to read the next installment and see what happens next. If you like fantasy stories, demons and actions scenes and can ignore a few errors here and there I think you would enjoy Raven's Peak. It is a tale of murder, deception, faith and family and is definitely worth a read.
I give this book 3 out of 4 stars.
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Raven's Peak
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