Review by Ivan L -- Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole

[Ivan L]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Raven's Peak" by Lincoln Cole.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Raven’s Peak is the first book in the World On Fire trilogy written by Lincoln Cole. The book follows the story of two protagonists named Haatim and Abigail. The story is told through the perspective of both characters, switching from one to the other periodically. This was done skillfully for the most part, with one perspective ending just as I craved to read more of their side and the other beginning only to end in the same way. At first, the book may seem to lead towards a religious overview of things, but I like the small little changes to religion, specifically Christianity that were made that makes it not seem over bearing. And the sense of the book being ingrained within religion dies down as it progresses. Religion within the book is used mainly as a way of naming things and explaining things and doesn’t become the main focus of the book as I initially feared.

Haatim is a young man who lives outside of the United States but came to the U.S. twice. The first time was to get his degree in theology, and the second time is when his sister dies and he seeks to escape from his family and his grief. It is during his second stay that the book takes place. During this second stay, Haatim is looking for things to keep himself busy and ends up unknowingly thrust into a life he doesn’t yet understand. Haatim is paid to be a private detective and follow the stalker of a man named George Wertman. The stalker turns out to be Abigail who had made a short appearance earlier in the book but hadn’t come through as an important character until now. Abigail was following George for a reason, she was keeping tabs on him for the organization which employs her. As the story progresses, Haatim ends up being saved by Abigail from death and another even worse fate. Haatim is forced to follow Abigail through her assignment for he was still being hunted for reasons he didn’t understand.

Much of the book seems to be told from Haatim’s perspective, focusing in on how much he doesn’t yet understand about the world within which he has been living. The way the story was told had me on the edge of my seat, wanting to know and learn more about the world within which he lived, a world which was very like our own. Most of the book seemed to have Haatim running on pure adrenaline, always moving, always trying to stay alive by following Abigail. The point of Haatim being on pure adrenalin is only enhanced by how he just acts out of instinct or impulse. Abigail, on the other hand, seems to be in a constant fight with herself. On one hand she blames herself for the disappearance of her mentor and father figure and she wants to go looking for him, but on the other hand, she has the life time of ingrained obedience to her institution and a sense of duty to follow its rule.

Over all, I’d give the book a 3 out of 4 stars. The book is a wonderful read and keeps the reader's interest throughout the whole time, even leaving a great scene to end with before transitioning to the second book. But, it’s 3 out of 4 stars for the following reasons. The start of the book is rather slow, it takes a little while for the story to really start going. This is especially disappointing since the prologue to it is rather good. The characters seem simple. While yes, they don’t come off as being one dimensional, you don’t really see any growth in the characters until the very end, and even then, only one of them seems to grow. As I mentioned, Haatim seems to be going off of adrenaline and instinct rather than anything, but that can only go so far as to explain why he does the things he does. His character can be expanded, as well as Abigail’s who’s even at a worse place than Haatim. She seems to be constantly trying to figure out if she should obey or rebel and do what she wants. There are however glorious moments and snippets where the conversations the two are having seem real and full of life, but the majority of the time they didn’t seem to come off as being alive to me.

The book deserves three stars and not two for a number of different reasons. For one, the book is extremely interesting. The story isn’t too complex, but it doesn’t come off as simple either, it had me guessing at what would happen next. The fights are written well, with just enough detail to have it visualized as they are read, gore and all. The main antagonist in the book was done well in my opinion. A lot of times the main enemy is hyped up to be some extremely dangerous threat, but they often fall flat on their face when confronted by the protagonist. But, pleasingly enough the antagonist within this book was everything that one expected when encountering them. The book also boasts an impressive amount of supernatural abilities which are used rarely and when they are, they become these moments of awe inspiring powers. If they were used more often, the awe the readers gets from them would be lost, so their rare use is a great choice

******
Raven's Peak
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

Like Ivan L's review? Post a comment saying so!

[testing123456]

Good review! I'm glad you're interested in the story

[Wael El-Manzalawy]

Hi Ivan L,
Very good review.

[Ayosinmi]

Very nice review. I think I will like to read this book, I really enjoy your review. Please check out my reviews of Breaking sandcastles, Escape, Lemoncella cocktail, My trip to Adele, and Searching for Paradise. I look forward to hearing from you.