3 out of 4 stars
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The beginning of Raven's Peak, the first book of the series World on Fire by Lincoln Cole, is one heck of a rollercoaster ride inside a haunted house. The story starts with a prologue, introducing Arthur, also known as The Reverend, dragging the demon who had possessed his adopted daughter Abigail, back to hell with him in order to save her. Before we could find out what happened next, the story shifts to its first chapter, a new character named Haatim Arison had met George Wertner, a stranger who suddenly offered him a job: to photograph the man's stalker. Haatim said yes, not knowing it would change his life dramatically. To add to the thrill, Abigail Dressler, who was not properly introduced in the prologue before, popped in this scene with a mission to kill George. After a series of shifting from Abigail and Haatim's point of view, Haatim ended up being chased with corpses and demons and Abigail saved him. Then she told him about her mission and about The Council, an organisation made to defeat and deal with supernatural beings, mostly demons. She also told him about Arthur, of how she has been spending the past five months after the incident, trying to find him or trying to find a way to save him, which the Council does not really approve of.
After George was killed, Abigail was being sent off to another mission: to check the reported anomalies happening at Raven's Peak, a small town away from the city. The duo arrived at the place, and what was deemed to be just a small task, ended up being the greatest tragedy and the greatest adventure of all time.
What really fascinated me with this book is that the whole story sent shivers down my spine. From the prologue down to the epilogue it terrified me that I actually didn't read it in the dark. The way the author described the place is enough to paint such vivid pictures in my head that will surely conjure up nightmares. I could almost always feel the silence in the room. The emotions each character feels are so raw and intense that you could actually feel when they're confused, terrified, angry and heartbroken. And all of these continued until the end of the book. Also, aside from these intense vibe, the ending of each chapter never failed to surprise me. They're like cliffhangers that make you want to turn the page immediately.
However, in the first chapters, before the interlude, there's a lot of subplots happening. I understand that since it's the first book of the series and the author needs to lay the groundwork, the foundation. But somehow, it leads to too much information and yet too many holes to be filled in. I actually had a hard time writing the summary and even wondering where to start because of too many subplots before the main one. Although, at the interlude part of the book, everything goes back in perfect motion. A lot of things made sense, especially the title of the book, and you now know where the plot is simply going. And somehow, the plot just rises and rises and everything's happening too fast during this part. Abigail and Haatim have to save the town in an hour or else everyone, including them, will end up dead. I mean, so far, the plot is not on a plateau even though it’s already in the middle.
Unfortunately, the characters of the book seem to have no distinct characteristics. At some point, I was even wondering if the one talking was Abigail or Haatim. The way they think, the way they talk or even in how they view things are indistinguishable. Abigail has this amazing courage and fiery determination in finding Arthur while Haatim has this depressive state over his sister's death and a what-do-I-do-with-my-life kind of attitude. Somehow, their line of thinking and the tone of their voices don’t reflect such different attitudes. I'm not talking about an accent or the way they pronounce the words, but both them have been set with the same tone or the same feeling since the beginning of the story.
Also, the parts where they do a fight scene, where they throw things and use some moves with their body, are described with elaborate details that sometimes my mind couldn’t catch up on what's happening. The author gave a lot of words to describe one move and a counter-attack that my mind tried too hard to process. Not only that, but while the fight is going on, the author also tells you what's happening inside the mind of the fighter and what they're feeling and it's just too much information to soak up especially during a fight scene. I have encountered a lot of these scenes in other books but I barely took notice of them since I didn’t have trouble picturing the fight.
As the story moves to the end, the plot also moves slowly downward which is a very good thing rather than a sudden downhill on a steep slope. Moreover, the epilogue is such a perfect finish to the first book of the series. It actually would make you want to anticipate the next book. And honestly, I was so bummed out when I knew I was nearing to the end and have to wait for the next one in who-knows when.
Raven's Peak is both interesting and terrifying at the same time. I have never read such a book that terrified me to the core of my bones. The author is clearly gifted in having your hairs stood up in their ends and is capable enough to give the reader a nightmare. I'd give the book a perfect rating if I could, but I couldn't ignore the fact that the fight scenes somehow are not that well-written. Though it's okay if they don’t make up half the book, but in this case, they do. And those scenes play a crucial part in the story. But overall, I never disliked what I'm reading and I am clearly anticipating the next book. That's enough to give it a 3 out of 4 stars rating. It is terrifyingly splendid. If you're new to suspense-thriller and horror books, then I would definitely recommend this as a perfect read. However, if you're someone who has already been into horror genres before, then this might turn out to be not that really scary at all.
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Raven's Peak
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