Review by cherryalakei -- Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole
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cherryalakei
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Review by cherryalakei -- Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole
[Following is a volunteer review of "Raven's Peak" by Lincoln Cole.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Normally when I read a book, I can tell by the first few pages if I’m going to like it or not. The first few pages of this book definitely drew me in, with the character of “The Reverend” and his imprisonment, and insanity- the underground black site he has been committed to, the somewhat sci fi feel of the description of Frieda reminded me of something I’d see on the X-Files.
Although what I thought the story was going to be from the first page proved to be something obviously different.
One of my first notes about the book was:
“Well the first line is ‘You have a visitor Reverend.’ He couldn’t tell when he fell in love with the pain.
This is going to be good.
The Reverend a masochist? Tell me more.
I think I’m going to be into this one.
However, “The Reverend” or Arthur as is his name, doesn’t really appear in the story as much more than a plot point for our main character Abigail.
The crux of the story is about Abigail; who is Arthur’s adopted daughter. Arthur saves Abigail when she is a child, and pretty much raises her as his own. Arthur and Abigail are part of a clandestine organization known as “The Council”, which serves to protect the world and humanity from supernatural forces and evil; and an opposing clandestine bad guy organization known as “The Ninth Circle.”
Our story begins with Arthur saving Abigail from being possessed, by taking the demon in himself to free Abigail, which has multiple consequences. Abigail doesn’t remember what happened before being possessed and basically moves on with her life, continuing to hunt, and look for leads on what happened to Arthur to determine if he is alive. We meet our second main character, Haatim (which I had no clue if it was pronounced hate-em or hah-team and went with the first one), who is down on his faith after losing his sister to cancer. He’s got daddy issues, as his dad is super religious and didn’t seek treatment for his sister because “it was in God’s hands”. He’s working off his sorrow in Arizona where a chance meeting with a man who seems slightly paranoid hires him to tail his “stalker”, who turns out to be Abigail. The two of them end up in a sticky situation which brings Haatim into Abigail’s world, and along for one hell of a ride-literally.
I am a newbie to the supernatural thriller genre as far as books go, but definitely not new to the genre as a whole. I love supernatural things- most predominately vampires and mythological stuff, but I also love supernatural horror as well. I’m a HUGE fan of the television show Supernatural, loved the X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and even though I stopped watching after season 3- I am a fan of The Walking Dead. I can’t deny the fact that at the mention of the demon Abaddon, part of my fangirl nature was squealing because I understood the reference because of being a longtime Supernatural fan. I’m sure my exposure to all 13 seasons of the show definitely had an impact on how receptive I was and how I saw the story. For me at times it read almost as if it were a side story of Supernatural- like an episode following hunters who weren’t Sam and Dean. If you’re not a fan of the show, trust me when I say that’s a huge compliment.
There were a few problems for me though. There were a few grammatical errors, or sentence issues but it wasn’t enough to deter me. One of the main problems I had was the pacing. While in reality the story moved pretty quickly, for me it felt at times as if was actually moving slower. This seemed to go back and forth for me. Also, I understood the prologue setting up the story, yet when I finished chapter 9 and the next chapter was an interlude of something completely different I was a bit thrown. The flow of Haatim and Abigail’s story just kind of went cliffhanger and I had to get used to something new that hadn’t been introduced yet. The interlude was beneficial to the story, and I understood where it was going, but it kind of felt like when you watch an episode of Law and Order and you get those cut scenes between the beginning of the show when you see the murder and then boom! Next scene is the detectives sitting in their precinct or out on the streets. It’s jarring, even if it is necessary. I also had a lot of trouble keeping up with reading. It was one of those books that I’d read for a few hours, stop and come back a few days later. I wanted to finish it, but I didn’t find myself shirking my adult responsibilities to read it like I have with other books.
There is zero romance in this book, and for once I kind of enjoyed it. It would have been easy to make Haatim and Abigail have feelings for each other, but I much rather preferred their banter instead. It takes a lot to get me interested in a story that doesn’t have ANY romantic plots or side plots. Again, this is as favorable of a compliment from me as I could probably give.
My favorite thing in this book is Abigail. She is a total bad-ass. I love books with strong female characters, and Abigail is definitely that. She’s complex, but not whiny or riddled by guilt. She’s a survivor, tough and independent and true to herself. She also kicks demon butt, and is all around a really fresh character to read for me. I would be very interested to continue her story.
I give the book 3 out of 4 stars. I couldn’t give it 2 because it was really written well. I enjoyed the style of this author VERY MUCH, and despite some of my issues I had, I didn’t see those issues as pivotal reasons for me to discount the book as a whole. However, I couldn’t give this book 4 stars, because I did have trouble coming back to it on more than one occasion. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes the supernatural genre, and reading about demons and hunters. I was intrigued enough with the story that I would definitely like to check out Lincoln Cole’s other books in the series.
******
Raven's Peak
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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Normally when I read a book, I can tell by the first few pages if I’m going to like it or not. The first few pages of this book definitely drew me in, with the character of “The Reverend” and his imprisonment, and insanity- the underground black site he has been committed to, the somewhat sci fi feel of the description of Frieda reminded me of something I’d see on the X-Files.
Although what I thought the story was going to be from the first page proved to be something obviously different.
One of my first notes about the book was:
“Well the first line is ‘You have a visitor Reverend.’ He couldn’t tell when he fell in love with the pain.
This is going to be good.
The Reverend a masochist? Tell me more.
I think I’m going to be into this one.
However, “The Reverend” or Arthur as is his name, doesn’t really appear in the story as much more than a plot point for our main character Abigail.
The crux of the story is about Abigail; who is Arthur’s adopted daughter. Arthur saves Abigail when she is a child, and pretty much raises her as his own. Arthur and Abigail are part of a clandestine organization known as “The Council”, which serves to protect the world and humanity from supernatural forces and evil; and an opposing clandestine bad guy organization known as “The Ninth Circle.”
Our story begins with Arthur saving Abigail from being possessed, by taking the demon in himself to free Abigail, which has multiple consequences. Abigail doesn’t remember what happened before being possessed and basically moves on with her life, continuing to hunt, and look for leads on what happened to Arthur to determine if he is alive. We meet our second main character, Haatim (which I had no clue if it was pronounced hate-em or hah-team and went with the first one), who is down on his faith after losing his sister to cancer. He’s got daddy issues, as his dad is super religious and didn’t seek treatment for his sister because “it was in God’s hands”. He’s working off his sorrow in Arizona where a chance meeting with a man who seems slightly paranoid hires him to tail his “stalker”, who turns out to be Abigail. The two of them end up in a sticky situation which brings Haatim into Abigail’s world, and along for one hell of a ride-literally.
I am a newbie to the supernatural thriller genre as far as books go, but definitely not new to the genre as a whole. I love supernatural things- most predominately vampires and mythological stuff, but I also love supernatural horror as well. I’m a HUGE fan of the television show Supernatural, loved the X-Files and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and even though I stopped watching after season 3- I am a fan of The Walking Dead. I can’t deny the fact that at the mention of the demon Abaddon, part of my fangirl nature was squealing because I understood the reference because of being a longtime Supernatural fan. I’m sure my exposure to all 13 seasons of the show definitely had an impact on how receptive I was and how I saw the story. For me at times it read almost as if it were a side story of Supernatural- like an episode following hunters who weren’t Sam and Dean. If you’re not a fan of the show, trust me when I say that’s a huge compliment.
There were a few problems for me though. There were a few grammatical errors, or sentence issues but it wasn’t enough to deter me. One of the main problems I had was the pacing. While in reality the story moved pretty quickly, for me it felt at times as if was actually moving slower. This seemed to go back and forth for me. Also, I understood the prologue setting up the story, yet when I finished chapter 9 and the next chapter was an interlude of something completely different I was a bit thrown. The flow of Haatim and Abigail’s story just kind of went cliffhanger and I had to get used to something new that hadn’t been introduced yet. The interlude was beneficial to the story, and I understood where it was going, but it kind of felt like when you watch an episode of Law and Order and you get those cut scenes between the beginning of the show when you see the murder and then boom! Next scene is the detectives sitting in their precinct or out on the streets. It’s jarring, even if it is necessary. I also had a lot of trouble keeping up with reading. It was one of those books that I’d read for a few hours, stop and come back a few days later. I wanted to finish it, but I didn’t find myself shirking my adult responsibilities to read it like I have with other books.
There is zero romance in this book, and for once I kind of enjoyed it. It would have been easy to make Haatim and Abigail have feelings for each other, but I much rather preferred their banter instead. It takes a lot to get me interested in a story that doesn’t have ANY romantic plots or side plots. Again, this is as favorable of a compliment from me as I could probably give.
My favorite thing in this book is Abigail. She is a total bad-ass. I love books with strong female characters, and Abigail is definitely that. She’s complex, but not whiny or riddled by guilt. She’s a survivor, tough and independent and true to herself. She also kicks demon butt, and is all around a really fresh character to read for me. I would be very interested to continue her story.
I give the book 3 out of 4 stars. I couldn’t give it 2 because it was really written well. I enjoyed the style of this author VERY MUCH, and despite some of my issues I had, I didn’t see those issues as pivotal reasons for me to discount the book as a whole. However, I couldn’t give this book 4 stars, because I did have trouble coming back to it on more than one occasion. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes the supernatural genre, and reading about demons and hunters. I was intrigued enough with the story that I would definitely like to check out Lincoln Cole’s other books in the series.
******
Raven's Peak
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like cherryalakei's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "30th Century: Escape" by Mark Kingston Levin
