Review by centfie -- Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole

[Sophy Chunge]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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Lincoln Cole is the author of the science fiction novel, Raven's Peak (2016.) This is the first book of the series under the subtitle ‘World on Fire.’ Raven’s Peak tells the story of a young woman known as Abigail in her quest to fight evil caused by the supernatural. She is on a mission to find her father, Arthur who sacrificed himself to save her from the hands of a powerful demon. The organization she works for is known as the Council of Chaldea and is headed by man known as Aram. As fate would have it Abigail teams up with a blogger named Haatim.

The author weaves a thrilling story of how they battle evil and an organization called the Ninth Circle. He makes the narrative more interesting by the use of dialogue and delightful humor. The descriptions of places, characters, horrific scenes and their actions are vividly given, hence, giving the reader an easy time to form a mental picture of the events in the plot. The narrative contains various themes such as religion, family ties, friendship, justice and inequality. The setting of the story is at a town called Raven's Peak. Therefore, it is fitting that the author decided to chose it as the title of the book and to include a picture of a raven resting on a peak as a cover illustration.

I was impressed with the organized chapters in the book. It starts with a prologue which explains the underlying events that lead to the major quest of the main character. Then, there is an interlude before Chapter 9 to explain to the reader what is happening at Raven’s Peak before the main character arrives there. Then, the epilogue after the 18th chapter raises another issue that the main character is faced with.The book left me desiring more and I can't wait to start reading the next book of the series.

I feel like giving Raven's Peak a full rating but there are a few weaknesses which I spotted which drive me to give the book 3 out of 4 stars. There are several omissions and confusions in the interlude part. There is a mix-up of characters and events that can confuse the reader.

Firstly, the author introduces the college students in the cabin and gives the names of individuals in "the entire group" as Becky, Alex, Mary, Aniya and Derrick. He forgets to mention Kurt who pairs up with Becky. Furthermore, instead of Derrick pairing up with Aniya, it is said Tim does so because Aniya is his girlfriend, yet there is no character called Tim mentioned, when the names were listed. Also, when Abigail and Haatim arrive at the cabin, there is loud music that was "cranked up to the max." However, when they knock on the door the reader is told that “it was quiet.” And then later when they enter Haatim turns down the loud music that was spilling out of the speakers. The contradiction seems sloppy rather than stylistic. Frieda calls Abigail to tell her she has two hours, Haatim asks for an extension and Abigail is told that she has one hour but then she thanks Haatim for the more time given. It is confusing to the reader. I also spotted the over use of one simile “it was as if she had just run a marathon while taking an exam” and a few other grammatical issues that I cannot include in this review. They can easily be rectified by professional in-depth editing.

Otherwise, the tale in Raven's Peak is so engrossing that the reader can almost forget that it is fiction. I would recommend this book to the readers who love the excitement of thrillers, science fiction, fantasy or horror stories. When you start reading this book, you will not put it down.

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Raven's Peak
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[kandscreeley]

Nice review. This was a pretty enjoyable read, but it could probably use another round of editing. Thanks for your thoughts on this one.

[Amagine]

I enjoyed Raven's Peak a little bit. I had to read it for BOTM in April. It's not a genre that I would normally read but I still enjoyed some aspects of it.

Great Review! ?

[Jaime Lync]

Yes, great review! I also read and reviewed this and mentioned that the college student names got messed up at one point in time. I am so glad someone else picked up on it.

[Sophy Chunge]

Thank you for your encouraging comments about this review