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

[KITtheKAT]

[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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Raven’s Peak is a dark fantasy by Lincoln Cole, set in modern times, which is a nice change from the usual period fantasies. It opens with the Reverend, a mysterious character in a prison cell, who has a dark past that he’s seeking penance for. Under some difficult circumstances, he disappears while trying to save his adopted daughter, Abigail, as part of his penance. Months later, Abigail, still determined to get him back, runs into Haatim, a spoilt but depressed graduate who gets dragged into her world despite having seemingly no connection to it. Together they travel to Raven’s Peak, and on the way fight with demons to protect innocent people from them.

I’d give it a 3 out of 4. I think it’s a really good book. It’s a little short for my liking though, but right from the start it takes you into the pages (or in my case, phone) and doesn’t let you go. It’s fast paced but keeps it steady- for the most part. It somehow ended up at the climax before I knew it was time to get there. There were a few mistakes with the syntax, but that’s forgivable.

The things I liked most about the book was the characterisation. I thought that it would go the way most Dark Fantasy’s go, where the characters are completely archetypal and it follows a very basic outline that you can clearly see. By the end, I knew I was wrong. I mean, it did have a very clear route, but at least the characters weren't flat.

Initially, I thought Abigail was going to be your run-of-the-mill Angelina-Jolie-movie type character, meaning that she’d come in swinging and then hand the reigns over to the inept male main character even though he only had a day to prepare. I was pleasantly surprised when she ended up staying on top of things and had an actual personality- one with flaws.

I read the Official Review by ashley_claire (who is great and if she gave jumping off a cliff a good review, I'd already be down there), which mentioned that Haatim was a source of irritation for that particular reviewer. I get that- like I said he’s spoilt and inept, and he tends to get in the way, but at the end, he appears to have a real gift. It’s only the first book in this series, and it was a really short one. I’m choosing to have faith in this author to have some character development in the next one. The next one is ‘Raven’s Fall’, which came out last year. I have a feeling that Lincoln Cole will pull a ‘take-Hermione-out-of-the-picture-so-Ron-and-Harry-can’t-depend-on-her’.

A warning- If you don’t like a lot of religious imagery in your books, don’t bother with this one. It's there from page one and is a really big part of the story. I personally think that Dark Fantasy needs a little bit of religion to make it interesting. I’m probably going to buy the second book because I’m invested and I can’t stop now, but I need money first because it was free in March, and it is no longer March (I was late to the party ).

This review is just my opinion and other people will have different opinions. This review might also be a bad review, but that depends on your opinion. That’s why I always end my opinions with, “I don’t know, it’s up to you”.

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Raven's Peak
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[Manang Muyang]

Hi, KITtheKAT! I totally enjoyed your review! Hope to read more from you.

[KITtheKAT]

Miriam Molina, thanks! I'm really excited to be here!