Review by Mar Watercolor -- Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole
Posted: 23 Apr 2017, 10:29
[Following is a volunteer review of "Raven's Peak" by Lincoln Cole.]
3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole. The first book in the World on Fire series of horror thrillers. Paranormal leads the way in the whole story. A veteran hunter, the Reverend, Arthur, is voluntarily locked in a special prison for the supernatural. He's claimed back by Frieda, his commander, because she needs his help back to keep the evil under control.
The prolog is the entire Arthur's inner fight about faith. His war against the evil has paid off and he's at the red line between mercy and ruin of his soul. The author gets the reader impregnated with all of his ghosts and it's very sensorial and pleasuring to read. “You aren’t a monster,” she whispered. “No,” he said. “I am your monster.” This part is the masterpiece of the whole book, very sensorial, visceral, it hypnotizes you.
“He took a rasping breath, blew it out, and cracked the lash again. More blood. More agony. More pleasure.”
Arthur's battle leads to the introduction on Abigail and Haatim, apparently having separated lives, but soon they get tied up together along the whole story. The young hunter is chasing her last target, a demon hosting a businessman who, to complete his plans, hires Haatim to stalk her and take pics of her. Haatim is a naive student fading away in his life. He lost his faith after his sister's death and he's looking for new experiences. Both characters collide, and they run many different sequences of action, horror and visceral experiences against the paranormal, with the only objective of looking for answers. He looks for the truth about himself which has been hidden from him, and she looks for the way to have back her most precious treasure. Along the way, they intertwine the many characters of the story, Haatim's parents, the students, Bret, his mother and finally Raven's Peak.
At a first sight, it seems that after the prolog, which is very interesting, the attention decreases because it's not as intense as the beginning. I think, more than that, everything happens very fast. The plot is brilliant. It's not easy no write a paranormal story which surprises the reader, nowadays. This one, I really loved the idea. It just needed to be a bit more squeezed. For example, the fights and pursuing are very detailed, perhaps to a limit where the reader skips some lines because it's a bit long but, in some points of the story that I find very interesting and passionate, like the hospital or the wandering of Bret and his story, I had the feeling I missed something. I turned back the pages looking for something more but no, that was it. I needed more there.
I like the evolution of Haatim. He goes from being quite selfish and naive to take responsibility of protecting the others. It's a very interesting line, and I would have loved to get deeper on it, to know a bit more about the character. “He steadied himself and then walked into the darkness.”
Abigail, instead, has no changes along the book. She's a hunter with a target, and it makes her intriguing somehow to the reader.
Beyond that, the crossing of the many characters is very well done, because it's always clear who's talking, who's thinking and in which moment it changes the narrator. It's not easy and I congratulate the author for that. Grammatically it's quite good, I just found a couple of errors, perfectly tolerated. It has many breaks which help you breath when the sequences are a bit long, it's appreciated.
At the end, I would have wanted a bit more explanation. It seems that everything is solved in a very spontaneous way. I liked it because I could really imagine it and hear that words in my mind because descriptions are accurate, but there was a missing chapter there. Something more. Anyways, I keep myself reserved because it's only the first of the books and perhaps this is made on purpose.
Summarizing, I give the book 3 out of 4 stars, because of those moments when the reader needs more depth down on the story, but I sincerely recommend it to all lovers of the paranormal and horror, because it's fresh, quick and complex. Congratulations to the author for such a brilliant plot.
******
Raven's Peak
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Mar Watercolor's review? Post a comment saying so!
3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole. The first book in the World on Fire series of horror thrillers. Paranormal leads the way in the whole story. A veteran hunter, the Reverend, Arthur, is voluntarily locked in a special prison for the supernatural. He's claimed back by Frieda, his commander, because she needs his help back to keep the evil under control.
The prolog is the entire Arthur's inner fight about faith. His war against the evil has paid off and he's at the red line between mercy and ruin of his soul. The author gets the reader impregnated with all of his ghosts and it's very sensorial and pleasuring to read. “You aren’t a monster,” she whispered. “No,” he said. “I am your monster.” This part is the masterpiece of the whole book, very sensorial, visceral, it hypnotizes you.
“He took a rasping breath, blew it out, and cracked the lash again. More blood. More agony. More pleasure.”
Arthur's battle leads to the introduction on Abigail and Haatim, apparently having separated lives, but soon they get tied up together along the whole story. The young hunter is chasing her last target, a demon hosting a businessman who, to complete his plans, hires Haatim to stalk her and take pics of her. Haatim is a naive student fading away in his life. He lost his faith after his sister's death and he's looking for new experiences. Both characters collide, and they run many different sequences of action, horror and visceral experiences against the paranormal, with the only objective of looking for answers. He looks for the truth about himself which has been hidden from him, and she looks for the way to have back her most precious treasure. Along the way, they intertwine the many characters of the story, Haatim's parents, the students, Bret, his mother and finally Raven's Peak.
At a first sight, it seems that after the prolog, which is very interesting, the attention decreases because it's not as intense as the beginning. I think, more than that, everything happens very fast. The plot is brilliant. It's not easy no write a paranormal story which surprises the reader, nowadays. This one, I really loved the idea. It just needed to be a bit more squeezed. For example, the fights and pursuing are very detailed, perhaps to a limit where the reader skips some lines because it's a bit long but, in some points of the story that I find very interesting and passionate, like the hospital or the wandering of Bret and his story, I had the feeling I missed something. I turned back the pages looking for something more but no, that was it. I needed more there.
I like the evolution of Haatim. He goes from being quite selfish and naive to take responsibility of protecting the others. It's a very interesting line, and I would have loved to get deeper on it, to know a bit more about the character. “He steadied himself and then walked into the darkness.”
Abigail, instead, has no changes along the book. She's a hunter with a target, and it makes her intriguing somehow to the reader.
Beyond that, the crossing of the many characters is very well done, because it's always clear who's talking, who's thinking and in which moment it changes the narrator. It's not easy and I congratulate the author for that. Grammatically it's quite good, I just found a couple of errors, perfectly tolerated. It has many breaks which help you breath when the sequences are a bit long, it's appreciated.
At the end, I would have wanted a bit more explanation. It seems that everything is solved in a very spontaneous way. I liked it because I could really imagine it and hear that words in my mind because descriptions are accurate, but there was a missing chapter there. Something more. Anyways, I keep myself reserved because it's only the first of the books and perhaps this is made on purpose.
Summarizing, I give the book 3 out of 4 stars, because of those moments when the reader needs more depth down on the story, but I sincerely recommend it to all lovers of the paranormal and horror, because it's fresh, quick and complex. Congratulations to the author for such a brilliant plot.
******
Raven's Peak
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like Mar Watercolor's review? Post a comment saying so!