Review by Neha Y -- Hammer of the Gods by RK Wheeler
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Neha Y
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- Latest Review: Hammer of the Gods by RK Wheeler
Review by Neha Y -- Hammer of the Gods by RK Wheeler
[Following is a volunteer review of "Hammer of the Gods" by RK Wheeler.]
Hammer of the Gods by Robert Kenneth Wheeler is about two siblings, Angelica and Jonah, who are descendants of Azazyel, one of the twelve archangels. Azazyel was buried alive after taking a mortal wife and teaching humans how to make armor and weapons. The other archangels need to find him before Satan does to ensure that Azazyel’s power does not help Satan but he can only be found through one of his descendants. Angelica is attacked by a vampire, but saved and transported to Nome, Alaska by Gabriel, another archangel. There, she meets up with her brother who had been attacked by Satan and Cain to get the location of Azazyel. They meet various Nephilim that join them on their journey as they go to find Odin and convince him to help them fight Satan.
One major problem in this story is the characterization. Based on the characterization of Angelica, for example, I expected that she would speak and think more informally than the rest of the characters. While she is somewhat more informal, the level of formality assigned to her character does not make sense as she is 22 in the story. This is also true of Jonah and some of the other human Nephilim, such as Lorne and her family. Another problem is the placement of descriptions within the story. While the visualizations are effective, they feel somewhat disconnected from the story, as if they were more of an afterthought. In addition, Angelica’s physical structure is described once at the beginning of the book and once right before the final battle. This redundancy is not required and the description of her at the end of the book takes away from the actual storyline.
One thing I really enjoyed was the description of the final battle. It really drew my attention and kept me hooked for the entirety of the battle. In addition, I thought that Wheeler’s concept was interesting. Having the other major religions be derivatives of Christian angels is not something that I’ve seen in other books or series that combine multiple religions into their worlds. In addition, the idea that the remaining worlds are actually located inside the Earth, as opposed to on a separate planet or plane of existence was also interesting and Wheeler made it work with his story.
While the concept and world-building are interesting, the problems regarding the characterizations and visualizations make this book somewhat involved reading. These problems, unfortunately, mean that more attention is required to focus on what is actually going on in the story as I often had to search for the plot and look past the characterizations or visualizations. In addition, there were many errors, and it seems as though it was not professionally edited due to how many I found. As a result, I rate this a 2 out of 4 stars.
I think this book would be great for people who are interested in adventure stories, especially treasure hunt-style stories. However, as a trigger warning, it is very Christian-centric, making claims throughout the book that Christianity is the one true religion.
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Hammer of the Gods
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Hammer of the Gods by Robert Kenneth Wheeler is about two siblings, Angelica and Jonah, who are descendants of Azazyel, one of the twelve archangels. Azazyel was buried alive after taking a mortal wife and teaching humans how to make armor and weapons. The other archangels need to find him before Satan does to ensure that Azazyel’s power does not help Satan but he can only be found through one of his descendants. Angelica is attacked by a vampire, but saved and transported to Nome, Alaska by Gabriel, another archangel. There, she meets up with her brother who had been attacked by Satan and Cain to get the location of Azazyel. They meet various Nephilim that join them on their journey as they go to find Odin and convince him to help them fight Satan.
One major problem in this story is the characterization. Based on the characterization of Angelica, for example, I expected that she would speak and think more informally than the rest of the characters. While she is somewhat more informal, the level of formality assigned to her character does not make sense as she is 22 in the story. This is also true of Jonah and some of the other human Nephilim, such as Lorne and her family. Another problem is the placement of descriptions within the story. While the visualizations are effective, they feel somewhat disconnected from the story, as if they were more of an afterthought. In addition, Angelica’s physical structure is described once at the beginning of the book and once right before the final battle. This redundancy is not required and the description of her at the end of the book takes away from the actual storyline.
One thing I really enjoyed was the description of the final battle. It really drew my attention and kept me hooked for the entirety of the battle. In addition, I thought that Wheeler’s concept was interesting. Having the other major religions be derivatives of Christian angels is not something that I’ve seen in other books or series that combine multiple religions into their worlds. In addition, the idea that the remaining worlds are actually located inside the Earth, as opposed to on a separate planet or plane of existence was also interesting and Wheeler made it work with his story.
While the concept and world-building are interesting, the problems regarding the characterizations and visualizations make this book somewhat involved reading. These problems, unfortunately, mean that more attention is required to focus on what is actually going on in the story as I often had to search for the plot and look past the characterizations or visualizations. In addition, there were many errors, and it seems as though it was not professionally edited due to how many I found. As a result, I rate this a 2 out of 4 stars.
I think this book would be great for people who are interested in adventure stories, especially treasure hunt-style stories. However, as a trigger warning, it is very Christian-centric, making claims throughout the book that Christianity is the one true religion.
******
Hammer of the Gods
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Hammer of the Gods by RK Wheeler
