Peter Last

RANTS AND RAMBLES

• • DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. For this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).
  • Military and weaponry inaccuracies will forever be my pet peeve. An inaccuracy, which in no way impedes the story or writing, appears in chapter 1 when two military personnel are referenced as Delta Force operators on one page and then as Force Recon Marines a few pages later. Because this only happened once, it is most likely due to modifications during the editing process and simply missing this small detail. I would, therefore, classify this inaccuracy as a mistake rather than an error.
  • One of my least favorite points of view (POV) for a novel, perhaps irrationally, is first person, present tense. I particularly dislike when it is used in a story with multiple main characters as this often makes it difficult to keep track of who “I” is in any particular scene. This is usually caused by each character being written very similarly to each other; however, in this case, each protagonist has their own personality, character traits, and voice which, combined with a distinct setting for each, makes it trivial to keep track of whose perspective the chapter is being seen from. Creed also uses the first person present tense POV efficiently to create intimate knowledge of the characters, drawing the reader into their struggles.
  • I touched on a few of the technical writing errors in the book in my main review; however, it is worth noting one situation which crops up a few times across the novel but is not technically an error. Creed uses the apostrophe-S construct in place of the word ‘is,’ and while this is technically correct, sometimes it looks a little weird. For example {His strawberry blond hair’s short…} reads a little oddly, and I would have probably written ‘hair is’ instead. It is, however, not technically wrong and doesn’t impede reading ability significantly.
  • TINY SPOILERS: The action is engrossing, visceral, and intimate. Flipping between worlds, one where Jacob is strong and capable and one where he struggles with his weakness, keeps things fresh and dynamic. Creed does not fall into the trap of believing all actions must involve physical confrontation between people. There are several sequences which do not involve interpersonal combat, a perfect example being an instance where people are working against the clock while holding off hordes of scorpions.
  • SMALL SPOILERS: This book is about religion, specifically Christianity, so it is understandably dense on these subjects. It can also be a bit preachy at times and has extended passages discussing religious theory. The allegory of the novel is also a bit hit-or-miss (it is important to note that the author may not think what I consider to be allegory in this novel is, in fact, completely allegory). Some parts of the allegory work well; for example, lions represent evils and sins of the world, a visible path is God’s will for a Christian, and water is the living water spoken of in the bible. Some parts are strangely insightful such as evil lions contrasted with the Lion of Judah (Jesus) to demonstrate how evil tries to imitate and twist what is good. Other aspects are a bit in your face like body fitness and sword length directly correlating to strength of faith. And some parts of the allegory are a bit inconsistent like characters eating scrolls instead of bread (everything else in the spiritual realm is analogous, so why is the ‘bread of life’ not represented as actual bread) or people in the spiritual realm swiping their fingers over empty space, related to swiping on a phone in the real world, when no other physical actions carry over from one realm to the other. The allegory is relatively effective in general, but may be a bit too broad. Topics include healing, faith, thoughts having power, temptation, spiritual strength, and more making for more jumbled, chaotic confusion than is necessary. It is possible that a smaller number of topics could have been explored more deeply, leading to a more effective allegory.
  • SMALL SPOILERS: Some oddities exist in the relationship between the spirit realm and the physical realm. For example, wounds in the spirit realm manifest in the real world in chapter 6 (though not prior), despite the fact that spiritual wounds are previously described as manifesting in the physical realm as depression, anxiety, and other non-visible ailments. These perceived inconsistencies may make sense if the two realms are beginning to merge. There is some evidence for this theory including a lion print in an oil spill on one of the boats and lion stench bleeding through from the spiritual realm to the physical.
  • SPOILERS: Creed’s skill as a writer can be seen across the breadth of this book, a good example being in the way she introduces concepts and themes into the story. In chapter 2, Sage has targeting thoughts about what is real and now, thoughts which work on many different levels. They relate to the present situation, being brought on by an interaction she has with Jacob. The thoughts themselves come from her past experiences and tell us about her past and outlook on life. This content is also one of the ways the themes of the book are set up early in the story. Because this interaction and the thoughts it produces relate to the past and present, they are organic to the story and make sense, even if they did not relate to the overarching themes of the book. This is a masterful way to hide foreshadowing in plain sight and a testament to the author’s skill.
  • SPOILERS: The budding relationship between Jacob and Sage is pretty good but does have a few issues. First, these characters never met before this book, and the events of the book only take a week or two at most. The level of intimacy they achieve is a little unrealistic, even more so considering that at least half of the book is spent in a spiritual realm where Jacob is growing and developing, but Sage is conspicuously absent. In the parts where they are together, they are often doing routine exercise and tests, leaving little time to build a wholly convincing relationship. It isn’t bad considering the circumstances, but it is a little difficult to buy the close connection the two share by the end of the novel.
  • SPOILERS: I really like the direction Creed took with the character of Sage. She is an intelligent individual with a backstory to support that. She is set up to be knowledgeable in fields applicable to the book, but Sage never really strays outside her areas of expertise (by contrast, Jacob’s knowledge of particle physics seems a bit more out of the ordinary). She is not a physical character, nor does the book push her into this arena. She should be more-or-less helpless in the situation, after all, the antagonists hold all the cards, yet she still manages to claw a certain measure of control from her powerless position. She is smart, resourceful, and always playing inside her wheelhouse. Examples include: stabbing needles all the way through Jacob’s arm to avoid giving him injections; expecting trouble and preparing seizure-inducing syringes ahead of time; drawing extra blood to use at a later date to fake specific physiological conditions; flushing Jacob’s tracker down a toilet to mimic his previous actions of falling through floors. Jacob is very physically able and Sage less so, yet Creed skillfully uses the strengths and weaknesses of both to force Sage to protect Jacob (and vice-versa), demonstrating that everyone has different skill sets, and everyone is important.