Rebecca's Reviews > Retribution

T G Ayer seems to be good at recreating the strong willed and determined independent young woman that seems to be regular heroines nowadays. Except of coure Ayer's heroines all have their own deep dark and often magical secrets and often live in a world like our own but where myths and legends and ancient cultures still exist beyond mere mortals vision.
In this book, the first of another new trilogy, the heroine is connected to a Brotherhood that is meant to protect and serve humanity. The focus of all conflict comes from the recent and sudden change of the leader. This is where an element of mystery and detective story blends in with the supernatural characters. The trio friendship of the heroine Evangeline is well characterised a they all handle the change differently and yet all agree that something isn't quite right. It is that unity and the determination of Evangeline to find the dirty secret behind the new power that leads to a kind of alliance with demons which sadly aren't as scary as I had hoped but I felt after reading the novel that they are more of a tainted mirror representation of Evangeline and her kind. More characters of a moral compass than plot devices taking it forwards. I must be honest and say that although the plot had some interesting twists I did feel that a lot of the crucial points, decisions, objects etc were a bit too convenient or told more via the narrator or openly and too easily revealed by characters. At some points things happened that were either easily predictable or just seemed a bit random.
For example, there is a point near the start where the narrator and reader observe characters instead of the heroine. In the latter half of the book I felt this narrative device could be utilised more as there was one line in the book where it suddenly became a first person narrator and not a third person narrator. In the latter half I was more curious about what was happening to the other characters introduced in the first half than the feeble challenges faced by our heroine.
The ending although fitting wasn't as dramatic or as powerful as it could have been. Even the very last line listing all the unfinished business shows that perhaps due to the complex nature of the plot the characters and story structure had to be a bit forced or set out and simplified.
On the whole there is an entertaining story to be enjoyed but I feel it does need to have more depth to it in the sequel in order to truly excite readers for the characters and plot or it may remain a tale that is too easily forgotten.