I received an ARC copy from the author but that has in no way influenced my review, which I freely chose to write.

I have been following The Great Devil War, since the first novel, The Devil’s Apprentice, and loved it. I must confess I easily lose patience with series, so that’s saying something. I’m pleased to report that I enjoyed this instalment too, and I can’t wait for the 6^th and last part, although I’m sure I’ll miss the characters once it’s over. One warning to people who hate cliff-hangers, this book ends in one, and it felt a bit shorter than most of the others, as if we were catching up with the characters after a long break and getting ready for the big finale, rather than telling a full story. But it is a good read nonetheless.

It has been a long while since we last heard from Philip, and when we catch up with him, he is not the same boy we met in the first novel. Readers who’ve been following the series don’t need to worry if they’ve read part four a while back, because, at the beginning of the book, Philip keeps pondering about the past and about the decisions that brought him here and that means we can easily get up to speed. Philip is unhappy and thinks he has taken the wrong decision, and of course, we all know that one needs to be careful what one wishes for, and strange things soon start happening. And then, he is back in Hell, but he soon realises that time moves at a different pace there and many things have happened since he was around. I won’t go into a lot of detail about the plot, but I can tell you that we visit Heaven again; Philip gets to spend more time with his father; there is a new character that will take your breath away (and one I’ve come across in other writers’ work as well); and a story development that I think might not come as a total surprise to readers.

There are the usual funny meetings and jokes (yes, you’d be pleased to know that politicians get a very suitable punishment), characters from the Old Testament have plenty of things to say about Jehovah and not all complimentary, and we have an opportunity to catch up our favourite characters.

Although the book starts a bit slow, and we get a look into a Philip more bitter and angry than we are used to, he soon gets thrown into the middle of things and I enjoyed seeing him become more and more determined and independent. There is evidence of a darker side to his character that we had had glimpses of before, but he has grown into a more complex character, and like Satina and even Sam, their experiences and their age have had an impact making them more mature and responsible, although that does not mean they no longer have fun.

I enjoyed catching up with all the characters, meeting the new ones, the interaction between Lucifer and Jehova, and although I’m not a fun of cliff-hangers, I know I won’t have to wait long for the true finale, and there are big and difficult decisions coming Philip’s way.

I recommend it to lovers of fantasy, particularly that to do with angels, demons, mythology, especially those who enjoy series, and of course, to those who have been following the series. This novel is book five in the series, and they should all be read in the right order for readers to enjoy it fully. If you haven’t read the rest, I recommend that you start from the beginning and keep going, and I’m sure I’ll be back soon to tell you about book 6.

[Star Wars The Jedi's Fallen Order]

[Console: PS4 Pro]

[Review by: Bluninja29]

***Spoilers Inside***

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PLOT:

The game starts off 5 years after Order 66. You play as Cal Krestis, A padawan who survived order 66 and is in hiding. He's a scrapper working with Prauf. Until they get into trouble and Cal has to use the force to save his friend. The Empire found out that Cal is a Jedi. Cal eventually escaped with help of two people Cere Junda and Greez Dritus. Cere tells Cal that he has to access an ancient vault that was built by the Zeffo. While Cal goes to The Ancient Vault, He is accompanied by a droid named BD-1. The Ancient Vault has a Jedi Holocron that has every youngling that has the force. They want to use it so they can rebuild The Jedi Order. So Cal has to go to planet to planet to unlock The Ancient Vault.

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GAMEPLAY:

The game is a third person, Hack 'n" Slash type game. Cal has a lot of moves at his disposal. Though they have to be unlocked by either playing through the story, or unlocking skills. His Skills are limited but open at the same time. He has a skill tree with three ways he can put skillpoints into: Force, LightSaber, & Survival. Cal can unlock skillpoints by killing enemies or inspecting something BD-1 can find. BD-1 also gets upgrades that can help you along the journey.

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PRESENTATION:

The game looks and sounds beautiful, but with some problems. There is frame drops and pop-ins. Though its only on the console version. Other than that I love all the planets, & the deep lore with each planet makes this experiance a pleasent one.

If you are a Star Wars geek or someone who wants to play a good hack 'n' slash game, then this game is for you.

Rating: 8/10

This is the third book in Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series (City of the Lost and Darkness Absolute) and it is one of my favourite series right now. If you like mystery, thrillers and small town secrets this series is for you.

It starts with hearing a plane overhead, normally this would not be a concern for most small towns, but Rockton is different, plane do not just find their way there. The town has only one plane and it is currently parked in the hanger. Casey and Dalton head for the hanger and see a plane lading on their runway.They get a shock when a new resident, Oliver Brady, for their town embarks, claiming that he innocent and has been sent here falsely. The council has sent them a dangerous criminal to keep imprisoned for at least 6 months. The longer Brady is imprisoned in Rockton the louder he states his innocence of the crimes he has supposedly committed. Rockton is not sent up to a prison and it is only a matter of time before some of the town folks believe him and then begins the biggest and deadliest man hunt in Rockton history..

If you finished Darkness Absolute, you were itching to get your hands on this book because of that cliffhanger ending, I was just happy I was late to the Rockton party and only had to wait for the book to come in the mail. This is one of my favourite thriller/mystery series out there and Armstrong is one of my favourite authors, so you can say that I have high hopes for all of her books. Overall I enjoyed this book. I liked that this book ventured a different path from the first two book in that is a man hunt book with sides of murder. This book does not stop from the very beginning and I really enjoyed the Cat and Mouse game that occurs both within Rockton and in the forest as well as mentally as people try to determine if Brady is innocent or not.

Once again having to rely on no technology in order to get things done. I like that they are training Storm to be a working dog especially a tracking dog. I also like that it seemed that Mathias is getting a larger role as I find him extremely fascinating in both his motives and all of the reasons that he was put in Rockton. He's such an interesting character and one you would never want to find yourself on the bad side of. I hope that we get to know even more about the other residence that live in Rockton especially with the new additions that occurred in this book. There are also some revelations about some of the people that Casey has relationships with in this book that I don't think most people will see coming.

Alright, I know that Casey and Duncan are making Storm into a working dog, but Storm was such a focal point throughout the story that other aspects suffered at times. I get that Storm is now an important part to Casey's life and job, and while Storm did find some key evidence some of the times that she ran away from Casey, it seemed to happen over and over again, that it became redundant. Maybe this was to showcase that dog never stops working, but there were quite a few times where she was more of a hindrance than an assets which makes me think that Casey should have just left her at home. I feel like in Casey's case most of the problems that she got into this book were caused by Storm. So I guess what I'm trying to say is I appreciate what Casey and Duncan are trying to do with Storm, I just don't want the dog training aspects to take away from the rest of the plot.

Another good addition to this series, I love the settings, characters and the overall lack of technology around. I look forward to seeing what Armstrong can come up with next for the town of Rockton.

Enjoy!!!!

    

Fallen Angel (A Raines & Shaw Thriller Book 1) by John Ling is an unconventional love story. I gave it four stars.

I received a complimentary copy from the author in a goodreads promotion. That did not change my opinion for this review.

"Now disgraced, Kendra becomes a ‘fallen angel’ — an operative considered too damaged to stay on the front lines. She is suspended from duty and sent back home."

 hh

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Angel-Raines-Shaw-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00CGE2XCG