Author: Jonathan L Ferrara
Publisher: Dragonwell Publishing
Rating: WARTY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often reward aplenty!
This novel is about Nicholas (who for some reason is never referred to as Nick. Is that because 'Old Nick' is a name for the devil?)! Anyway Nick, at an early age, witnesses the murder of his mother and father by two men who are intent upon finding where his parents have "hidden sin"! Just as he fears he's about to be captured, he's rescued, and finds himself in hospital where a nurse promptly tries to kill him!
He's saved by a man who introduces himself by saying, "My name is Father Henry". I hate it when writers do that. His name is Henry. His title is 'Father'. Do writers not get this? Why not simply have him introduce himself with, "I'm Father Henry"? Yes, call me picky, but I expect a lot more from writers than I all-too-often get. We can change things. We can lift readers to a higher level which will benefit everyone, but we can't do it with sloppy writing.
There's another such instance of oddball writing on that same screen, because in the next paragraph but one, Father Henry confidently declares that the Vatican is the highest authority of the Catholic church. I didn't realize the Catholic church had dispensed with both the Pope and with their god (as well as the Bible)! Hmm! Actually given the behavior of that particular church, it really doesn't surprise me!
It seems obvious from the start that Nick is the 'place' in which his parents chose to hide the sin they stole, but why they deliberately elected to put their only son at risk is a mystery. Or is it his plush toy that they've used? Is Nick supposed to be the new Jesus as well as Old Nick? They're both referred to as Lucifer in the Bible after all.
Nothing is explained about this stealing of sin or about being guardians of sin. Father Henry specifically tells Nick that his parents have hidden things from him, but not once in the following nine years, evidently, does Henry ever bring Nick up to speed on what he's missing. That's child abuse. But this is the Catholic church.... Fortunately for Nick, the serpent is more than willing to get him educated - something which the Christian god in the past, and now organized religion in the present, would deny humanity.
Back to our story in progress: the next thing we know is that Father Henry is whisking Nick away to England. Why? No explanation. Why not take Nick to the Vatican? It is the highest authority! How Henry managed to garner for himself guardianship over a child which is not his, and also a child whose parents had just been murdered, and who would be needed for questioning by the police as the only witness to those murders is also mystery. Why Henry does nothing to bring the murderers to book is yet another mystery.
Suddenly - I mean quite literally from one paragraph to the next - nine years have passed and Nicholas is sixteen. And there's a love interest! Her name is Amy, and her hair changes color - sometimes it's fiery red, other times it's auburn. Note that while auburn is a variety of red hair, the two are not the same!
Plus, angel Gabriel shows up in the form of Gabriel the Janitor. I admit I did feel a slight rush of nausea at this point as the janitor gives a pep talk to Nick, who articulates the very valid point that prayers are never answered - not at any rate greater than chance would account for - and Gabe trots out a sad and juvenile excuse for this obvious disproof of the Christian god - or at least his willingness to grant favors.
The excuses we typically get are hilarious. We're told that god listens but doesn't always answer, or that god answers but not necessarily in the way you expect, or that we lack faith, or that we have the wrong motivation, and on and on. One website I saw covers all bases by giving eighteen reasons why prayers won't be answered! Gabe's excuse is that god only gives you what he knows you can handle, but the plain and simple fact is that this is not the contract the Bible offers with regard to prayer!
John 16:23 quite clearly states: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you." No conditions. No ifs, ands, or buts. No excuses. Ask and ye shall receive. Of course, this is only the Bible - "God's Word". I most certainly isn't what the Vatican says, and that is the highest authority!
There is an assortment of gaffs in this novel. For example, at one point, we're told that Nick has never left the academy - he lives there year round because of his circumstances. Later we're told he has been out several times. We also learn that he sneaks out at night with friends to visit Picadilly Circus - the Times Square of London.
The weirdest example of this oddball writing occurs in the first third of the novel. It's the first time we follow Nick and his chums on one of his sneaks, we're told that "Sundown came fast..."; then we visit with Nick and his pals hiding out in his room for a while; then we follow them as they sneak out of the building, and down the long lane to the road, where a cab awaits them; then they drive to London. Finally, we're told, "By the time they got to Picadilly Circus, it was getting dark." Wait, what? If it was already sundown before they met-up in Nick's room, and some considerable time passes, how can it be only "getting dark" when they arrive in London? This is poor writing.
The Kindle edition of this novel was badly formatted in many places. One example came right after Nick's second visitation from the friendly neighborhood serpent (to which I'll get in a minute). The paragraph reads exactly like this:
Nicholas rushed toward her. "What's going on?" "Do you have any idea what you have just done?" "Not a clue."
That last pretty much defines Nick. But this is all run together with no line breaks. I know that the publisher's excuse is that this is an ARC, and that was valid back in the literal days of galley proofs where hard-working printers had to laboriously set individual lead letters in a tray, but there is no excuse for things like bad formatting and spelling errors in this age of e-publishing. None at all.
Now the serpent. It has visited with Gabriel, so he's fully aware of it, but he evidently does nothing about it, not even warning Nick, who he knows and has chatted with. Nick, like a moron, blindly follows this serpent and thinks there's nothing even slightly odd about a magical garden appearing out of nowhere. Inexplicably, this Catholic student is completely ignorant of the creation and downfall story told in Genesis, but that's not even the weirdest thing. The second time he encounters the snake, we're told he has developed something of a phobia about them, yet he again follows this snake unquestioningly - the snake of which he's supposedly suspicious and wary! It makes no sense.
Just as happened the first time he was led up the garden path, Amy magically comes to Nick's rescue, but this time she's too late: he bites the apple! Note in passing that the Bible says nothing about apples, which aren't native to the Middle East. It says only 'fruit', specifying nothing in particular. That it was an apple is purely an invention.
You would think that a writer who was telling this particular story would have researched the downfall story sufficiently if he intended to anchor his novel to it. In related news, he appears to be operating under the delusion that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is the same thing as the Tree of Life. As Genesis 2:9 makes quite clear, it isn't, and Genesis 3:22 confirms it.
It was at this point, with the serpent opening its mouth to hell, where Nick has to confront the seven princes of hell for pieces of the devil's crown, and Amy the angel volunteers to go with him, and with their discovery that hell is really called Demonio, and Pugdush the demon is on their side, that I quit reading. This novel is not a young-adult novel; it's a children's novel and it's really not very good, nor is it really interesting. Life is too short to spend on stories like this when there is better fare to be had out there.
