I've been looking forward to posting about this book on my UnPlugged blog, because this one was just...ugh...*facepalm*
Just, check it out below...
Wickedly They Come
~Released: January 22nd, 2017
(Audiobook Edition)
~Length: 7 hours and 46 minutes
~Parent's Guide: PG-13
~Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Dark Fantasy
A gripping, dark fantasy!
A Destined Prophecy: “The White Warrior will be one with Lucifer and God will weep.”
Haunting visions and supernatural talents are the norm for the sixteen-year-old warrior, Jordan and her mother Seeley. Together with their formidable angels they find themselves in peril when a wicked sorcerer is determined to fulfill the prophecy to his lord, Lucifer.
After an ominous vision of spirits inhabiting teenagers in a local school, Jordan enrolls in the social culture of teendom at Elma High to combat soulless demons. She encounters Mark, a mysterious new classmate, who is hell bent on keeping her unscathed from the forces of evil.
After an ominous vision of spirits inhabiting teenagers in a local school, Jordan enrolls in the social culture of teendom at Elma High to combat soulless demons. She encounters Mark, a mysterious new classmate, who is hell bent on keeping her unscathed from the forces of evil.
The battle between Heaven and Hell is escalating—and Earth is their battleground.
Cathrina Constantine resides in Western New York with her husband, five children, two happy-go-lucky Labrador Retrievers and two cats. After a long hiatus while raising her family, Constantine finally picked up pen and paper and began to hone her craft of writing, then eventually confiscated her son’s computer. She is excited to have her debut novel, Wickedly They Come published by Black Opal Books, and has a signed for her second novel, Tallas.
Cathrina is represented by The Belcastro Literary Agency, and is extremely happy to be working with Sharon Belcastro and Ella Marie Mohan Shupe.
When not with her family, baking, crafting, reading, or stationed at the computer writing, you will find her walking in the backwoods with her dogs, daydreaming.
*Please remember, the reviews on this blog are UnPlugged, meaning they are just for fun, they do contain spoilers, and are set as if in a book club or friends discussing a book. Not for official use or promotion.
If you would like to see my PluggedIn official review, please check that out here.
Lots of demons, lots of supernatural lore, lots of Catholicism.
If you know me, you may know I am very much into demonology, studying legends and folklore, and figuring out the the supernatural. If you don't know me, well, now you know more than you did a minute ago.
Lucky you.
I enjoy all that stuff though, in my real life, and in fiction. Books, movies, television, comics...pretty much anything with a supernatural flare, or featuring demons/angels, and I'm interested.
So, reading the synopsis for this novel easily peaked my interest. Chick labeled a "white warrior" who's destined to be entwined with Lucifer, upping the stakes in the seemingly never-ending battle between God and His rebellions kids - that's right up my alley!
For the most part, this book was. Mostly. Kinda...sorta.
Let's start with the parts I liked, shall we?
The generic teen girl, lost one parent at a young age, and the remaining parent is limping along in life, trying to do the best she can.
Relatable, easy to picture, strums the heart-strings.
Protective grandparents helping out, lending that "elderly wisdom" aspect. Also gives a few more adults to the story, so it's not solely hormone-filled drama.
Looking better now.
Teen was home-schooled, recently started a public school to attempt being more social and "normal" at some point in her life.
Cool. Lots of potential there, even if it is somewhat generic.
Finds some friends who are pushy, but assumingly well-meaning in their adoption of the new girl into their odd little group.
Good, getting interesting. Always love me a few weirdos.
A second new kid - a guy, who the new girl ends up knowing...
Because he's her guardian angel who's taken human form, as a teenage boy, and enrolled in the same school.
Oh, and there's a possessive chick on his arm, as though they are a couple, and he's just "playing a part" he's apparently been putting together for a while. You know, better to lead some random teen girl who already doesn't like the human he's supposed to be guarding, into believing she's got a shot with him, instead of, oh, I don't know...sticking with the human he's supposed to be there for?
Man-hoe much?
That was the first part that really started ticking me off. Like, alright, we're making the angel human, so Jordan (the main chick in the story) is the only one who knows what he really is. He can appear out of thin air in his angelic splendor when she calls him to her, but she has to pretend he's just another student any other time. Because her life isn't already difficult.
Seemed like a shallow attempt to add more drama than was really necessary. The whole concept was already stretching it a bit, but having him in a different circle than her was just confusing, and made him seem like an ass who was trying to kill two birds with one stone, in technically protecting her, while living a human teenage boy's life, playing it up and having fun along the way.
Not very angelic, tbh.
To make it even more awkward, she's attracted to him...I hate that story line. With a passion. No, I loathe it.
Apparently we are now into negatives, because really, there are a lot.
First off, I hate the name Jordan for a girl. My brother is named Jordan, and it's just an automatic masculine name to me, constantly throwing me off any time I encounter it on a female character.
As the story progressed, it became more and more apparent that Jordan was not, in fact, some warrior chick.
Sure, she's strong, she's got powers, and she's talented. That's about it.
Everything around her and about her simply fell into her lap. Her entire situation has happened because she's the "White Warrior" with a devilish destiny. I was hoping it would be because she was actually impressive. Its not.
Not because of who she actually is, or anything she's done to earn it. In fact, it's really not clear at all as to why she's destined to be linked with Lucifer, or why she is the person from the "prophecy" stating the destiny of the "white warrior" she's supposed to be.
If anything, she just messes everything up more. Any situation she was in, she made worse, by being an idiot. Age wasn't really a factor in that, either - it wasn't immature stupidity, it was she's just not that person, stupidity. She's supposed to be this super-warrior mega-chick, who would make Lucifer stronger. If anything, she'd just end up killing him in some stupid accident.
She's meant to be epic, but just doesn't fit it. I think they got her wrong, and she isn't actually the person in the prophecy. That would make more sense to me - if the whole thing is a "whoops! Wrong chick, never mind."
To end the negatives, because I don't want to list every little thing, was the entire scope of Catholicism saturating the details, and the Catholic traditions.
I'm not Catholic, and I don't agree with Catholic traditions. We are all entitled to our opinions, but that's mine, and there's nothing wrong with it. I don't have to agree with them, and I don't agree with them. Others do, and I balance them out.
Having a book so intensely saturated with talking everything through with a Priest, relying on angels to protect the main character, and the Catholic twists on supernatural lore was just a bit much for me. It not only made her seem weak and even less like some bad-ass warrior chick, it made it seem as though she was either being set up, or just plain pathetic.
Alright! Back to the good stuff!
We'll just sandwich all the negative stuff with good on either end.
Angels vs demons = always good fun. If you're at all interested in supernatural genres, you'll know this is an age old classic. You really can't go wrong, basing the foundation of your story on that classic setup.
It's in the details, that you screw it up.
But, I digress.
The details I did enjoy circled around the demons and ghouls. They were described well, and had the most realistic personalities. I thought they were done the best of all the characters, and enjoyed that aspect quite a bit.
The overall story, as a whole, wasn't bad. I, personally, had issues with the details, and the character development for several of them was off a bit.
Still, I do think it deserves a three rose rating.
Obviously, cuz I rated it three roses...
To be completely honest though, I am positive that had I read the text edition, I wouldn't have gotten past chapter three. The only thing that made me actually want to keep going with this story, is the fact I had an audiobook edition, and it was narrated. Very little effort went into it on my part, and it wouldn't have been worth actually putting the effort into physically reading the words.
I would have chucked it through a wall...
And really, even that had a negative. The narrator's voice, for whatever reason, gave me a headache. It's not her fault, but as the listener and honest reviewer, it's something I encountered, making the task of listening to 7 1/2 hours of narration rather challenging.
So, what now? Good question!
Personally, I was probably just a very wrong fit with this book completely. While it sounds like something I'd adore, there was just no good way to fit us together. It happens, and that's why I'm not rating it lower or completely tearing it apart. Most of my negatives are personal, and unless you hold the same views I do, probably wouldn't care much yourself.
If you don't mind Catholic traditions and the negatives I listed above, and the synopsis sounds interesting, you'd probably really like this book. Plenty of people rave about it, and it's not a bad story - in fact, as a student of supernatural studies, it's a pretty good find. If I didn't have the background I have, I wouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with the details, and it would only be minor stuff that bothered me.
As it is though, I am who I am, and that's my opinion. It was a book I wanted to chuck, but was a good enough overall story to make me want to keep going with it.
I was given a complimentary audiobook copy of this novel, from the author via Audiobookworm Promotions, to listen to in exchange for an honest review. I want to thank both the promotion company and the author for the opportunity.
If you do pick up this book, be sure to let me know what you think of it!
Thanks for reading! =D
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