Faith of the Forsaken by Jonathan-David Jackson
3.5 stars
Faith of the Forsaken: An Epic Supernatural Fantasy is a story deeply entrenched in the millennia-old fight between demons and angels, all set against a background of Christianity. I’d suggest caution for readers with strong Christian belief, as some of the content may offend.
The story opens with assistant pastor Nathan Miller in a small American town; he’s a popular clergyman and he has a strong sense of awareness for other beings. As the story develops, a whole host of angels and demons are introduced and the narrative—peppered with biblical references—weaves its way towards a huge battle. The story contains many clashes and bloody scenes for those who like battle scenarios. There is also a sexual sub-theme, but I found that it was very stereotypically male orientated and didn’t grasp the difference between how men and women feel and think about sex.
As the title suggests, this is an epic story which could easily have been written as two books, though that is an observation rather than a criticism. One of my favourite characters was a little gossip demon called Nuisance; Nathan was another good character. The weaker ones were the females as they had too many male traits, especially when fighting; too much of their perceived strength and fighting moves just weren’t realistic for female warriors.
In conclusion, I was intrigued by the opening chapters and I liked the concept of the angels versus demons drama. Some of the theology parts bordered on controversial even though the author attempted to bend them into the narrative and, to be honest, they put me off the story. So a move away from the style of urban fantasy which I usually enjoy, but I’m glad that I gave it a go.
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Angels and demons walk among us. Nathan Miller, an assistant pastor in a quiet town, doesn’t believe in them. His life is thrown into chaos when terrorism strikes his town and a reactionary religious militia rises against it, and a surprise encounter with a demon-possessed young woman forces him to face the truth.
The archangel Uriel knows Nathan is heir to supernatural powers and could be the key to victory. While he guards Nathan he must also protect humanity from a terrible secret that could destroy them all. In this blood-soaked epic they are about to learn that evil cannot be bargained with, but is it too late to stop the Apocalypse?
Rosie Amber 