Monday, August 24, 2009

Book Review: The Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda

For the past 5 years, modern London teen Billi SanGreal has been training to fight with the Knights Templar against an ancient and supernatural force. Barely has she passed her Ordeal to join as the order’s first female knight when the Knights most powerful enemy resurfaces and threatens to unleash the 10th plague on the world.

Last week I mentioned that PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS reminded me of the movie Constintine, and this novel reminded me of it even more – but in a different way. This one runs with the idea that the Devil, once God’s most favored angel before he rebelled, and his fellow fallen angels, including the Angel of Death, fell because they were so envious of God’s love for mankind and have been trying to wreck havoc on the earth ever since. Back in biblical times, Solomon in all his wisdom was able to bind most of these ruthless beings into the spirit world, but now the Angel of Death wants to bring them all back to help him kill off the firstborn of every family.

It’s definitely an intriguing idea, but it is so wide in scope, that the narrative can only really scratch the surface. The action scenes are plenty and done really well, but I missed scenes that would make me really care about the characters and value their self-sacrifice. I did appreciate that although this is the first in a series, the ending feels like that of a stand-alone novel and can certainly be read as such.

THE DEVIL’s KISS comes out in hardcover on September 1st. Find out more about it and watch the trailer at the author’s website.

9 comments:

Sadako said...

This one looks really cool. The Knights Templar have always fascinated me.

MARY IN SCOTLAND said...

Looks good, but I'm very much into character development instead of plot. I love to feel connected to the characters.

Faye( Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm) said...

This book looks really good :D
I'll def. Check it out

Zibilee said...

Sorry this one left you a tad disappointed. I might try to take a closer look, if not for myself, definitely for my daughter.

La Coccinelle said...

Definitely sounds intriguing.

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bermudaonion said...

Sounds interesting, but I'm not sure if it's the book for me.

Thao said...

I've heard so many good things about this book. I want to give it a try. Btw is that the US cover? I love it!

Park Avenue Princess said...

This one sounds GREAT Lenore! I'll definitely have to pick it up!

I just found your site and I hope you'll stop by mine as well! I was on blogged.com and somehow, I ended up here! I'm having some contests as well!

Are you on twitter?

XoXO Amy (Park-Avenue Princess)

Unknown said...

I like the idea behind this one, but I could see the difficulty in pulling off the plot within one book.