Forgiven: The Demon Trappers by Jana Oliver

Release Date: 1st March, 2012

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Pages: 416pgs

The Story

Riley Blackthorne. Kicking hell's ass one demon at a time . . .

Riley has made a bargain with Heaven, and now they've come to collect.

Lucifer's finest are ruling the streets and it seems that Armageddon might be even closer than Riley imagined. But with her soul and her heart in play it's all she can do to keep herself alive, let along save the world. Riley's not afraid of kicking some major demon butt, but when it comes to a battle between Heaven and Hell, she might need a little help . . .

The Review

A big thanks to Lauren from Macmillan for sending me a review copy of this book!

Damn it THANK YOU Jana Oliver for delivering such a great and explosive third installment of The Demon Trappers series and honestly where has this book been all my life? Now I didn't mind the first book - it was entertaining and I enjoyed it. Then I didn't the mind the second book either - it certainly had gotten my attention and kept getting better and better. But then this book came around the bend, surprised me, and soon after I devoured every single word of it . . . I FREAKIN' LOVED IT and it's honestly the best book in the series so far! So again, THANK YOU to the author, Jana Oliver, for allowing me to fall back in love with this series and with Beck of course, even though he was frustrating than ever before.

In this third book, FORGIVEN mainly focuses on the severe consequences of Riley's actions as seen in the previous installment Forbidden and that my dears was 'getting involved' with a Fallen Angel, which is seen to be - yet again - forbidden to all demon trappers in this dystopian society. Riley, of course, just had to be one of those people to break one of those thousand rules in the guidebook, didn't she? Poor Riley - you truly felt for this girl. Now with the hunters already presuming she is working for Hell, if they ever found out about what really happened between Riley and Ori (the fallen angel in question), she would be off the demon trappers goody list . . . that's for sure. But just as things were getting hectic, there's Beck who is furious with Riley, there's the Devil himself who has not-so-surprisingly raised Riley's father from the dead for God knows for what purpose and wants a favour or two from her, and then there's a mystery all on its own - figuring out who's creating a breed of non-killing armies of zombie-like demons who are putting all chaos to good use. And if Riley can't get her act together, all hell is going to break loose not to mention the world is going to end. Literally.

As a main character I felt Riley has truly grown in this book. Not only has she matured and become a better person and fighter, but she's also finally learning from her mistakes and doing her best to put things right. Finally. For those who've read the second book, you would already be aware of what Ori did to her (how dare he by the way that ass) and how she almost lost her soul because of it. But just when I thought Riley would be forever miserable and complaining all through the book . . . she actually did the opposite. Never once did she allow that small problem of hers to get to her - not in any way, shape or form - and instead she surprised me by deciding to move on with her life as much as possible and embrace all the goodness she could possibly gain. Unlike the girl we knew from books one and two, you know the one where Riley's feelings were all over the place and her actions forever had their consequences that I rarely approved of, however after reading this book, my whole opinion on Riley has changed and for once I can admit Jana Oliver has made me feel really proud of Riley here and I can't wait to see what she brings next onto the table with her main heroine.

Beck, like the usual Beck we know and love in the previous books, will always be a true highlight for me. I may not have loved Riley's character in the first book but I've always loved Beck's. From the start of the series til the very end of this third book. Even though Beck spends the first half of the book being angry at Riley (jealous over the whole Riley and Ori ordeal), but I forgive him. He had his reasons after all - oh and his feelings should have some consideration too, even those he was blinded by those feelings of his that we all know he had for Riley. Anyway Beck truly shined throughout this book and I actually believe that he and Riley would make a great couple. Really they would. Underneath that tough exterior of his, Beck really cares for Riley and while his relationship with her was most like a brother-and-sister type of relationship, but clearly this relationship is developing into something much more . . . so I'm grateful for that. And I guess one of the things I loved most about this book, especially with Beck, was getting a chance to see into Beck's past and now I'm really intrigued. That shocker ending . . . man Beck you really know how to frustrate a girl, don't you?

Without going into too much detail since there's a lot to spoil about this book (it's tempting to blabb I know but I won't), I have to say Jana Oliver has done an absolute amazing job with this book and has surprised me at every twist and turn she'd thrown at me. With a fantastic blend of urban fantasy, action and romance, and delivering tough, kickass characters that you will grow to love even more than you first expect to, I can see why so many readers are excited to read this book and I can definitely guarantee those awaiting readers that this book has everything you could possibly want in regards to storyline and action sequences that Oliver is famous for writing! Overall, FORGIVEN was my favourite book in the series and I'm looking forward to seeing what Oliver comes up with next! Hopefully more Beck scenes . . . please more Beck!

The Rating

4 1/2 / 5 stars