Guest Review: Foretold

Foretold (The Demon Trappers #4)
Jana Oliver

Publisher: MacMillian Children Books

In the fourth Demon Trappers novel, Riley faces the final battle for humanity and Beck's heart—and Hell is the least of her problems
Now that Riley’s managed to (just barely) fend off Armageddon, everything’s changed. Well . . . most things. After their passionate kiss before the big battle in the cemetery, Beck is back to treating her like a little girl, as if nothing ever happened. While she’d love to just tell him off and move on, Riley vowed to take care of Beck the way he’s taken care of her since her father’s death—but she’s about to get a whole lot more than she bargained for. When she’s commissioned to go with Beck to his hometown and help him care for his dying mother, they stumble too close to a dark and murderous secret, one that Beck fears will drive Riley away from him forever. As chaos breaks loose, Riley may be Beck's only hope for redemption . . . and survival. 
Meanwhile, up in Atlanta, it’s quickly becoming clear that Heaven may have won a battle, but the war is far from over. Riley and Beck face a stormy future, as Lucifer's ex-right-hand-man, Sartael, proves himself to be more resilient than anyone thought. He has Atlanta in his grip and is about to begin a brutal war with the prince of Hell. As the seconds tick down toward a final confrontation, it's up to Riley and the man she loves to finally defeat their old enemy, or lose everything they've fought for...

Hello all, sorry I’ve been AWOL recently, but I seem to have read a series of gigantic books that have taken me an age to get through.  To break that cycle I cracked on with the latest Demon Trappers book, only to realize at the end that it was in fact The End!  At least Jana Oliver had the decency to tie it all up nice and neatly, so I didn’t feel cheated by that revelation.

I was, however, disappointed in the book itself.  I had really enjoyed the first 3 books in this UF, YA series.  Set in a future Atlanta, where the barriers between Heaven, Hell and Earth have become distinctly holey, a whole new employment area has come into being as demons run dangerously amok.  Varying from cute little klepto-fiends, to ridiculously blood-thirsty and intelligent arch-fiends, these demons have caused our heroine Riley and her cohorts no end of trouble (including more than one attempt to bring about the end of the world!).

Starting with Forsaken, and continuing through Forbidden and Forgiven, Jana Oliver has always captured by imagination with her complex main characters, pacey story and a world seriously lacking in black and white definitions.  Don’t get me wrong, Foretold still contains all these factors, and I found the thorough exploration of love interest Beck’s background very involving. However, it is the ‘l’ word that ruins the novel for me.  Ick.  Now, I’m a sucker for a well-crafted romance between strong characters, but I hate it when usually forceful people start spouting ‘my soul sung in her presence’ fluffy stuff.  In fact, Foretold is so full of fluff that I could have used it as a pillow…

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed 75% of The Demon Trappers series, and would recommend it for fans of Cassandra Clark and Lili St Crow, but the series is let down by its final installment.  Foretold earns itself a 6 out of 10.