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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Darkly compelling despite some flaws in the writing, 12 April 2005
There's nothing quite like a good apocalyptic thriller - angels of the light and the dark battling it out, dark excursions into hell, the devil's minions wreaking havoc on earth, etc. The Curse of Mephisto's Seed: Book One: The Day of Awakening promised a dark taste of such action, but I have to admit it did not completely meet my expectations. Certainly, the idea of the book (and series) is a good one. You have a small child named Elliott who becomes the instrument of Mephisto's vengeance on earth, and you have a couple of normal human beings who come to stand between him and his dark designs - in not one but two different encounters separated by over twenty years. As the story progressed, though, I found myself bogged down somewhat, confused by the true relationship between Elliott and Mephisto, sometimes a little bit lost in terms of chronology, and stymied to some degree by the writing style. Eventually, the showdown between good and evil comes, but only after Elliott all but disappears from the narrative while the main heroes banter and bicker among themselves.I found the writing somewhat discordant. Basically, I longed for more detail about Elliott's dark nature, especially in terms of the power struggle of sorts between him and Mephisto; I wanted to know more about the extraordinary powers one of the heroes acquires following a confrontation with the dark side; and I grew somewhat tired of the dialogue between the good guys in the book's later chapters, as they are apt to fly off the handle for the least little thing. There are a lot of errors and some inconsistencies in the writing, as well as abrupt transitions, all of which kept me from fully connecting with the story. The biggest problem I had with the writing, however, was the fact that it continually shifted between past and present tense, oftentimes in the same sentence - I found that very disconcerting. Sheriff Joshua Riley and his deputy Mark Talbot are political foes who come together to hold off the first wave of hellish danger posed by young Elliott. The initial confrontation gives Mark supernatural powers, which he uses to transport himself, Joshua, and an ally of the cloth to the very depths of hell itself in order to save a loved one Elliott has kidnapped. Mark does not return from that battle, but Elliott's threat seems to have been eliminated. Then, twenty-two years later, Mark suddenly turns up, not having aged at all. In the midst of Mark's adjustment to the loss of twenty-two years on earth and the beginnings of a relationship with the spunky daughter of the woman he once loved, Elliott turns up again - this time as an evangelical preacher. Thus is the stage set for a second confrontation between good and evil. The Curse of Mephisto's Seed got off to a good start, detailing the strange nature of this small child Elliott, his evil excursions in the night with a hellish wolf familiar at his side, and the fear his presence evoked in the eyes of his own mother. I fully expected Elliott to take central stage in the novel, but he virtually disappeared in the middle chapters - and I never really had a sense that I understood very much about him. Mephisto's means and motives were an even greater mystery to me. Of course, this is only the first book in a series, to some degree setting the stage for what is to come, so I would fully expect the scope of the story to expand in future installments. I'm fairly torn over this novel. I think the writing clearly reveals some weaknesses, yet I have to say I quite enjoyed the story nonetheless, and I plan on following the remaining books in the series.
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