Customer Reviews

Deviations: Covenant

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love the character development and the premise of the central conflict in this story. The author's tone coaxes and guides the reader to judge the ethics of the situation instead of dictating right and wrong. Without revealing the surprising plot, I can say that the story had me creeped out at first, in the way many vampire novels do. But it has a much higher path to it. It's so well-written that once you're caught up in the action, you can't put the book down. The only disappointment is seeing the final pages approaching when you're craving more "meat" to the story.
It's such a relief to know that this is only the first book in the series!

This is just the kind of book I like: too good to put down, but when it's over, you wish there were more and are sorry to see it end. (Fortunately, since this is the first in a series, there is more to look forward to!)
It's a fantastic read: great characters, good story, thought-provoking (you could say lots of 'meat' to the story), and it all really 'comes to life'. I highly recommend it.

This has an interesting premise with a codified relationship of murder between two races. It is an original idea and is developed well.
The reasons behind the covenant are explained as we read the book with a view of the history of those involved and they make a twisted sort of sense as religion gets mixed into things.
There is some good world building here.

The characters are all believable and likeable, they are involved in a variety of different struggles and there are no corners cut here or simple morality play, lots of shades of grey.

The story starts quite slow, never dull though, but towards the end the pace is very quick as all the plot threads converge.

The ending is good, no cheap happy ending but instead something consistent and believable although it is clearly set up for another book to follow.

A good read from start to finish.

This book (and the others in the series) are available for free from the authors website which makes the high quality even more surprising.

This is an excellent book. It is both an entertaining and a thought provoking read.

Unlike most of the self-published novels I've read, this one is surprisingly free of errors in English. Malcohn has built a very interesting and very well developed central conflict, and the development of the story is second to none. Each of her characters is individually well developed. There are no Guys In Black Hats.

Malcohn's development of her milieu with several communities in nearby mountain valleys that know of each other but don't know each other is very much like what my family encountered in Appalachia when my grandparents were doing missionary work there.

The only real criticism I can offer Malcohn is that if she's going to write about firearms then she needs to learn more about them. (Bolt action rifles don't have hammers that have to be cocked separately.) But it's worth suspending one's disbelief in order to read the rest of the story.

I await more from Elissa Malcohn with anticipation.