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Think Twilight all grown up, with gothic horror, epic mythology, detailed terror and an underlying threat to the world hidden in ancient prophesies. Lucifer Rising is the third in Rebekah Armusik’s 13 Gothic Memoirs series, and the author’s tone reflects the unsettled heart of a misfit turned queen, mixing immaturity and awesome power in equal proportions. Honest concern for her fellow humans traps the mysterious queen Dija between goodhearted kindness and cruel vampiric torture, making her a constantly conflicted character while her emotions flip and change.
The author’s series promises thirteen memoirs as Dija grows into her powers and, hopefully, finds salvation somewhere on a path between the religious goodness of Father, God’s absent betrayal, and the selfish cruelty of the lost. A scary tale with detailed pain and torture and much heart-searching, this novel fills in the next step of Dija’s adventure, bringing surviving characters forwards through death and death-dealing to a tear-jerker ending before the next book, and lifting parts of the veil on the past as it goes. The author jumps straight into the tale on page one, so readers should be sure to read the previous two volumes before embarking on this.
Though it reminds me of Twilight, this isn’t teen fiction. The sexuality is underplayed, but sexual tensions, especially in vampiric feeding, are pretty clear, and the gruesomeness factor is high. The series is definitely episodic, and should probably appeal to those who wish their teen fantasy, mystery and heart-searching could be freed from the restraints of a PG13 rating.
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.
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Sheila Deeth wrote this review Monday, November 5, 2012.
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