Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda
The time: modern London
The reason: humanity is being threatened by an evil, unstoppable force
The solution: The Knights Templar, an ancient order now operating in secret, is all that stands between the regular world and the supernatural.
Hunted down by the church and evil forces over several centuries, only a remnant of the group remains to hold back the darkness reeling to cross over into reality. Modern day Templar’s have fallen on hard times, living in discreet and close to poverty conditions, they train and live by the code. Arthur leader of the Order, demands loyalty along with no encouragement, comfort, or love from his daughter Billi, the only girl ever to become a member of the Templar. Billi, trained in deadly weapons and the occult longs for a simple life, but readers will realize long before Billi does that normal is well outside her reach. Things take a turn for the worse - Armageddon worse - when Kay, the Oracle of the group draws the attention of the Angel of Death. This event leads the Templar in a dangerous race to save Britain from the plaque dating back to Moses time, that threatens to kill all the first born children.
Review
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Devil’s Kiss is a representation of fantasy set in the present day that mixes myth, legend and religion: the three religions being Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Chadda did a fantastic job mixing everything into a three ring circus. While most of the novel was predictable, the writing overall isn't terrible. The story is pretty religious and focuses mainly on Biblical characters and the Templar legend. Its so off the mark that I would caution what you take for truth and what you take for fiction when it comes to the Biblical aspects. I would hate for people to read this thinking Chadda was using anything based off real Biblical stories...
Let's make this clear- I have no issue with fantasy or the paranormal realm- or stories which center around a fantasy world, I love vampire stories, I like paranormal romance, however what I dont like is when an author uses a specific character or story out of the Bible and twists it into a piece of crap. The biggest assaults in the book are of course on Christians, interesting that Chadda’s characters are the defenders of Christianity yet do not practice the Christian faith. How can you defend something you don't believe in? And for me that was the biggest issue in the book, there were too many contradictions to Billi's faith, the books liberties and make-fun of attitude towards the three religions.
I was offended by this book and perhaps that was the authors intent....the words uttered by Satan that he could give Billi a weapon to kill Jesus with was the end of my open mind and this book. I personally would not recommend this and according to trends in the YA world its not really picking up popularity. If you do read it, I would hope you know all the biblical and religious elements are false. Although the story is made-up, impressionable readers {especially young readers} could mistake this as factual stories from the Bible, Quran {Koran} and Torah.
1/5 -YA, Fantasy
Hi Tina, this is one I will be avoiding. Thanks for doing such an informative review! What a shame, such a beautiful cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the honest review! I'd think by the cover it would be good, but I'm glad to know it wasn't that good. I doubt this will ever reach my TBR pile :)
ReplyDeleteI'm sort of sad to see the two comments above. I haven't read it personally, but from what you've said above it seems like a good book beyond the mix of religious aspects with a fantasy realm. I think I definitely want to read it now and see if I agree or disagree.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. I may still give it a try, but I do think there are some people who take what they read in FICTION and assume it's true.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great where books incorporate religious themes. This one looks lovely. Interesting review, although I disagree.
ReplyDeleteI love when books incorporate religion as well....although when its false and twisted and disrespects ones religion it could mislead and confuse people, for example.....Allah and Jesus being the same...
ReplyDeleteI think books about religion or where religion plays a big part in the story are hard to deal with, from whatever standpoint you hail from. There will be those who are upset that certain religions are not portrayed correctly, or at least according to a literal translation of their scriptures. I think you've done a good job of illustrating this in your review.
ReplyDeleteBut there are going to be others (some of your commenters) who think that every character in a story has the right to think what they want about religion - even if it doesn't fit in the traditional categories. After all, this is fiction.
I doubt I'll be picking this one up, but I appreciated your review, and I LOVE the discussion it prompted. It takes all kinds, right?
Regarding to the comments above, I actually have read this book and enjoyed it. It shows the fictional life of being a Knights Templar, which actually was an organization during the Medieval times and Crusades.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree with this review when you say that the Religious references are confusing. I am a 13 year old girl and picking this up at my school's library mainly because it was shiny and new. [Haha judging a book by its cover] Personally my family is not religious so at times I had to stop and think about what they're talking about.
All in all, this was an interesting read and I will be picking up the second book [sarwatchadda.com](: