Review - Foretold (The Demon Trappers, Book 4) by Jana Oliver (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: December 11, 2012
ISBN: 978-1250021847
Stand Alone or Series: 4th (and final) book in the Demon Trappers series
Source: Bought
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the fourth and final book in the Demon Trappers series by Oliver. I really, really enjoyed this book and this series. This book is pretty much Riley and Beck’s book. It also wraps up the story involving the angel Sartael.

Riley and Beck spend the first part of the book going back to Beck's hometown to deal with Beck's mother and with the dark secrets that Beck left behind. As Riley and Beck hash things out in the South, Atlanta is having more and more demon problems. When Riley returns to Atlanta she is forced to deal with the repercussions of giving her soul to Ori. Finally Sartael and Lucifer will be dealt with once and for all.

Wow, what an excellent conclusion to this series! I have loved this series right from the beginning. Riley is a wonderful character and learning more about Beck's history was fantastic. All of our favorite characters play great roles in this final novel.

This is definitely Riley and Beck's book. The first half of the story belongs solely to them and it’s pretty emotional. We learn all about Beck’s sad past and about the dark things he tried to leave behind when he moved to Atlanta. There is a bit of a murder mystery involved. Through it all Beck and Riley are struggling through their issues and finally learning to trust each other.

Riley has grown a lot as a character. She is accepting her responsibilities without much complaint and has learned to depend and trust some of the people around her. She grows a lot in power as well and is forced to undertake combat training with Ori. The biggest thing for me was that Riley finally gets some happiness in her life. She's walked such a hard road that she definitely deserves some happiness.

That’s not to say things are all roses for Riley in this book. This is an emotionally wrenching read. Sacrifices are made, people are wounded, and at times things are pretty desperate.

I enjoyed the investigative quality of the first half of the book. I also enjoyed the epic Demon Trapper versus demons battles in the second half of the book. The book was well paced, impossible to put down, and had some really excellent action scenes as well.

I would recommend to the older young adult crowd. There are sex scenes in this book (although not explicit), some swearing, and some very violent battle scenes.

Overall I just absolutely loved this final book, although I am kind of sad the series is over. I love this post-apocalyptic demon infested world that Oliver has created. I also love the engaging characters, the fast-pacing, the action scenes, and the wonderful writing. I have loved this series from the first book and this book was like the icing on the cake. Highly recommended for fans of action-packed young adult urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Young Adult Reading Challenge

Review - Soul Thief (Demon Trappers, Book 2) by Jana Oliver (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: August 30, 2011
ISBN: 978-0312614799
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Demon Trappers series
Source: Borrowed from Libray
Rating: 5/5 stars

I absolutely loved The Demon Trapper's Daughter and was excited to read the second book in the series. It was a wonderful read, I really enjoyed it. I love the world and the characters, there is just so much going on in this book.

Riley is recovering from the battle at the Tabernacle. The Trapper's are hanging on by a thread, many of them are injured or dead and the level 5 geo fiend is still at large. Riley's boyfriend Simon is just barely alive. Now Riley has to contend with the mysterious Ori who has decided to be her body guard and her overprotective kind of brother Beck. While juggling all these guys she also has to find out who reanimated her dad, where the counterfeit holy water is from, and track down a level 5 Geo Fiend. To make matters worse the Vatican has decided to step in and now Demon Hunters are in Atlanta trying to make the Trapper's look bad and take over the city.

There is a lot going on in this book. Riley is dealing with a ton of different things all at once. I loved that we got to spend more time with Ori, he was a mysterious presence in the last book and you get to see a lot more of him and his awesome fighting skills in this book. You also learn a lot more about Beck's past and why he acts the way he does around Riley.

I felt bad for Riley she just never gets a break in this book; things keep getting worse and worse and she's hanging on by a thread. She has a great attitude about it all though and she is really a fighter; I enjoy her as a character and just wish she could get some good breaks once in a while.

The story gets a lot bigger in this book too. Now there are angels and demons and it looks like Heaven and Hell might actually be waging war in Atlanta; I love the ambiguity around who is actually good and bad. Looks like Heaven isn't as good and Hell isn't as bad as you might expect. There is some great world building in this book. We learn more about the history behind both the demon trappers and the demon hunters. There is just a ton packed into this book and I enjoyed it all.

Lots of great characters too. I totally sympthize with Riley and am intrigued by all of the interesting side characters. There are no boring characters in this book, even if they are just minor characters. We get to spend a lot more time with some side characters that were introduced in the first book; Riley spends time with both witches and necromancers in this story.

I love Oliver's writing style. It is engaging, flows beautifully, and is so easy to read. I just absolutely love the way she writes and it makes the book a pleasure to read.

This book wraps up nicely. Some major plot points are wrapped up well, but there are a lot of other plot points that are still dangling to be addressed in the third book, Forgiven (UK title) out in 2012.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. I am loving this series, it is one of my favorite YA urban fantasy series right now. I love the detailed world-building, love the characters, and love the fast-paced plot. There is some wonderful action in here and some truly surprising plot turns. Fans of urban fantasy (both YA and adult alike) need to check this series out. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens in Forgiven (Demon Trappers, #3).

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge

Review - The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 368 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: February 1, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0312614782
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Demon Trapper's series
Source: Loan from a friend
Rating: 5/5 stars


I got this book on loan from a friend.  This is the first book in Oliver's new Demon Trapper series; right now Oliver is contracted for three books in this series.  The book started off a bit shaky for me but I was quickly drawn into the story after that and ended up absolutely loving it.

Riley is a seventeen year old whose family life has been stricken by tragedy numerous times.  Riley is training under her father, Paul, to become a Demon Trapper just like him.  She is also trying to keep up with school three nights a week and deal with making ends meet in a world gone to Hell...literally.  In the futuristic version of Atlanta Riley lives in people are constantly plagued by demons and Necromancers and survival is a struggle.

I pretty much loved all of the characters in this book.  Riley is tough, smart, and sometimes takes on more than she can handle...but she does everything with a sort of honor behind it and I admired her.  She had to deal with so many bad things in this book and she came out stronger because of it all.  I love the boys who are her love interests; and there are many of them.  She is friends with a hacker geek named Peter who helps her out with both social and techie problems.  She has a strangely religious but handsome co-demon trapper apprentice named Simon to deal with.  Then there is Denver Beck, her father's apprentice who used to treat Riley like his little sister but is suddently realizing she is all grown up.  On top of this all there is a mysterious ninja-like man who pops in and out of fights constantly saves Riley's butt.

Then there are all the other Demon Trapper's; they are a diverse and interesting crew...I enjoyed them all.

The world is wonderful. I loved the gritty post-apocalyptic feel to it; the way the characters need their wits to survive.  I enjoyed the different types of demons: the Biblios (book eating fiends), the Magpies (harmless hoaders), and the GeoFiends (elemental wielding towers of power).  It has a big of a dungeon crawler feeler to it with all of the enemy encounters...but in a city.  I also love the way the Demon Trappers wield magic against these fiends.  The elemental globes and tricks they have are cleverly used and interesting to read about.  Then there are the witches and the necromancers; this book barely touches the surface of those types of characters...and I soooo want to learn more about them too.

I just pretty much loved everything about this series.  It has a bit of humor in it to keep things from getting too serious too.  I would recommend for older young adults; a lot of the other Demon Trapper's say some pretty awful sexual things to Riley because she is the only girl demon trapper.  It is also pretty grisly and violent at parts and there is some swearing

The first couple chapters were a bit slow and had me feeling like "Oh, geez this is just another young adult paranormal novel where the heroine is stuck between a couple of guys." but then things really started moving and I was totally blown away.  This book ends well, definitely open for some more books in this series and I hope there are more than two more (although right now Oliver only has two more on contract).

Overall just a fantastic young adult urban fantasy; definitely more urban fanasy than paranormal.  There are kick-butt action scenes, wonderful characters, a fantastic world, and awesome fiends and magic.   Just a wonderful, wonderful read.  I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book in this series.  Fans of urban fantasy (even adult fans) should check this series out.  Fans of strong female leads fighting against horrible odds will love this.  I really haven't read any young adult urban fantasies out there that hit this level of action and grittiness with a female heroine.  Absolutely cannot wait to read the next book in this series!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- The Debut Author Challenge

- Zombies! Reading Challenge

Short Story Review - Retro Demonology by Jana Oliver (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 136 KB
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Release Date: December 17, 2010
ASIN: B004FPYZKM
Stand Alone or Series: Prelude to Demon Trapper's Daughter
Source: Free Kindle Downloadd
Rating: 3/5 stars

This story is a prelude story to the book the Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver which is due out beginning of February 2011.  This is a very, very short story.  It takes maybe 10 minutes to read.  The majority of the download is an excerpt from the beginning of the book The Demon Trapper's Daughter...which I didn't read because I don't like reading excerpts (also I already have an ARC of the Demon Trapper's Daughter that I am hoping to read next week).

The story introduces an interesting world were people find shelter under different retro trends and demons regularly infest houses.  Riley Blackthorne is a Demon Trapper, and this book gives an account of her doing a small scale demon capture.  Riley seems like a plucky character, but the story is too short to really know.  The world might be interesting, but again the story is so short that it is hard to get a feel for the world, the character, or the author's writing style.

It is a free download so I can't complain too much.

Overall it is okay.  This sample story is not a really good way to get a feel for the author though because it is so very very short.  I guess get it if you have read the Demon Trapper's Daughter and enjoyed it.  I wouldn't get it to get a feel for the author though it just isn't a large enough sample of her writing.