Review: incredible series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2014
Sword: Allie's War, Book Three , J C Andreski.Review from Jeannie Zelos Book reviews.Well, I'm finally getting to grips with this world. I've read the prequel novella and books one and two, and rather than trying to understand the concepts of sharing light, constructs, other dimensions etc I'm just accepting them as Fact. Its made it easier for me, I’ve stopped trying to work out the hows and the whys, and gone with the flow of the story. Its an incredibly complex world and I’m not convinced that its all one side good the other bad – just as in conventional wars I guess. Its a real battlefield though and Allie has picked her side. Revik taught her everything, but he's altered by the events of the last book where it was thought he'd died, but in fact the explosion and effects have changed him, uniting parts of him ( its that multiple split persona stuff again) that were thought dead and changing his views. ( I’d say to which side but there's been so much to and fro and talking about sides that I’m not sure I’m right....)  Allie sees his leading the other side as bringing forward an all out war, he wants that and she doesn't. He still loves her, she's still hoping for the man she knew to come back, even though the Seers have told her that's not possible. Still, all the things so far that have happened to her she'd have not thought possible, so she won't give up. While the Seers are hiding her, desperate to stop Revik from getting her, she has time to think, and decides that maybe if she can get close to him she can change his viewpoint, get him back from the brainwashed Revik he seems to have become.When he eventually finds her she agrees to stay for six months with him, and he agrees to allow her to leave at the end if that's what she wants. There she finds that he's not quite been the all out murderer he's been portrayed, and that his targets are carefully chosen to protect innocents. The problem for me is, as in real life, not all sides are all good, and some that should be working for good are in fact just abusing people and lining their own pockets. Allie sees some of this and sympathises with Reviks views. Still, she needs to remember to work on him, not change her own views. Its great to see them back together – their romance is the key to this series for me, its so intense when they are together, but they seem to be beset by numerous, almost insurmountable, problems and once again things go awry :(Its another riveting read, complex, long and full of all sorts of drama, action, events, and people. We meet up with some old friends and enemies, and meet some new ones, in particular I feel the leader of the Lao Hu, Voi Pai is someone to be careful of. She gives off an air of deception, seems like someone who would happily deal with highest bidder and have no problem turning sides. I loved the Beijing setting, the way the mix of fiction and real places were melded together, and I’ve noticed that throughout, that the melding of real history and places with fiction brings scenes alive and makes them feel as if they are real events happening. I'm desperate for Allie and Revik to be together – they feel so right, and of course the Prophecies say they should be together. I got a bit confused over the events with Balidor, and what Allie's motivations were. I thought it was for one reason, then it seems there were others …..still, there's lots more books to come :) so it'll come clear at some point. As with the rest I don't spend too much time on the whys and hows but just accept things as fact, and hope its going to come clear as I read further. Lots of it has so far :)  Its priced at 3.08 for 432 pages so a lovely long book to really get your teeth into and wallow in.Stars: Four and a half.  A fabulous series.ARC supplied by Netgalley