Review: Excellent paranormal thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 11, 2014
"Council of Peacocks (Activation)" by M. Joseph Murphy is a highly entertaining and clever paranormal thriller.It is a fun read with some unexpected depth. Set between Canada and Greece it involves amongst other great ingredients time travel, djinns and wizzards.While out camping a group of six youngsters get attacked and run from what appears clearly not human creatures.As they are on the run we learn more about how they link to a much bigger picture.The Council of Peacocks, a group of ruthless wizards under the leadership of Propates are taking on the world while Wisdom, an immortal scorcerer and his team of 'gifted' youth, the Anomolies, fight back.It is the classic battle of good versus evil, but not in as simple a way at all. The plot is highly evolved and complex, cleverly constructed and very engaging. Human kind is evolving and threatened, different groups of beings fight each other and battle for the ultimate tool to wipe the other out, time and events are muddled up by repetitive time travel to alter history, so there is a lot going on.The book is written with great suspense and action that cleverly involves the hero and the anti-hero. The characters top me are clearly one of the biggest strengths of the book; they are not your average and boring stereotypes, they have issues, contradictions, a past and they make for some excellent entertainment. They even add some serious thoughts and a philosophical dimension to the story at times.The paranormal or fantasy part of this thriller is very engaging with lots of great ideas and imaginative creations. You dive into this world and feel for once someone has not re-told the same story with just a different colouring.There are surprises in the plot that save us from predictability, the language is superb and the humour in the novel was just right for an epic fantasy like this to 'keep it real'.I don't often read fantasy books but this one pressed all the right buttons. .Well done and highly recommended.