Review: Revik the Bad Boy
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 4, 2014
Revik: Early Years, (Allie's War 6.5) , J.C. AndrijeskiReview from Jeannie Zelos book reviewsBooks in the Allie's War series by JC Andrijeski:Rook: Allie's War Episodes 1-4Shield: Allie's War Episodes 5-8Sword: Allie's War Episodes 9-12Shadow: Allie's War Episodes 13-17Knight: Allie's War Episodes 18-23War: Allie's War Episodes 24-27Bridge: Allie's War Episodes 28-31Prequel BooksNew York: Allie's War Early YearsRevik: Allie's War Early YearsTerian: Allie's War Early YearsI've been working my way through this series. Its a genre I never thought I’d enjoy and yet it has me gripped, fixed and desperate to find out where its going next. I think mainly because it focussed well on individual characters, and that's what I love about novels best, those where we get to know people, feel as though they are real and go along with them in the story, feeling as they do at the time they are...Anyway, I read  New York: Allie's War Early Years after reading Shield, and it really helped get things in perspective. It's free at the moment too so an excellent way to see the writing style and format without spending!  I've just finished Knight and thought I’d read Revik and Terian before starting War...These are shorter than the main books at 132 pages compared to the 450 – 500 or so those are. Great for readers like me who love long novels!So, Revik: this tells us some of his early years, he's 80 in this book, and to be honest I almost didn't recognise him...he's very different to the Revik we know and love. He's a real bad boy here, but caught in the clutches of the Rooks so that’s to be expected, they totally brainwash their people as we see in the main books, so that they can be shaped and used for their needs. He thinks he's doing the right thing, but then meets Kali, the seer who will bear the Bridge later and who is prescient. She wants to meet Revik, tell him he needs to change. She forces him to take a look at himself, and he realizes he doesn't like who and what he's become. What can he do though?A fabulous snippet of some of the experiences that show Revik prior to the person we know – and he undergoes so many changes its great to see some of what shaped him. There's warnings about the content of this book, and if you find sex and some violence offensive take note. To me though this just adds to the whole feel, and is an essential part of the series, to leave it out would emasculate Revik and the novels as a whole.Stars: what else but a five :-)ARC supplied via author