Review Detail

There are many reasons why Jana Oliver was, cleverly, able to draw me back after my disastrous feelings toward Soul Thief. Forgiven by Jana Oliver subtly re-introduces a world created to mirror our hellish fears for a future ailing in a rapid downward spiral, though including a literal hellish twist, and two main characters who never fail to brandish their courage, their strengths, are unable to hide their weaknesses, their flaws from our all-seeing eyes, and are nearly as stubborn as the person attempting to force the same sides of two magnets together. Like the magnets, it would seem Beck and Riley are constantly letting situations, themselves, or each other drive a large wedge between them, when they each hold the power to turn their magnets, so to speak, in a way that would allow them to fuse smoothly, peacefully and with no harm involved. Despite this dilemma, it's sometimes their stubbornness we admire, as it propels them to stand strong, to hold on and fight back when necessary. And a supernatural war with the capacity to incapacitate the existence of humans indefinitely looming in a shadowed horizon of torment and despair brings a sense of urgency, and, with it, a world of potent thrills!

Riley Blackthorne has been unmercifully beaten down, torn apart, and sown up sloppily yet she still manages to rise to the occasion, even when the sacrifices are high and sometimes dire, when the people she cares about seem to isolate her, when everything fate backhands her with poisons her strong will, and instead serves up this awesome picture of an often underestimated female demon trapper capable of so much more than most imagined. Respect is easy to give when its aimed at such a haunted, compassionate, kick-butt person, fighting for her own survival nearly as much as everyone else's. Knowing loss intimately, shoved into making very difficult choices, her scars make it easy to forgive her fresh, and occasionally self-inflicted, wounds shrouding the goodness so many have a hard time unearthing. Her choices are often genuine, perhaps misguided depending, and the consequences are realistic and painful and indicative of a world and characters as imperfect as our own, and, therefore, entirely relatable.

One can only take but so many romantic missteps, and it's easy to grow impatient with all the avoiding and misunderstanding done by each party. Forgiven, however, is a bit more bearable, mostly because the tension is scrumptious and we carry the knowledge that what we await between the two main characters is fast-approaching. Untwisted into their true forms, revelations are made and memories recalled and reevaluated to brighten their already morbid backdrop at a tortuously unhurried pace. Forgiven allows us to shout in triumph over our precious, keen instincts about these things and yet still manages to rip away some of the pleasure out of the exactness of our suspicions with an ending that we can nearly weep for, for pain and bittersweet almost-joy, as these two don't quite make it out of the woods.

Regardless, the satisfaction that springs in our calming hearts is wide and absolute. All the action, all the anticipation is still leading up to an unforeseeable outcome but allows us to enjoy the fast-paced journey in Forgiven, which definitely refrains from acting as a filler in between books. Our sincerest hope is pressing onward, hoping for the best, but mostly has to do with canceling the wait and owning the final chapter of Riley Blackthorne and Denver Beck's story to enjoy as thoroughly as Forgiven, if not more.