The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax (The Mephisto Covenant #1)

Okay, this book gave off Beauty and the Beast kind of vibes to me. The story is quite similar – Jax is a Son of Hell, basically a being that cannot find love except in the arms of an Anabo, which are quite rare. Even when he finds Sasha, she is willing but reluctant since she can’t get over the fact that he is a being of Hell. Insta-love aside, their story is quite sweet and though they are quite quick to get to the I-love-yous, I felt it developed well. At the start, I was reluctant though – it felt that the pairing would be of convenience since he needed an Anabo for redemption and she was being swept away by that.

My problem was with the start of the book – everything started happening right at the start. Moreover, everyone is very open about their intentions, which so doesn’t happen in real life. Otherwise, I found this book kept things exciting and wasn’t afraid to kill off characters. The mythology, too, was interesting and the different beings/characters and their motivations gave a new dimension to the storyline. Ultimately, it all comes to human desire and what we are ready to pay for what we want.

I picked up The Mephisto Covenant: Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegen excited about the premise and looking forward to a new "favorite read". Unfortunately, I had severe theological issues with Faegen's mythos that I couldn't get past enough to truly enjoy the novel.

All the elements are in place for a dark paranormal romance: tormented boy, nice girl, dark curse. But for some reason it just did not work for me. Jax is an interesting character if a bit hard to relate to since he lacks have any compassion, while Sasha seems very accepting of a complete change of her world. But what really got to me what issues with the theology behind the premise. According to the Mephisto Covenant, Eve had a daughter before she ate the apple {Issue 1} meaning that the daughter was "pure" of spirit a.k.a. without sin. At some point this daughter leaves the Garden of Eden; the why she would leave when she was without sin is never answered; and ended up falling in love with and having sons by Mephistopheles, the angel who carries condemned souls to Hell. These sons are apparently "of Hell" so God doesn't know about them {Issue 2} and doesn't hear their prayers. In order for these sons to be redeemed they must find the female descendants of Eve's first daughter, the Anabo, who are also pure souls {Issue 3} and convince the girl to love them and become immortal. The Anabo become immortal and redeem Mephistopheles's sons by giving up half of their "sinlessness" and taking on part of the darkness of the "sons of Hell" {Issue 4}. The Anabo then becomes Mephisto (which is what M's sons are called) but somehow still Anabo and helps the Mephisto track down the followers of Eryx. (Eryx is looking to collect enough souls to overthrow Lucifer and plunge the world into chaos - even more so than it is now.
Basically, I REALLY wanted to like this book, but was unable to suspend my disbelief enough to become engrossed in the story. However, Faegen is a good writer and I would give another of her books a read (although perhaps not one of the Mephisto Covenant series).