REVIEW: "Forgiven: The Demon Trappers #3", by Jana Oliver

Title: Forgiven (The Demon Trappers #3)

Author: Jana Oliver

Format: Kindle eBook

Print Pages: 407 

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books

Release Date:  March 1st 2012

Synopsis

Taken from Goodreads

Riley Blackthorne. Kicking hell’s ass one demon at a time...

Riley has made a bargain with Heaven, and now they've come to collect.

Lucifer's finest are ruling the streets and it seems that Armageddon might be even closer than Riley imagined. But with her soul and her heart in play it's all she can do to keep herself alive, let alone save the world. Riley's not afraid of kicking some major demon butt, but when it comes to a battle between Heaven and Hell, she might need a little help...

Review

The third instalment of The Demon Trappers series is my favourite of the awesome series so far. Riley Blackthorne has done a whole lot of growing up over the course of the series and, if you've been following my reviews over the last few days, you'll know that I felt she needed to grow up in order for things between her and Beck, her father's young trapping partner, to flourish.

It was great to see things developing between Beck and Riley, but things are still bumpy. The conclusion of the book had me nigh-on ripping my hair out in delightful frustration!

This book saw the best character development of the auxiliary characters. Peter, Riley's best friend, had far more presence in this book and I'm glad that their friendship has remained strong. Too many books suggest that platonic friendships between male and female characters are impossible, (think of Simon and Clary in The Mortal Instruments or Bella and Jacob in the Twilight series), but this series has avoided that, which I like. 

I loved the development of Mort (a necromancer with a heart of gold) and Ayden (Riley's trusty witch pal) in Forgiven. Oh, and Master Stewart, one of the grand-master trappers is just awesome! They've been great characters throughout, but they were far more note-worthy in this instalment. 

Justine, the red-haired reporter who had my fists clenching in book two was back in Forgiven and she was just as vile. Seriously, if she doesn't get her ass handed to her by a demon some time soon, I'll consider it the one flaw of the series! She's such a grade-A bitch!

In Forbidden, Jana Oliver began subverting the common ideas of good and evil and she continues this in Forgiven. The characters and beings I expected to hate were often drawn with subtle sympathy. Those I expected to be pure and good were often jaded and narrow-minded. I loved this interpretation of common beliefs and I thought it showed how much Oliver knows her stuff!

This series has astounded me so far and, according to The Book Depository, the forth book in the series (Fortold) comes out in 93 days. I have no idea how I'm going to wait that long!