The Crimson Fathers by J. Todd Kingrea ARC Review!

 

Title: The Crimson Fathers (The Deiparian Saga #2)
Author: J. Todd Kingrea
Publish Date: November 1st, 2022
Publisher: BHC Press
Source: Huge thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC for review!

In a post-apocalyptic world where tyranny and medieval torture reign supreme and witch burnings are an everyday occurrence, a top Witchfinder must confront the very Church he serves when he learns of its dark past and twisted plans for the future.

With the Fifth Order in complete control of the Church of the Deiparous, Malachi Thorne and his friends must find "The Flame," a powerful weapon which may be the only chance they have of halting the evil of the Crimson Fathers.

Penelope's Review

I was so excited to see where this book would take us after the ending of The Witchfinder. The book starts a little while after the ending of the first book, and we've got different groups in different locations. 

Malachi Thorne is now the leader of the resistance and Teska Vaun is coming to terms with her place in the Communion as a Nahoru'brexia. Together, the two of them have a very rocky road ahead filled with danger and adventure. We also have the return of some of my favorite supporting characters - Dario, Cabbott, Hawkes, and Warner to name a few! The Fifth Order has taken control of the Church, and there's a price on Malachi's head... things are heating up to say the least!

This book gives everything you would expect from a well-written fantasy novel. It has great characters with some excellent development and fantastic world-building as we go along. Since this is a post-apocalyptic Earth, there's a bunch of clever location references thrown in that I absolutely loved!

I also really enjoyed the parallels - while this book is fantasy, we see a lot of power and corruption that can easily be seen in today's world. The fight for freedom is one that we have seen so many times throughout history and you can't help but root for Thorne and his friends to come out of all of this victorious. 

I really like when an author is able to tell more than one story and bring them together seamlessly and that's exactly what happens in The Crimson Fathers. We have Malachi, Teska, Amelia and Tua'Ahtaki on one path, and Hawkes, Warner, and Dario on another path. And then we have some brief looks into the goings on of The Crimson Fathers. We get to see how each of these paths converge and it made for a really enjoyable experience putting it all together!

The only thing that sort of threw me out of the reading experience was that we would switch from one point of view to another with no warning. Now I'm not sure if this is just an ARC issue, and that the final copy will have some indication when we're switching POV's but for me, it made some chapters a bit difficult. There were times when it would change even from one paragraph to the next so something to keep in mind!

Overall though, this was a great addition to the series and it looks like we have much to look forward to in the next installment. I'm excited to see where Malachi Thorne and his friends end up in their fight for freedom! 

Rating: 4/5 Devils!