A Review for Inception (The Reaping Chronicles #1) by Teal Haviland

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: May 2013
Finished Date: June 23rd, 2013

Publishers: Self - Published
Source: For Review

Format: Kindle 
Pages: 550

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

The world is in danger. Mankind is sinking deeper into darkness it cannot understand.
Demons are easily capturing souls as they lead men and women down dangerous paths from which there is no return, while Javan, one of the Fallen, seeks an ancient book and the power it promises. If he succeeds, humans — and the world as they know it — will be destroyed.

There is someone who is capable of stopping Javan . . . 

If she discovers him in time.

Gabrielle is one of the most powerful angels ever created, her job one of the most important. She has come to Earth to learn more about humans and what influences them, and to fight evil she sees growing at an alarming rate. She soon finds herself carelessly distracted with one human in particular, however. Lucas Watkins holds a promise of peace and love for Gabrielle that she never believed she could have again. 

As feelings between her and Lucas become more than she can deny, so do the dangers mounting against him. After discovering who Lucas is, and the choice he faces, she realizes Darkness will come for him through demons and fantastical beings he thought only existed in his imaginings — forcing fairytales to become his reality. 
Caught between her new mortal ties and ancient immortal responsibilities, Gabrielle must race against what seems to be an ever-quickening clock to learn what she needs to know, protect Lucas, uncover Javan’s plan, and find a way to stop him and all who live in Shadows.

Things become more complex than she ever anticipated, her decisions more critical, and what begins as a quest for information rapidly places her in an even more crucial position within the longest and most important war ever waged. 
Join Gabrielle and her allies in a story of love – past and present – fantastical beings, hidden realms, magic, fate, loss, and the fight of good versus evil.

The Review: Inception is a great start to a new series involving Angels & Demons heading towards the ultimate power play with Earth and humanity as the target. The synopsis is a perfect description of what the book entails as we find Gabrielle, the Angel of Karma aka The Reaper thrust into the human world in an attempt to gain knowledge about why the balance between good & evil is being tipped more towards darkness, why are the humans forsaking the light ? Gabrielle had also been having dreams of a boy, someone she felt she needed to help whilst on earth so whilst doing her angelic duties she decides to see where her dreams fit in. After getting used to her body & her human emotions for a couple of months, her first day at high school is an eye opener in more ways than one, the foremost being the boy from her dreams – Lucas- for when she meets him, she feels an instant connection to him and him to her but acting on that is the biggest taboo for her kind, something that would cause her to become that which was hunted – a fallen – a fate that befell her once beloved – Javen – and now it seems that her time on earth is more important than ever as Javen, Gabrielle & Lucas’s fates are woven together into a plot to over throw one of the most powerful entities there ever was…..and only Gabrielle has the power to stop it.

Gabrielle was a really likable character, fiercely protective & very capable of giving that to others. She is feared and respected wherever she goes, because let’s face it, who would want to anger the Angel of Karma? I really liked her warrior angel side, how others feared her & how she could defend herself, I love a character that doesn’t depend on others. I also liked how she softened when she came to earth too, through experiencing human emotions she gets a sort of balance herself, an understanding of why humans can behave the way they do, how intense they can feel and also how fragile they can be. The love that blossomed between her and Lucas was sweet, in the beginning it seemed as though we were headed towards some insta-love territory and whilst they feel the intense connection, it was handled well and whilst it was very tentative, it still had a sort of forbidden feel to it and that is the best kind of love. I also really liked Phalen and her attitude to everything, a great secondary character that I hope to see more of, along with her shifter friends.

I really enjoyed the storyline, who doesn’t love a story where good versus evil in a battle for supremacy, sprinkled with some forbidden love & topped with some kick ass characters? The world the author has created has the potential to be built upon in future books especially because she doesn’t limit her species to just angels/demons/nephillim which I really liked, plus there are so many possibilities with different realms too. I really liked the big threat of the book, which appears to be the series thread and found it really interesting, I’m really curious to read how that is going to play out and it also had a book long, immediate danger situation that both tie in together so well and introduce us to the larger world in the book. I enjoyed the different pov’s especially Javans, I enjoy getting into the bad guys head, it gives a greater understanding of his actions & his plans but it also helps to witness other emotions that even other characters aren’t privy to, which can even get you to empathise with the bad guy. I was thrilled with the connection between Gabrielle & Javan, again this has tons of potential for further conflict especially with their joint history, how well they know each other’s strengths & weaknesses and both having positions of power…. This relationship is definitely one to watch - but saying that - I did like Gabrielle & Lucas’s love connection too. With most books about angels, there is a tendency to focus on the new emotions & feelings of the visiting Angel which leads to a lot of internal analysis and whilst I totally get why this happens, it just tends to bog things down a bit for me and Gabrielle was guilty of that. I wouldn’t say that it was particularly fast paced & full of action either but there are a good few events that will keep you on your toes and hold your interest, never the less, this book was a really good read and I will definitely be looking out for the sequel.