Heavenward

Heavenward

by Olga Gibbs

3.5 out of 5

Synopsis
With the power to end the world, would you protect humanity when it broke you or would you take revenge?

Meet Ariel: a quiet, unnoticeable girl with an incredible gift…

Ariel never had an easy or pleasant life, but the arrival of three gorgeous strangers meant her measured life is turned upside down, as she discovers that angels exist.
Now against her will, she’s drawn into an ancient celestial conflict where her powers will decide the fate of humanity.

Deceived, threatened, hunted and now on the run, who can she trust?



Review
Ariel hasn't had the easiest life, but she keeps her head down, hoping to stay unnoticed at school, until she can leave. She realises that she's missing a much bigger picture when angels start to fight over her.

I downloaded this for free, in the run up to the release of the second book, Hallow.

Ariel's life is far from perfect. She hears voices, and she's afraid that people are going to figure out she's crazy. She's also stuck in the social system, after she was taken away from her abusive step-father. She has survivor's guilt, and is terrified that she won't be able to protect her little sister from being his new victim.
She has never believed in higher beings, so it is a shock when angels start to track her down, and fight over her.
Ariel is whisked away to another world, in a bid to escape a killer angel, and to learn about her own hidden abilities.

This was a very creative adventure. The history, and warring factions of angels, don't get bogged down into too much detail, but you get the feeling that it's a much bigger world.
Ariel suddenly has to cope with being thrust into the limelight, trying to satisfy all of her new friends; and work out who she can trust.
In a world full of vengeful angels, not everything is as it seems.

This is quite a dark YA fantasy read. It doesn't go into a lot of detail about Ariel's abuse, but there is a lot of violence and betrayal.
Heavenward is clearly the first book in a series, and it spends its time building the foundations; establishing the characters, the histories and the potential villains. As such, it did often feel slow, or like step 1 in Celestial Creatures, rather than a story in its own right.

The copy I got could do with editing/proofreader. There were enough errors to distract from the story overall.

Overall, this was a 3.5 out of 5 for me, and I look forward to the next part in the series.

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