I was invited to participate in a blog tour for Olga Gibbs’s Heavenward hosted by Melanie at Fraser’s Fun House and I jumped on the opportunity.
If you would like to read Heavenward, you can do so for free just by signing up to the Celestial Club. You’ll then receive a free e-copy of this book.
You can go ahead and preorder the sequel, Hollow, as well, at this link.
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
As readers of my blog know, I’m a huge fantasy lover. One of the reasons I agreed to participate in this blog tour was that I had never read a fantasy novel with angels as the main characters, and I wanted to give it a shot.
One quick note regarding the angels: the angels do not feel biblical in any way, more like just another magical species. There’s not really any religion in the book, so if that’s something that would typically turn you off, you don’t need to worry about it with Heavenward.
Our main character, Ariel, has a difficult past full of abuse and a bad home life, and Gibbs does a great job of portraying that in Ariel’s character throughout the book. It’s not easy to write a character with a such a terrible past, but it makes Ariel’s character make sense, especially with her angry outbursts.
In terms of the love interests in the book, I’m team Rafe all the way. Sam seems incredibly untrustworthy and manipulative.
One of my favorite aspects of the book are the diverse settings. Olga Gibbs does a fantastic job of describing landscape and setting so that it is always easy to imagine exactly what Ariel’s surroundings look like.
My main gripes with the story are that I feel as though it’s too quick-paced at parts and that the story felt a little too predictable. However, this would be a great read for someone just starting out in fantasy.
About the Author
Olga Gibbs lives in a leafy-green town, nestled amongst the green fields of West Sussex, England. She was writing from the age of fifteen, mainly short stories and novellas and was a guest columnist for a local newspaper. When she is not dreaming up new adventures for her imaginary friends, she does outreach work with teenagers.
She is currently writing the second book in the “Celestial creatures” series and another stand-alone psychological crime thriller book.
Author Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
I really enjoyed reading your review. And I have to agree with you despite angels being biblical creatures and some of them even having biblical names, the book really did not feel religious, just like another part of this world. I liked that 🙂
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I also liked the fact the angels weren’t biblical. Apart from a few very mainstream fantasy books this was my fisrt and I agree with your comment – It was a great way in to start. I’m always scared of fantasy books to be honest. xx Great review.
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