False Covenant

False Covenant (Widdershins Adventures, 2) by Ari Marmell, June 26, 2012. 281 pages. Published by PYR Books. Source: Publisher.

A creature of the other world, an unnatural entity bent on chaos and carnage, has come to stalk the nighttime streets of the Galicien city of Davillon. There's never a good time for murder and panic, but for a community already in the midst of its own inner turmoil, this couldn't possibly have come at a worse one.
Not for Davillon, and not for a young thief who calls herself Widdershins.
It's been over half a year since the brutal murder of Archbishop William de Laurent during his pilgrimage to Davillon. And in all that time, Widdershins has truly tried her best. She's tried to take care of Genevieve's tavern and tried to make a semihonest living in a city slowly stagnating under the weight of an angry and disapproving Church. She's tried to keep out of trouble, away from the attentions of the Davillon Guard and above the secrets and schemes of the city's new bishop.
But she's in way over her head, with no idea which way to turn. The Guard doesn't trust her. The Church doesn't trust her. Her own Thieves' Guild doesn't trust her.
Too bad for everyone, then, that she and her personal god, Olgun, may be their only real weapon against a new evil like nothing the city has ever seen.

First Sentence:

If she hadn't already known, she'd never have recognized the lie for what it is.

I actually started reading False Covenant over the summer last year, but ended up putting it aside after some craziness called tent camping and moving took over. It took me nearly seven months to pick this one back up again.

False Covenant, I don't even know where to begin  on this one because it was crazy good and just so intense that this review will probably not do it justice.
 
One of the things I really liked about the second installment of the Widdershins Adventures would have to be that you could still see how the ending of the previous book was still strongly affecting Widdershins. I really like the way Ari Marmell is able to incorporate such strong emotions into his fantasy series and that with every new trial placed in Widdershin's way you get see what she's made of.

My brain kind of hurts just thinking over everything that happened in False Covenant because so much happened that changed quite a few things in the story. While trying to sift through what to say about what happened without spoiling a most excellent read I cannot help but think that y'all have no idea what is in store for you.
  What really made this a great follow up to book one would have to be that the stakes are higher and Widdershins' has even more to lose. I also really enjoyed that the second book sees Widdershin's taking a different role as she tries to keep Genevieve's tavern open and clear her name from the latest supernatural stalking that's plaguing Davillion's streets.

One of the things I've really enjoyed about this series would have to be that the author, Ari Marmell, is not afraid to make his characters feel pain and hit them were it will hurt most. While this may sound like a horrible reason to love a series, I enjoy it because it allows the characters to grow and the story to take a whole new direction as these obstacles are thrown at the character.

While I didn't really find anything not to like about False Covenant, I would like to let y'all know that there are some very disturbing, graphic scenes where characters in the book are killed off. Even though most of them are off screen the descriptions of what happened to some of the adult and child characters is enough to turn one's stomach, so, I would recommend caution to readers. I'll put it this way, there were some scenes that made me feel queasy and I can usually read just about anything without even batting an eye.

Final Verdict: False Covenant an edge of the seat fantasy that'll keep you in its clutches from start to finish.

False Covenant earns 4.5 out of 5 pineapples.