Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207863 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

"Marked" series book 2
In book 2 of this series Evangeline (Eve) Hollis is now undergoing formal field training as a "Mark", an individual whose soul hangs in balance and to earn a heavenly place is trained to eliminate Infernals (demons) when they step out of line. Unfortunately wherever Eve goes, trouble seems to follow and soon members of her class; new "Marks" who certainly lack the hands on experience she has already gained (from book 1 "Eve of Darkness") start turning up dead in the goriest of fashions. It looks like the work of an Infernal, yet Eve has her suspicions.... Even under the watchful eye of Raguel, an archangel with a special interest in Eve, the body count is increasing and it's not just the new Marks that are targets. A new type of invincible Infernal is taking out seasoned Marks with ease, the archangels appear unable to help and still Cain and Abel are at each other's throats; after the same woman and the same promotion.

The dynamics between Eve, Cain and Abel continue to intrigue the reader. Both men love Eve deeply, yet appear willing to use her in their schemes to achieve a heavenly promotion. Eve in turn remains conflicted; her deep love for Cain unable to extinguish the hot spark of attraction she feels towards his brother. More is learnt why Eve was "Marked" (thankfully as I did question this when reading book 1) and she faces major changes within her relationships with both Cain and Abel when they are all finally able to take a breather following a variety of murder investigations, demon battles, life saving escapades and passionate clinches. The exciting conclusion of this book was certainly unexpected; with events occurring in the final chapters that make book 3 "Eve of Chaos" an absolute must read.

What's an agnostic to do if she's chosen by God
Eve of Destruction is the second in S. J. Day's Marked series, featuring the adventures of Eve Hollis, a young woman chosen by God to bear the Mark of Cain and become one of His soldiers on Earth, hunting and killing Infernals - demons dwelling on Earth - while also having to deal with the consequences of being desired by, and having her own strong feelings for, the brother's Cain and Abel, each of whom also serves God in his own way: Cain as Eve's mentor, and the most skilled and fearsome Mark; and Abel as a handler, supervising Marks, including Eve, and sending them on missions.

The book takes up at the point where the first in the series, Eve of Darkness, left off, with Eve being resurrected after dying while vanquishing a dragon in a restroom at a baseball game. She has little time for recuperation, however, as Raguel, the archangel to whom she is assigned, has scheduled some field training for the novice Marks under his command, wanting to take advantage of the brief few weeks of the year that he is allowed to use his angelic powers on Earth freely.

So, Eve has no choice but to join with a group of misfit sinners - for all Marks are damned souls doing God's will in order to earn redemption - most of whom resent her for her connection to Cain, and travel to a mostly derelict army base in northern California for some hands on experience in Infernal hunting. This separates her from Cain, who is tasked with killing the alpha werewolf ultimately responsible for Eve's death in the previous book, and from Abel, who has problems of his own, needing to identify a mysterious new type of Infernal capable of consuming even the most experienced Marks. Unsurprisingly, given Eve's luck, her routine training exercise turns deadly, and the trails both Cain and Abel are following converge on her location, leading to climactic conflict which has repercussions in both Heaven, and Hell.

Second works in a series are always interesting for a reader: will the author maintain the previous book's standard? Will the characters and plot develop, or will you get a re-run of what has gone before? These are the questions one asks, and in the case of Eve of Destruction, I think the answer has to be that this book is actually an improvement on the previous one. Eve continues to grow as a character: wondering if she can maintain her own agnosticism in the face of such celestial evidence, while also refusing to accept the system is perfect. Cain and Abel, too, go through challenges of their own, forced to work together by their common interest in Eve, and what she can do for them. The plot is also more satisfying, with each of the three main characters pursuing their own threads, rather than digging at each other. Added to this, there are intriguing signs of the series' larger arc developing, with Satan making an, admittedly brief, appearance, and Cain undergoing some major changes.

All in all, then, this is a worthy sequel, which certainly left me wanting to pick up the third volume, Eve of Chaos as soon as possible.