"No one knows WHEN the world will end but how do you go on, when you’ve seen HOW it will end? If the dark ones don’t kill me first...I'll tell everyone."--- Starling Marie Roberts.
College Sophomore Starling Roberts is afraid of the dark because she has known this all her life.
They shadow beings are real and she can see them.
Plagued with nightmares of the invasion of Earth by the Dark fallen and ultimately Morning Star isn't an easy burden to carry, especially when the darkness is after you for the very thing that makes each one of us stand apart from them...our Divinity.
Starling is rare and unique.
Her past obstacles and devastations have wilted her own beliefs, leaving her to begin questioning her own purpose and faith. But that begins to change when the dark shadows begin attacking her mentally...and physically.
Starling has been chosen, one of hundreds of thousands. But her rare divinity has placed her on the top most wanted list by the dark fallen and she has become the target of a planned catastrophic and deadly event gathered, controlled and led by Morning Star himself.
Star's only hope to remain alive and sane---Cam`ael, a renegade, dark fallen Incubus who lusts for her and Drakael—an Angel determined to keep her from him.
This is her Chronicle, pulled and put together from her own personal journals now known as The Book of Starling.
Combined with the journals of Cam`ael; Former Chief Angel of all Powers in his own words and at his own personal request.
Susan currently resides in Texas. She was born in Thailand and is biracial. Though she holds a Bachelors in Forensic Psychology and Criminal justice, her passion and interests lie in the supernatural, paranormal, and all things not seen by the naked eye. This fascination results in her love of creating new worlds, memorable characters, and ideas for others to ponder, escape to, and overall enjoy through the power of the written word. She is a brand new author working to make her mark in the vast literary world. Television is often background noise for her, as Susan loves to spend much of her free time reading, and writing; something she has done ever since she was little. Not having many toys or even cable growing up—(although looking back, she feels that was a good thing in many ways) certainly helped to forge and nourish her imagination and passion for story-telling. She doesn't have any current accolades to mention or a long list of works that she has written, even though she's been writing for many, many years, but that has since changed with the publication of the second novel in her first series. She is very excited to finally be able to share it with the world and so many others who also love a good supernatural, paranormal, urban, or dark fantasy. In her spare time, she loves to watch martial arts movies, cook, bake, paint, make jewelry, and basically attempt just about anything artsy craftsy. Susan can't stand to leave a mess and goes crazy when she can't fix something. She will spend hours trying to fix or resolve some of the most complex of problems and issues. She is a single mother to two amazing adult children. The Divinity Saga is her first series, She looks forward to meeting readers and other authors, and even more so, interacting with and making new friends all over the world. For any additional information about her or the current Divinity Series and future projects, feel free to drop by to ask questions about the saga, and leave a personal note to let her know just how much you are enjoying her stories at: www.facebook.com/DivinityTheGathering... or http://authorsusanreid.blogspot.com/?...
WOW! Amazing Read! I couldn't put the book down. the story was so intricate and the characters so interesting. I love books about fallen Angels and this one has quickly flown to the top of my 10 most loved list.
My favourite of all was Cam of course how could it not. He was such a wonderful and heartbreaking character who loved and wanted to be loved so much. He knows he must be with her even if its technically forbidden, and he doesn't much care, As long as she needs him he will protect her. He was the warrior and the protector and no matter his circumstance he never compromised or changed himself for anyone.
Star was an incredible individual who didn't take crap and even though she was scared stood up for herself and others. Her story was tragic and heartbreaking but she didn't let it change her life and who she was. Her Divine gift sets her apart from others and her nightmares drive her to the edge of insanity but still she holds on, never fearing it will all come together in the end.
Morning Star was incredible in this book. He was witty, scary and dark as Hell itself. I would not want to come up against him. He is a larger then life character in a lot of peoples eyes which makes it him a hard character to write about and I think Susan nailed it perfectly!
I believe that Susan is a amazing author and I can't wait to read more of Cam and Stars story. This is the kind of book that could stand on its own or be put in a series. I think Susan went above and beyond when it came to describing the people and places. The story was incredible the characters witty and fun and the battles epic. If you haven't yet read it get you copy today!
Starling (Star) Roberts has been having frightening nightmares depicting the end of the world for years only lately they have been getting worse. Becoming increasingly scared to sleep and completely aware of the strange beings lurking in the shadows, the darkness has become a nightmare within reality. Star knows that in some way she is the connection between being able to see shadow demons and her possible premonition of the worlds end but she underestimates her significance. When the demons start attacking her physically as well as emotionally she realises this catastrophic event is imminent and the possibilities of her surviving it are very slim. Camael is Star’s only hope. A renegade fallen angel, Cam has always had an obsession with Star, her aura is so bright he can’t help but be drawn to her, lusting after her and yet wanting to protect her. His promise to protect her against Morning Star (Satan) is his new mission, Morning Star has also developed an unhealthy obsession with Star, her bright aura reminding him of someone he failed to claim as his own. He is determined to have her, even creating the end of the world to have his way with her. Will Cam put aside his lust for Star to protect this chosen beauty. Wow! Fallen Angels! I am fascinated and completely drawn to them, this book didn’t disappoint and had me hooked. Everything from the array of fascinating characters to a plotline that no only had suspense but a wonderful love story emerging in the background. Every significant character in this story is defined so well I had no problem letting my imagination run wild picturing them. Written from the point of view of Star and Camael I found essential to making this story work, I love to be able to understand both sides to a story it’s a perfect concept for me. For a 19 year old Star is written as strong, witty and mature for her age, she’s a joy to read about. Her interactions with Camael in this story never failed to make me smile, even laugh. I am smitten with Camael, a sexy fallen angel who is also smart & powerful with a soft side that I can’t help to love. Although this book is written with an ever present love story in the background is full of suspense and at times a touch frightening. The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that during the conversations there was an abundance of he said, she said which for me seemed unnecessary once I had established who was included in the conversation. I love this book, I love the characters and plot. I am definitely carrying on this series in the future.
Reading Divinity was like conquering a half marathon for me. I see books of that size and I get scared because I am more of a sprint reader. I don’t usually have hours upon hours to devote to reading unless it is the weekend. Also as an avid reader my TBR pile could fall over and kill me at any given moment so devoting that much time for one book was hard. BUT I think the length is the book’s only misgiving because besides that, I really enjoyed the book. It was a fallen angel tale with lots of new creative ideas. The world building and characters are well thought out and described in length!
Divinity is a dual POV between Starling and Cam`ael, a fallen incubus. Their tales sometimes lead them into creepy and dark situations but Cam was my favorite character. Even though technically he was a fallen angel and forbidden to help Star, he still choose to protect her at all costs. His will to be good and do the right thing was an incredibly intriguing part of the book. I also loved how Star was a strong female character, as always this is important for me in a female character. She doesn’t ever play the damsel in distress card!
Overall, this book is definitely lengthy but worth the time. There is enough plot twists and happenings to keep you interested in the book. I would recommend this for adult fantasy readers, definitely not for ya aged readers!
That said, I very much enjoyed this book. Buy it, read it if you like urban fantasy. The descriptive nature of the dimensions did not confuse me, the story was strong, and the characters were not unbelievable. I liked the back story of the main characters, as well. The story line flowed, and once I got into it, I read the book in three days. Good urban fantasy with a flare for the religious. Thank goodness, not a religious book, but it does serve to the meaning of the storyline.
SMALL downside: the editing. I think this is self published. While that is admirable as the book is good, there needs to be someone with a grasp of english grammar and word flow to edit the book. The dialogue between characters a sentence will end with ...and so he said. I follow a dialogue with the " at the beginning and " at the end of a sentence. If the characters are identified at the start of the dialogue, a reader can follow. And a pet peeve of mine dear author: DO NOT use the same descriptive twice. Cam SMIRKED TOO MUCH. He can smile, his eyes can twinkle, but no more SMIRKING.
Two thumbs up for Divinity: The Gathering. I won this book through the Goodreads giveaway promotion and could not be happier to be introduced to another new author for my bookshelf. I found this book well written and while a little slow to start, I still had a difficult time putting it down. I did have some issues with the editing and proofreading of the book as there were many sentences that were repetative or missing words that actually made me have to go back and re-read the sentence to fully understand it and a few congriguity errors that made it difficult to follow occasionaly, but as the story-line and character developement was superb it didn't damper my enthusiasm for the book at all. I fully enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one to come out. By the end of the book I couldn't put it down and felt like I was right there in the story. Should definitly be on any fantasy lovers must read list.
Divinity: The Gathering by Susan Reid is an imaginative dark fantasy, weaving elements of religious theology with the current on-trend fantasy genre.
Telling the story of student Star, the book creates an epic tapestry of worlds clashing together, with the dramatic feel of biblical end of the world literature.
Drawing parallels between climatic events such as hurricane Katrina, Reid takes the reader on a journey that merges the fictional world with reality, and creates a thought-provoking and unique setting for Star’s destiny to unfold. Surrounded by deceptive angels and dangerous demons, the novel features repentant fallen angels with dark desires, and rigid dogma dictating rules that Star must evade.
A great read for fans of dark romance and gothic horror, especially the evocative descriptions of the omnipresent Morning Star’s realm. Looking forward to the sequel, Divinity: Transcendence.
Divinity The Gathering starts out slow but quickly picks up the pace keeping you intrigued. The story is extremely well written, making you feel like you're part of everything. The characters are written just as well. I love how Starling is written. She is very mature for her age, and strong. It's hard for me to sit here and write this review for fear of giving spoilers. This is the first time I have had the pleasure of reading anything by Reid. I was not disappointed by any means. I have found a new favorite author. I look forward to book 2.
Susan Reid has written a good book and the storyline is fairly tight. My problem with this book is that her sentences had a tendency to run on and on, sometimes making perfect sense, other times becoming completely incoherent. In either case, I must say that I felt like she should have worked on her basic grammatical structures and basic punctuation. The book needs to be edited and proofed again and then republished. I'm afraid this piece needs work.
I don't know what I can say about this book that others have not already said. I couldn't put it down once I started and I fell in love with the characters right away. This book has gone to the top of recommendation list. I look forward to reading the books to come.