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Judgment Day
Lifelong friends and lovers Amos Ross, Suzie Mitchell, and Vickie Riordan have been fighting the bloodthirsty gods that bestride a post-apocalyptic America for a lifetime. But the terrible suffering and loss they have endured together have only led to the rise of Ba'al, the most powerful and terrible pagan deity of all. Now the island refuge they have built together is threatened, along with the lives of their children and everyone else they love. Follow them as they make a stand and seek to uncover the shattering cosmic truth, in Judgment Day!
334 pages, Paperback
Published March 3, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2020
Judgment Day is the fourth and final installment in the Days of Atonement series by Martin Berman-Gorvine. The book separates itself from the three previous books by a substantial distance in years and geography. The main characters: Amos, Suzie, and Vicky, are now in their forties and living far to the south of their old hometown of Chatham’s Forge, on an island in Maryland, where they are somewhat removed from the newest god to take over up north, Ba’al, and his High Priestess, Cindy, who seeks revenge against the Israel clan, which Amos’s band is now called. While Amos is the Headman, or leader, of this band that lives peacefully except for the occasional assaults by the punks that have followed them south, it is Vicky who has taken on the role of Rabbi and devoted follower of the Jewish God Amos’s family secretly believed in back in Chatham’s Forge when Moloch was the god in charge. The trio have formed a somewhat awkward family unit, with Amos married to both women and producing a large blended family. While he is admired and respected by the small community of more than a hundred refugees that have joined them over the years, Amos still retains the wishy washy and indecisive nature that has not only frustrated the women in his life, but this reviewer as well. He is a good man, but he struggles to make decisions and be an assertive leader, allowing one of his wives and a son to dominate their community with less violent, but similar rigid ritualistic expectations put upon the followers of the barbaric gods of the north.
While the group has been at peace for years, Cindy and Ba’al are prepared to get their vengeance against the Israel clan. At the same time, Vicky has become convinced that the Jewish God has taken physical form and their much smaller group is destined to go to war with the demonic gods, like Ba’al and Mote, the god of death. Amos struggles to keep his two families and two wives, who have been at odds with one another all these years, at peace and their community whole. It’s clear that is a failing effort, and war is coming.
This is a fitting, and somewhat surprising, ending to this series. I had my doubts as to how the author could effectively end this tale, given the direction it has been heading and with the world filled with so many dark and demonic gods, ghosts, and only hints of the benevolent, if somewhat absent deity of the Jewish faith. I felt satisfied in the end-that the author didn’t use a (pardon the use of the term) deus ex machina to bring things to a conclusion, as it were. The ending fits and while this alternate universe can seem somewhat baffling at times, it has its own logic to it, and the characters who survive are not left with easy answers or solutions to their lifelong problems.
While the big picture story of this series deals with a hell-wrapped apocalyptic world, the real story is more personal, dealing with the conflicts that face the challenging love triangle Amos, Suzie, and Vicky been a part of since their high school days came to an end. It is hard to say that any one of them is a hero or a villain in this piece. Instead, they are just three humans that have tried, and often failed, to do the right things for themselves and those they care about. This is not a tale of redemption or vindication for any one of them. It is a tale of realization-understanding who you are (for better or worse) and that while this particular story may end, the greater story continues to unfold endlessly into the future. Whether that is frustrating, or satisfying, is perhaps all in how you look at it. For me, this series was both frustrating and satisfying, like the characters, and like life itself. It is the same whether you live in the ‘normal’ world or (apparently) in a demon and ghost-infested post nuclear apocalyptic world.
While the group has been at peace for years, Cindy and Ba’al are prepared to get their vengeance against the Israel clan. At the same time, Vicky has become convinced that the Jewish God has taken physical form and their much smaller group is destined to go to war with the demonic gods, like Ba’al and Mote, the god of death. Amos struggles to keep his two families and two wives, who have been at odds with one another all these years, at peace and their community whole. It’s clear that is a failing effort, and war is coming.
This is a fitting, and somewhat surprising, ending to this series. I had my doubts as to how the author could effectively end this tale, given the direction it has been heading and with the world filled with so many dark and demonic gods, ghosts, and only hints of the benevolent, if somewhat absent deity of the Jewish faith. I felt satisfied in the end-that the author didn’t use a (pardon the use of the term) deus ex machina to bring things to a conclusion, as it were. The ending fits and while this alternate universe can seem somewhat baffling at times, it has its own logic to it, and the characters who survive are not left with easy answers or solutions to their lifelong problems.
While the big picture story of this series deals with a hell-wrapped apocalyptic world, the real story is more personal, dealing with the conflicts that face the challenging love triangle Amos, Suzie, and Vicky been a part of since their high school days came to an end. It is hard to say that any one of them is a hero or a villain in this piece. Instead, they are just three humans that have tried, and often failed, to do the right things for themselves and those they care about. This is not a tale of redemption or vindication for any one of them. It is a tale of realization-understanding who you are (for better or worse) and that while this particular story may end, the greater story continues to unfold endlessly into the future. Whether that is frustrating, or satisfying, is perhaps all in how you look at it. For me, this series was both frustrating and satisfying, like the characters, and like life itself. It is the same whether you live in the ‘normal’ world or (apparently) in a demon and ghost-infested post nuclear apocalyptic world.
March 3, 2020
A very fine finale to Days of Ascension
Washington, DC author Martin Berman-Gorvine is a professional journalist, currently serving as a reporter for the Bureau of National Affairs newsletter Human Resources Report. He has published fifteen books to date, and has become a popular science fiction writer, winning awards in both Canada and the US.
JUDGMENT DAY is Book 4 of Martin’s Days of Ascension series and in keeping with his apparent faith in his readers’ enjoyment of his works, he has previously stated a background for the series: ‘After defeating the powerful demon Moloch and ending the horrid custom of human sacrifice in Chatham's Forge, teenagers Amos Ross, Suzie Mitchell, and Vickie Riordan find that freedom is elusive and evil a constant presence in their home town of Chatham's Forge, as the demon Asherah arises and demands her share of blood.’
Martin’s books fall into the Young Adult range and that is a receptive audience to science fiction and the occult and all things mysterious enough to defray the realities of our current time. His writing style punctuates the importance of involving characters with whom the YA audience can identify.
For example, in opening Book 4 of his series, Martin writes, Deena -‘He comes to me in the night, crying, because his wives have been feuding again, and I take him in like always and listen patiently. After all, I’m the Wise Woman of the Israel Band, so who else could our Headman Amos turn to? Plus, I’ve known him and Suzie and Vickie more’n twenty years now, since we was all just kids running for our lives from Chatham’s Forge and its demon gods. I’ve heard every twist and turn of their three-person marriage, from the days when it was just Amos and Suzie, with Vickie living under a curse outside the camp, to when Amos and Vickie was together after the Fall of Asherah, during which Suzie, who told him to go be with her best friend and rival, might as well have been under a curse. Until finally all three of them decided to live as one family and Amos married Suzie in front of everyone, while clasping her hands and Vickie’s to his chest at the same time. Both of them women seemed real joyful and so all three of them were a happy family together. For like a month.’
A distillation of the plot is provided – ‘Twenty-five years ago, high school friends and lovers Amos, Suzie and Vickie destroyed Moloch, the evil god who reigned over their hometown of Chatham’s Forge, taking the Prom Queen in sacrifice each year. Together they have set up their own alternative society far from the Forge, which is now ruled over by an even more powerful and evil god, Ba’al. God Himself is hiding from this new threat in an abandoned 7-Eleven in Cape May, New Jersey. Can our heroes survive?’
Solid concepts and skills and the ability to weave a story that captivates the reader from the start, Martin Berman-Gorvine has taken his place on the popular bench of YA Sci-Fi authors.
Washington, DC author Martin Berman-Gorvine is a professional journalist, currently serving as a reporter for the Bureau of National Affairs newsletter Human Resources Report. He has published fifteen books to date, and has become a popular science fiction writer, winning awards in both Canada and the US.
JUDGMENT DAY is Book 4 of Martin’s Days of Ascension series and in keeping with his apparent faith in his readers’ enjoyment of his works, he has previously stated a background for the series: ‘After defeating the powerful demon Moloch and ending the horrid custom of human sacrifice in Chatham's Forge, teenagers Amos Ross, Suzie Mitchell, and Vickie Riordan find that freedom is elusive and evil a constant presence in their home town of Chatham's Forge, as the demon Asherah arises and demands her share of blood.’
Martin’s books fall into the Young Adult range and that is a receptive audience to science fiction and the occult and all things mysterious enough to defray the realities of our current time. His writing style punctuates the importance of involving characters with whom the YA audience can identify.
For example, in opening Book 4 of his series, Martin writes, Deena -‘He comes to me in the night, crying, because his wives have been feuding again, and I take him in like always and listen patiently. After all, I’m the Wise Woman of the Israel Band, so who else could our Headman Amos turn to? Plus, I’ve known him and Suzie and Vickie more’n twenty years now, since we was all just kids running for our lives from Chatham’s Forge and its demon gods. I’ve heard every twist and turn of their three-person marriage, from the days when it was just Amos and Suzie, with Vickie living under a curse outside the camp, to when Amos and Vickie was together after the Fall of Asherah, during which Suzie, who told him to go be with her best friend and rival, might as well have been under a curse. Until finally all three of them decided to live as one family and Amos married Suzie in front of everyone, while clasping her hands and Vickie’s to his chest at the same time. Both of them women seemed real joyful and so all three of them were a happy family together. For like a month.’
A distillation of the plot is provided – ‘Twenty-five years ago, high school friends and lovers Amos, Suzie and Vickie destroyed Moloch, the evil god who reigned over their hometown of Chatham’s Forge, taking the Prom Queen in sacrifice each year. Together they have set up their own alternative society far from the Forge, which is now ruled over by an even more powerful and evil god, Ba’al. God Himself is hiding from this new threat in an abandoned 7-Eleven in Cape May, New Jersey. Can our heroes survive?’
Solid concepts and skills and the ability to weave a story that captivates the reader from the start, Martin Berman-Gorvine has taken his place on the popular bench of YA Sci-Fi authors.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews