Review: Forsaken by Jana Oliver

The Forsaken (The Demon Trappers #1)
by Jana Oliver

Demon Trapper Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what Lucifer is counting on…

It’s the year 2018, and with human society seriously disrupted by the economic upheavals of the previous decade, Lucifer has increased the number of demons in all major cities. Atlanta is no exception. Fortunately, humans are protected by Demon Trappers, who work to keep homes and streets safe from the things that go bump in the night. Seventeen-year-old Riley, only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father’s footsteps. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing attraction to fellow Trapper apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving citizens from Grade One Hellspawn. Business as usual, really, for a demon-trapping teen. When a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood, she realizes that she’s caught in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell.

To start with, I felt like this book was really slow. The story line was dragging in and I was getting bored. But then, something happened in Riley's life and the story started to pick up. From then on, I was captivated by the story and the characters in it and I was desperate to know what was going to happen. 

I really liked Riley. I admired her determination to become a trapper even though a lot of the Trappers Guild were against her joining because she's a girl. I also thought it was pretty badass that she is the only female trapper. It just makes her that bit more awesome. I also admire her strength. Riley has gone through alot in her life, and there's a lot that happens to her in this book. Although she has her moments when she breaks down, most of the time she keeps her head held high and gets on with it. She was also pretty funny and really likable.

There were 3 guys in this book that were all interested in Riley: Beck, Simon and Ori. The only one I really liked was Beck. Sure, Simon's nice enough and Ori's mysterious, but Beck was the only one that stood out for me (that might have been because some of the story was from his POV). 

Beck's had a rough life, and Riley's dad helped him through it. He's got this kind of tough outer shell that he puts on to hide his true feelings, but when he drops it, he's so sweet and kind. He cares for Riley a lot and has battle with his feelings for her for years. I had my fingers crossed for these two because they just seem like they would be perfect together.

Simon is a goody two shoes. He's too nice and restrained and I just couldn't find myself enjoying the moments that Riley and Simon had together. I was mostly hoping Beck would show up and declare his love for her (even though that's not his style). Simon just seemed too perfect.

We haven't learnt a lot about Ori yet. He's still a mysterious character that I'm intrigued to learn more about. He's saved Riley's ass twice now, so I'm hoping he'll turn up in the rest of the series because I want to know more about him.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for Beck and Riley though.

The whole storyline about the Trappers and Demons was really interesting. I liked learning about trapping along with Riley since she's an apprentice. I also enjoyed learning about the different kind of demons and what can be used to trap them. I also enjoyed seeing the different kinds of necromancers and learning more about them. I'm interested to see more of them in the next book.

The last couple of chapters were pretty exciting and I was hooked. I didn't want to put the book down until I'd finished it. I'm really excited to read Forbidden now!

I really enjoyed this book which is why I gave it:

Overall, I thought this book was pretty good. I definitely recommend checking it out!