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Ferdy's Reviews > Foretold
Foretold (The Demon Trappers, #4)
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After stopping a war between two different factions of hell, Riley Blackthorne is back to trapping demons like normal. She still has her problems though - she has to find a new home when she gets a notice of eviction, she's trying to figure out why Beck is pushing her away after passionately kissing her and her ex-boyfriend/fallen angel, Ori, still owns her soul.
Beck has problems of his own - a dying mother who hates him and a reporter ex whose threatening to expose his sordid past. Beck distances himself from Riley to stop her learning about his past, so he's not happy when he's told that Riley will be accompanying him home to visit his dying mother.
Riley is suprised by the hostility Beck recieves from his hometown. She soon finds out that Beck was suspected of killing 2 teenagers when he was younger. Riley knows that the only way for Beck to move forward and start a relationship with her is to get closure in his hometown so she convinces Beck to find out what really happened to the missing teenagers.
-The first half of the book dealt with Beck's past, his relationship with his mother and his involvement in the death of two teenagers. The second half of the book was basically a rehashed storyline from the third book - fighting to stop the fallen angel Sartael from overthrowing Lucifer's reign in hell. The investigation of the murders in Beck's hometown didn't really fit into the rest of the series - it added nothing to the overarching storyline from book 1. It was good getting to know more about Beck but I would have preferred if it didn't take over half the book to explore his past. Even though I enjoyed the second half of the book more - it was still disappointing because it was basically like reading the same plot from the previous book.
-Riley was too Beck obsessed in this installment - she kept throwing herself at him and begging for love after he treated her like rubbish. It was only in the last third of the book where Beck actually started to act like he liked Riley romantically, this was a case of too little too late for me - especially when Riley talked about her love for him from the start of the book. The main reasons Beck seemed to even want Riley was because she believed in and wouldn't ever leave him. I would have been more convinced of his love for her if it didn't come with the condition that he had to be the centre of her world.
-I really didn't liked Beck in this book, he treated Riley like crap and then it took him most of the book for him to decide whether or not he even wanted Riley. I've still not forgiven him for giving Riley a hard time and looking down at her for sleeping with someone she loved especially when he slept around with everyone and anyone including married women - he's a sexist, hypocritical douche who wanted Riley to remain chaste while he did whatever he wanted.
I wasn't convinced that Riley was Beck's true love, he fell in love twice before and he even proposed to one his girlfriends - the reason it didn't last with them was because they dumped him and not because they weren't right for him. The only difference between Riley and the other girls he loved was that Riley would never leave him - so she just seems like his new love rather than his true love. He never once thought that what he felt was Riley was more than what he felt before - he only ever said that things with Riley was different to girlfriends before because of the fact she would never leave him.
-I hated the name calling of quite a few of the female characters. Beck's mum is called a whore and a bitch, Beck's ex is repeatedly called a skank by Riley. Yes, it happens in real life but it's not right so when the main characters do it and act like it's not wrong for them to call names, how am I meant to find them likeable? how am I meant to sympathize with them and root for them?? It was disgusting how Beck judged his mother for sleeping around, one of the main reasons he thought she was bad mother was because of her sex life yet he slept around just as much as his mother and he didn't think any less of himself. I used to think Beck was a great character but now not so much, he still has some good points but they were overshadowed by his judgemental, self righteous attitude.
I used to love this series but it has gone downhill for me mainly because of the name calling and double standards thoroughout the series - I didn't notice it at first but having re-read the series it's becomes more and more apparent. My opinion of Beck, who started of pretty great has changed dramatically - his attitude towards Riley losing her virginity to someone else was just disgusting. There's still a lot of good things in the book - the main character Riley made a change from the usual innocent, do-goody, Mary Sue type heroines. I don't think that Riley is everyone's cup of tea though, a lot of readers will probably think she's bitchy and bratty, which she can be but for some reason it didn't really bother me too much. One definite plus was that Riley actually had good female friends and also that there were a few female characters that were actually potrayed well- Blaze/Susan, Simi, Ayden and Sam. Most YA novels have zero decent female characters (apart form the heroine) and/or they have a lot of women hate in them so it was good to see some realistic female characters, though there was still quite a bit of women on women hate going on. The action, the side characters and the worldbuiling were also pretty good. Even though the series has it's faults, I did enjoy it overall (though not as much as I once did) and I will be looking out for any future books that the author releases.
After stopping a war between two different factions of hell, Riley Blackthorne is back to trapping demons like normal. She still has her problems though - she has to find a new home when she gets a notice of eviction, she's trying to figure out why Beck is pushing her away after passionately kissing her and her ex-boyfriend/fallen angel, Ori, still owns her soul.
Beck has problems of his own - a dying mother who hates him and a reporter ex whose threatening to expose his sordid past. Beck distances himself from Riley to stop her learning about his past, so he's not happy when he's told that Riley will be accompanying him home to visit his dying mother.
Riley is suprised by the hostility Beck recieves from his hometown. She soon finds out that Beck was suspected of killing 2 teenagers when he was younger. Riley knows that the only way for Beck to move forward and start a relationship with her is to get closure in his hometown so she convinces Beck to find out what really happened to the missing teenagers.
-The first half of the book dealt with Beck's past, his relationship with his mother and his involvement in the death of two teenagers. The second half of the book was basically a rehashed storyline from the third book - fighting to stop the fallen angel Sartael from overthrowing Lucifer's reign in hell. The investigation of the murders in Beck's hometown didn't really fit into the rest of the series - it added nothing to the overarching storyline from book 1. It was good getting to know more about Beck but I would have preferred if it didn't take over half the book to explore his past. Even though I enjoyed the second half of the book more - it was still disappointing because it was basically like reading the same plot from the previous book.
-Riley was too Beck obsessed in this installment - she kept throwing herself at him and begging for love after he treated her like rubbish. It was only in the last third of the book where Beck actually started to act like he liked Riley romantically, this was a case of too little too late for me - especially when Riley talked about her love for him from the start of the book. The main reasons Beck seemed to even want Riley was because she believed in and wouldn't ever leave him. I would have been more convinced of his love for her if it didn't come with the condition that he had to be the centre of her world.
-I really didn't liked Beck in this book, he treated Riley like crap and then it took him most of the book for him to decide whether or not he even wanted Riley. I've still not forgiven him for giving Riley a hard time and looking down at her for sleeping with someone she loved especially when he slept around with everyone and anyone including married women - he's a sexist, hypocritical douche who wanted Riley to remain chaste while he did whatever he wanted.
I wasn't convinced that Riley was Beck's true love, he fell in love twice before and he even proposed to one his girlfriends - the reason it didn't last with them was because they dumped him and not because they weren't right for him. The only difference between Riley and the other girls he loved was that Riley would never leave him - so she just seems like his new love rather than his true love. He never once thought that what he felt was Riley was more than what he felt before - he only ever said that things with Riley was different to girlfriends before because of the fact she would never leave him.
-I hated the name calling of quite a few of the female characters. Beck's mum is called a whore and a bitch, Beck's ex is repeatedly called a skank by Riley. Yes, it happens in real life but it's not right so when the main characters do it and act like it's not wrong for them to call names, how am I meant to find them likeable? how am I meant to sympathize with them and root for them?? It was disgusting how Beck judged his mother for sleeping around, one of the main reasons he thought she was bad mother was because of her sex life yet he slept around just as much as his mother and he didn't think any less of himself. I used to think Beck was a great character but now not so much, he still has some good points but they were overshadowed by his judgemental, self righteous attitude.
I used to love this series but it has gone downhill for me mainly because of the name calling and double standards thoroughout the series - I didn't notice it at first but having re-read the series it's becomes more and more apparent. My opinion of Beck, who started of pretty great has changed dramatically - his attitude towards Riley losing her virginity to someone else was just disgusting. There's still a lot of good things in the book - the main character Riley made a change from the usual innocent, do-goody, Mary Sue type heroines. I don't think that Riley is everyone's cup of tea though, a lot of readers will probably think she's bitchy and bratty, which she can be but for some reason it didn't really bother me too much. One definite plus was that Riley actually had good female friends and also that there were a few female characters that were actually potrayed well- Blaze/Susan, Simi, Ayden and Sam. Most YA novels have zero decent female characters (apart form the heroine) and/or they have a lot of women hate in them so it was good to see some realistic female characters, though there was still quite a bit of women on women hate going on. The action, the side characters and the worldbuiling were also pretty good. Even though the series has it's faults, I did enjoy it overall (though not as much as I once did) and I will be looking out for any future books that the author releases.
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Reading Progress
August 2, 2012
–
Started Reading
August 2, 2012
– Shelved
August 3, 2012
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Finished Reading
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I definitely think those stereotypes aren't as popular to readers as everyone thinks, the only reason most readers end up buying them is because there's nothing else on offer. There is still a market for the virgin and manwhore pairing but I don't think it's as big as it used to be - people like variety and most of the YA/PNR/UF doesn't have any. I only read them because there better than nothing..but I'm a little more selective than I used to be and I end up returning books now if they don't deliver. I actually try to find books that have virgin heroes because I'm so sick of the mansluts.
I'm really disappointed to hear how far this series has fallen with this book. I definitely won't be reading this one. As you remember, I wasn't convinced that the Beck/Riley thing was that healthy anyway. Grrr.
Becky wrote: "I'm really disappointed to hear how far this series has fallen with this book. I definitely won't be reading this one. As you remember, I wasn't convinced that the Beck/Riley thing was that healthy..."You won't be missing out on much, a lot of its a repeat of plots from the third book and Beck's history didn't really fit in with rest of the series. Towards the end of the book Beck and Riley's relationship becomes so cheesy..ugh.
I could have loved the series if Beck hadn't been such a douche and if there's been less double standards and women hating *Sigh*.
I know! It's crazy how fast the series went downhill, isn't it? Riley seemed like such a kick-ass little feminist there for a bit, but really, Beck was a pretty bad influence both on her character and the overall series. I would have been very happy if Riley had ended up alone. Beck is NOT a good option for any teenage girl, particularly an orphan with abandonment issues.
Becky wrote: "I know! It's crazy how fast the series went downhill, isn't it? Riley seemed like such a kick-ass little feminist there for a bit, but really, Beck was a pretty bad influence both on her character ..."I was hoping that Riley would end up on her own and play the field and just become this kick ass Trapper that the younger generations of Trappers would look up to but no such luck:(
What really pisses me of is how the heroes despite sleeping around never get STD's - if someone sleeps around that much they should at least have had a scare or two.
I have no idea why Riley or any young girl would be so attracted to someone whose old and uses women and then judges them for doing the same thing he does.
Yea, I could just imagine Beck looking down at his daughters for even looking at a guy and then patting his sons backs for getting laid. And yea he'd tell his sons about the kinds of girls you marry (virgins) and the kind you have 'fun' with.