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July 22, 2011

Review: The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegen


Sasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—Sasha is Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx looming, Jax has to keep Sasha safe and win her over. But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?
When I discovered The Mephisto Covenant available on NetGalley, I knew that I had to request it. I had my eye on it for a while, as the summary and cover immediately caught my eye when I first saw them. After reading this novel, I was full of mixed feelings. As I continue with my review, you'll see why.

The Mephisto Covenant is centered around the sons of Hell, six brothers whose jobs are to capture lost souls, or people who have pledged their souls to a man by the name of Eryx instead of God, and deliver them to a place known as Hell on Earth. Because of who they are, the sons of Hell have no connection with God--they cannot stand on holy ground, and they appear repulsive to all human women. Their only chance at redemption is to find an Anabo, a descendant of Eve's first daughter, Aurora, who was born before original sin. Because of this, the Anabo are pure souls; they don't know temptations of lust, hate, greed, etc. Only they are capable of seeing past the bad in the sons of Hell. The story focuses on Ajax, one of the sons, who discovers his Anabo in Sasha Annenkova, a Russian immigrant whose father was recently murdered. Jax must convince Sasha to stay with him so that he can be redeemed. Here's the problem--Sasha doesn't want anything to do with Jax.

For most of the novel, Sasha constantly remarks how she just "wants to be normal" and seems to be disgusted by Jax's duty, yet her desire to kiss him is overwhelming. If she is Anabo, why does she have so many feelings for him? I didn't understand that part. The romance became too intense all too quickly for me; I didn't see much chemistry between the characters. Also, Jax was always either insanely overprotective of Sasha, or not watching out for her at all. Sasha herself wasn't much of a strong character; I was honestly disappointed at the number of times she could have defended herself but chose not to.

Perhaps I'm just a scaredy cat, but I was a little creeped out by some of the characters in this book. Those that became lost souls were downright sinister, especially in their treatment of Sasha. There was a lot of good versus evil and lessons about temptation, which was fine by me, but I didn't like how so many people close to Sasha succumbed to temptation. Maybe it was more realistic that way, but I think it would've been nice for her to have someone to trust besides Jax and his brothers.

Overall, I liked the story. Yes, I saw some flaws, but the plot itself was well-planned and well-written. The action came in spurts and always ended too quickly for me, but some may believe otherwise. Of course, I couldn't help falling in love with bad boy Jax; I have no restraint when it comes to fictional males. :P What really saved this book was the ending. Yes, I knew it was coming, but seeing it happen made me fangirl for a while after I finished reading. I'm sure you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about now--if you really want to know, read the book, then feel free to come back and compare/contrast our opinions. Who knows; maybe I'm just a nutcase who doesn't know what she's talking about. Always a possibility!

Okay, I'm shutting up soon, promise. If you're a fan of paranormal romance without too much action, you'll probably enjoy The Mephisto Covenant much more than I did. If you prefer the action, well, I think you should give it a shot anyway. I'll be checking out the sequel because I'm curious to see what happens next!

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

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