Book Review: Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods by Mario Routi

* I have received this book for review from the publisher but this in no way affects my review *

Title: Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods

Author: Mario Routi

Source: From publisher

Publisher: Oak Tree Press

Rating: 4/5 stars

Summary of Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods from Goodreads:

Rebecca’s Greatest Challenge Ever...
The Forces of Evil are poised to invade not only the Land of the White Sun but also the Elysian Fields, home of the Gods – and now they have the power to throw human civilisation back into the Dark Ages. Princess Rebecca and her family face monumental battles in their attempts to defeat the massed forces of Evil and the only way she can save mankind is by revealing herself to them.
Her daughter, the young Oracle Leylah, is in love with Prince Alexander, grandson of Hercules, but soon things are going very wrong between them. The fate of the entire universe rests on the confused Leylah’s shoulders as she travels to planet Earth to learn to control her powers.
While the forces of Evil prepare to invade from Tartarus, Zeus gathers the Gods and ancient Heroes to defend the Sacred Flame. Reeling from their last battle in the Land of the White Sun, King Turgoth, Princess Rebecca and the Orizons are still repairing the damage to the Fortress of Utopia when they discover they are going to have to enter an even greater struggle against the forces of Evil.
Good must prevail this time, or it will be the end of everything.
What could be more terrifying than the Clash of the Titans? The War of the Gods! It’s the final countdown... A romantic, mythical fantasy of epic battles, adventure and the ultimate collision between Good and Evil. It all ends here!

Book Review Summary:

After reading and enjoying the first two Rebecca Newton books in the series I was really excited to read the final book. Although taking a while for me to read, the final book delivered with its fast-paced and action-packed plot, enjoyable characters and good writing, concluding the series nicely. 

Plot:

Rebecca Newton faces her strongest threat, an embodiment of evil, and it will take them to their limits. I did enjoy the plot of this story and the set up of the trilogy as I find that the plots are often contained in the one book which is good as you do not have to remember plot details from the previous books. The plot in itself was highly entertaining and addicting, often making me read massive chunks of the book in one go and keeping me interested throughout. There were often points that I just wanted to carry on to find out if certain characters were alive because it is fair to say that Routi knows how to write a cliffhanger. I also like the fact the plot followed a number of different characters often meaning you had to piece the narrative together something that I like to do. The plot also follows the Gods on Earth which added a different dimension to the story and I liked the ideas that humans would be able to know that Gods exist. 

Characters:

I really enjoyed the characters in the series as characters especially those of Rebecca and Turgoth but I often felt that they could come across as 2-D. This is because they often were not developed as they do not have flaws and are perfect all of the time. I mean I know they are Gods but even Gods have flaws. Leylah, however, is a flawed character and does make many mistakes but this is something that can be seen a negative rather than a positive aspect. Although flawed, Leylah often makes mistakes which often make her appear more childish when in fact she is sixteen. This was something that did take away from my enjoyment of the book as she to me is not a well-written character. I did, however, enjoy the relationships with the characters of Rebecca and Turgoth and Leylah and Alexander so this did keep me interested in the characters.

Writing:

I really enjoyed Mario Routi's writing in this book. Although I say that he writes in a simple style, it is this style that makes the novel really easy to read and really immersed me into the fantasy world. His writing also made me read the book a lot quicker than I normally would. The subtitles which give the audience the time frame and the locations were quite helpful to me especially if it had been a while in picking this book up. I was surprised by the end of the book as it contained a quite steamy scene which is not something that I tend to read about in books. This, however, did not take away from my enjoyment of the novel. 

The Verdict:

Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods is a good book in an overlooked series that everyone should read especially if you are a Percy Jackson fan. 

Have you read Rebecca Newton and the War of the Gods? Did you like it? Leave it in the comments below. 

See you soon, 

Amy