Beloved Purgatory by Katherine Pine
Kindle Edition: $2.99
Paperback Edition: Not Available
Length: approx. 315 pages
Reading Level: older YA
Beloved Purgatory on Amazon (opens in a new window)
More cover talk. I really enjoy the change in color scheme from one book to the next. In my mind, the green of the first book represents Oz's importance to Devi, what he can offer, etc. The purple featured on the cover of this book seems to indicate the increased importance of Forneus, especially by the end of the book. It really makes me wonder what the cover of book three will be, when it's released. I'm thinking possibly white or blue, something to indicate Camael? We'll have to wait and see. Allegedly, book 3 is due out this year, so I'm watching Amazon closely.
Beloved Purgatory picks up right where After Eden left off. And I mean RIGHT where it left off. They're still in the car after Devi's encounter with Onoskelis, heading back home. Devi thinks she knows Oz's biggest secret-that she is destined to kill him. She's wrong. And when Forneus taunts her with the promise of not only freeing her father's spirit, but finding Kai, what will she do to protect all that she loves? In book 2, we learn what it truly means for Devi to be without a spirit- and it's more than anyone bargained for.
The second book in the series maintains the momentum of the first, and as more is revealed, more questions arise. Forneus becomes more than just a literal handsome devil-we learn why he truly wanted Devi to stay away from Azazel. It's not just because he doesn't want Oz to die. He really, truly cares for his friend. Both Forneus and Camael become more prominent characters, and each becomes more interesting in his own unique way.
There still isn't technically a love triangle, but there's an interesting dilemma between Devi and Camael that weighs on her relationship with Oz. She has no love for the angel, but his light, the light of Heaven, calls to her in a way she cannot refuse, and each time she falls into it, she feels like she's betrayed Oz, whom she truly loves.
With everything that happens in this book, everything that happened in book one almost feels like exposition. This seems to be where Pine truly wanted to be with her story. She wanted to show that heaven and hell are more than just good and bad. There is no black and white. Forneus is a devil, yes, but is he truly evil? Camael is an Angel, but is he fully good? And Devi is caught between the two, with only Oz on her side. But with his own secrets, she can't be sure. Heaven and hell are in a tug of war for Devi's soul, and in this book we finally find out why. And it's nothing Devi or Oz could've imagined.
Along with all the heavy stuff, there's the added fun of more shape-shifting Oz, Halloween, and pancake shenanigans.
Devi's mom goes from mostly-absentee to almost completely absentee, which should be problematic, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. There is just SO MUCH going on, that the plot flies by.
And yet, it took me over a week to finish this book. I'm not entirely sure why, because I do love it more than the first one. Maybe it's because of the Internet, which is a cruel, distracting mistress. I don't know. So, my reading of book 2 was a little fragmented, which is making this review pretty hard to write. Between that, and the fact that the last thing I want to do is spoil any of the fun, I can only speak in vague terms.
If you read book 1, I highly doubt you'll skip book two. But if your feelings on After Eden were a little ambivalent, I really recommend giving book two a shot. It has all the best parts of the first one, and few of the lackluster parts. And the ending of this one even feels like an ending! Which is probably why we're still waiting on the third installment-it wasn't written yet.
Book 2 will make you eager for more, and then you'll be stuck in the waiting game, just like me.
-Kayla
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