I love this cover- although it’s completely and utterly unrelated to the novel! I guess it just goes to show, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover…

Book Review: The Mephisto Covenant

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Title & Author: The Mephisto Covenant: The Redemption of Ajax by Trinity Faegan

Genre: YA- Paranormal

Release Date: September 27, 2011

Series: 1st in a planned series

Publisher: EgemontUSA

How I Got the Book: ARC via NetGalley

Description: “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—she is an 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 always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over.  But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?”

Zero to Sixty in 10 Pages

I know a lot of people say this, but I really wanted to like this book. I featured it awhile ago on a Waiting on Wednesday post and was so stoked about the plot and the cover. For me, this book didn’t deliver in a couple of key areas.

I’ll start with the pacing first. In the first 15 pages of the book, readers are barraged with tons of action- I’m talking group killings, evil cult meetings and CIA cover ups. It’s all way too much!

Plus, the back story is relatively involved but isn’t explained until several chapters into the book. There are Sons of Hell who take lost souls (people who’ve pledged their spirits to Eryx- a minion of Lucifer who’s trying to take over hell) and people called Anabo who are born without the temptation to sin. A lot has to be explained to make sense, but readers are left hanging for a good part of the book.

Towards the middle of the book, the pacing becomes more consistent and lets the readers catch their breath a little.

Religion: The Good and the Bad

This is so tough for me because when I don’t like something about the plot or story of a book, it’s normally a minor thing. With The Mephisto Covenant, I didn’t connect with the whole idea behind the novel.

For me, if religion is in a book it has to be done well. There should be a system in place that makes sense- either something that’s fully fleshed out (ex: The Girl of Fire and Thorns) or a simple sort of faith that pops up once and awhile (ex: Waterfall). The Mephisto Covenant had strange rules that weren’t consistent.

For example, someone could devote themselves to a demon like Eryx through a pledge and lose their soul forever. Even though they didn’t technically do anything wrong themselves. Yet, the Anabo that exist are people who are righteous and perfect through no effort of their own and virtually can’t sin no matter how hard they try- they’re simply born that way (cue Lady Gaga music).

Doesn’t that seem a little unbalanced to you? It was familiar enough to Christianity that I would begin to feel comfortable but then it would add a twist of something so foreign that I was reeling.

Also, the ending of the book was just plain disappointing. It didn’t fit with story, and I was left feeling unhappy and dissatisfied.

Overall

For maybe the first time ever, I have to honestly say that I cannot recommend this book. From the overload of information in the beginning to the lackluster end, The Mephisto Covenant was a mess. Read at your own risk.

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