Angela’s Coven
by Bruce Jenvey
MuseItUp Publishing
Copyright © October 2011
ASIN: B005W62FDM
$5.95 Kindle
546 KB
Angela’s Coven is an interesting novel. It successfully manages to combine magic, mystery, devilry and philosophy, with humour, romance, witchery and hope! Reggie Sinclair, the British protagonist, is an ageing and jaded ex-Rock-Star from yesteryear, who suffered profound heartbreak at the loss of his true love, early on in his career.
Disillusioned, disconnected and very much alone in his luxurious New York penthouse, he only becomes more depressed by dwelling upon the nature of a pact he made in his youth – a pact in which he sold his soul to the Devil in return for his incredible success, fame and fortune. And as he knows only too well because of the recurring visits of the Devil’s emissary, the Devil is eagerly waiting to collect.
There is however, something more running beneath this odd but apparently simple plot construct. And that something brings Reggie into contact not only with a coven of modern-day witches, but also with a collection of Knights Templar, all of whom have abilities, knowledge and motivations which Reggie only slowly begins to uncover and understand.
Mr. Jenvey draws his characters fairly well, and we find ourselves happily accompanying the affable Reggie as he travels ever-deeper into a looking-glass land where maybe, just maybe, he might find the help he needs to be able to snatch his soul back from the Devil’s collection-plate! Indeed it transpires there is much more than Reggie’s soul at stake in the infernal battle between good and evil which is always underway in this world.
There are a few minor annoyances which should have been (and can be) corrected with better proofing (at least for the Kindle version which I read for this review), but nothing so dramatic that it really overshadows the feelgood nature of the charming storyline and the reader’s enthusiasm to continue with the journey.
In closing, I have only kind words for this excursion into fantasyland which Mr Jenvey takes us on. Woven into the fantasy are elements of philosophy and real-life quandaries which give the reader pause … to think things like “What would I do?” or “What would I want?” if a similar crossroads were placed in my path. Harsher critics may choose to take issue with the overall “feelgoody” nature of the novel’s forces for good, but in my opinion that would be churlish. There is more than enough here to make “Angela’s Coven” a journey I enjoyed undertaking. I award it 4 out of 5 stars.
