5/5
What an ending!
Fitting ending to this action-packed trilogy!!
The Salvation State, 3
Four Days till the Lamb …
On Angel Island, the Ceremony is ready. The cameras are in place. For Ruth Black and her husband, the Reverend Matthew, there’s just one problem: their intended sacrifice has plans of his own.
Huddled around a forbidden computer in the compound’s junk shop, five teenage prisoners launch an escape against impossible obstacles: a barricaded church, the electrified perimeter fence, the Key Tower guards, an invisible wall in the water that surrounds the island prison—and against the soldiers of Open Light of Day, led by the most ruthless collector of wayward children in all of New America.
They have to run during the ceremony. Far from keeping it secret, they need as many people to know the truth as possible, or there’ll be nowhere to run. For Rebecca Riggs, Daniel Forester, and their fellow Forgottens, the road home leads through Revelation Way.
16+ due to violence and adult situations
Excerpt:
Rebecca held Daniel’s left hand so tightly, he felt as though he didn’t have to do any of the work, at least as far as holding was concerned.
He hung over the side of the roof, right hand gripping the corrugated stone gutter, letting go only when she nodded to him. Still she held him, inching closer to the side herself, sliding too easily over the wet, arched tiles. One foot, two feet, she lowered him—closing in on the drop herself.
Behind her was Caroline, muttering “Oh my gosh” on repeat. Behind her was Gnash. And at the back was Asher, still at the portal, anchoring them all with an expression Daniel was sure would have been agony personified, if only he could see it. He couldn’t let this take forever.
They’d been careful to pick a point between two of the high stained-glass windows. They couldn’t make any shadows. Daniel forced his legs to hang as though dead, resisting the temptation to make contact with the wall. They couldn’t have any unnecessary noise either—even though the eight hundred and fifty-some kids in the chapel were making plenty for camouflage.
The drop from the steepled roof of the praise-and-worship building was twenty feet down to the flat roof of the boys’ school wing. Hanging himself off the edge cut the drop to less than fifteen. Rebecca edging him farther, clutching with tears in her eyes and with both hands, cut it to maybe twelve.
“Let go,” he grunted. “Now or never.”
This might hurt, he told himself. Bend your legs. Don’t cry out. The impact will be loud enough.
Still she held him.
“Do it,” he said.
But it was the rain that conquered. No one could have held him forever in the rain.
Product Reviews
5/5
Read it!
Revelation Way, the climactic third volume of the Salvation State trilogy, delivers like an octomom. Marcus Damanda is a writer who can scare your pants off and make you laugh till you wet them pretty much in one sentence. Hitchcock would tip his hat to Damanda’s handling of suspense, Dickens take notes of his mastery of character, Tolkien admire his world building. You can actually read this book without having read the first two, but don’t — they are just as powerful as this one and of course they enrich the total experience. In the Salvation State, America has become a dystopian theocracy, dark and cruel to its roots, smugly righteous on its surface. It is a culture that eats its young, through repression, brainwashing, or, when the first two don’t work, imprisonment, torture, and murder. There is — or at least, there are rumors of — a resistance movement, but on the island of the Forgottens, the only hope is in the young prisoners who dare to plan an escape. Damanda has a genius for bringing the people in his stories to vivid life, to making us care deeply about them (one way or another; you will not soon forget those who run this prison). His writing is sure and strong — he never wastes words and his language never gets in the way of the story. And make no mistake, the story is powerful and deeply satisfying.
5/5
Over the Top
Revelation Way is the climax of The Salvation State trilogy, and it. Is. Awesome. Marcus Damanda could wake up a city morgue with his storytelling, and this story is one of his best. His dystopian theocracy — USA in the near future — is chilling to begin with, and each volume explores more of the dark that permeates the culture. But each one also shows us bright souls who oppose the darkness. These young people, powerless and betrayed, find the strength and communal spirit to push back. Some pay the ultimate price for that. THe suspense here builds relentlessly, but the story is much more than the suspense. We have to care about the outcome, about the struggle and the people who carry the story, for the suspense to have any power over us. And we do. The courage and fire of this small band of youths, their commitment to one another and to a sense of Goodness they have managed to hang onto in the face of true evil masquerading as good, grabs us and keeps us turning pages as fast as we can. And the climax delivers like an octomom. All I can say is, read it!
5/5
Amazing!
No spoilers, but what an ending! I'm so happy to finally get my hands on this book. I devoured it as fast as the first two and it had me white-knuckled, just like before. The story opens on the countdown to the ceremony of the lamb and we are waiting anxiously to find out who the lamb is. The author has this brilliant way of never letting you relax - you never quite know who is going to be saved and whose head is on the chopping block. The same fantastic cast of characters graces this story; Rebecca and Daniel of course but also the compelling supporting cast of Vex, Wren, Gnash, Asher and more. And the worst thing is, you never know who's still going to be with us at the end. The character development is as strong and complex as always. The story takes place over a short period of time (four days) but there is so much happening that you could be forgiven for thinking it's a much longer timeframe. Having said that, the action carries you along and I finished it far too quickly. Not many authors can create characters you feel like you love and care about in the midst of a bleak, frightening world. Thank you for a wonderful finale! LOVE.
5/5
Brilliant ending to an inspired series
No spoilers, but what an ending! I'm so happy to finally get my hands on this book. I devoured it as fast as the first two and it had me white-knuckled, just like before. The story opens on the countdown to the ceremony of the lamb and we are waiting anxiously to find out who the lamb is. The author has this brilliant way of never letting you relax - you never quite know who is going to be saved and whose head is on the chopping block. The same fantastic cast of characters graces this story; Rebecca and Daniel of course but also the compelling supporting cast of Vex, Wren, Gnash, Asher and more. And the worst thing is, you never know who's still going to be with us at the end. The character development is as strong and complex as always. The story takes place over a short period of time (four days) but there is so much happening that you could be forgiven for thinking it's a much longer timeframe. Having said that, the action carries you along and I finished it far too quickly. Not many authors can create characters you feel like you love and care about in the midst of a bleak, frightening world. Thank you for a wonderful finale! LOVE.
5/5
Terrifying and Compelling!
Revelation Way by Marcus Damanda is one of the scariest books I've read—ever. That’s saying a lot. For a book to be really scary, it has to do more than shock. It has to get you involved in it, get under your skin. It has to be smart. The characters have to be as real as your friends. The plot has to keep you up late turning pages. The book has to make you believe. This one does all that easily. Revelation Way is also by turns darkly funny, sharply observed, and like the best dystopian fiction, subversive in all the best ways. It leaves the reader questioning her own world. If you haven’t met Rebecca and Daniel yet, you should. You could, in fact, start reading their adventure with this, the third book in the series. It would still be the wildest ride you’ve been on in a long time. But I’d recommend you go back to Book One, The Salvation State, and get the full-force experience. Book Two, Absolution Island, is great, too. You want to set the table for this very satisfying finale. The Salvation State trilogy is set in the future, in a place called New America, where there is no boundary between an incredibly corrupt and repressive church and the state. All news is censored and fabricated. Cutting school can land you in a reform school from hell. And questioning—being smart and tough and having a fighting spirit—that gets you dumped on Angel Island, a place run by two of the most hateful villains I’ve ever encountered on the page, Reverend Matthew Black and his horrid wife, Ruth. The only way to get out of the place is to let them break you—or to escape. Revelation Way is the story of that escape. We get to see how our favorite characters (for me, after Rebecca, it’s Caroline) fare. No spoilers here, but Damanda keeps the tension almost unbearable throughout. There are wild flying machines, walls of water, barely patched-together computers to communicate with other rebels, and a chase to end all chases in the book’s conclusion. And the Ceremony of the Lamb, during which this frantic escape has to occur? Like I said, no spoilers. It’s really, really, really scary. Read this book!
5/5
Scary, Riveting, A Bang-Up Conclusion!
Revelation Way by Marcus Damanda is one of the scariest books I ever read—ever. That’s saying a lot. For a book to be really scary, it has to do more than shock. It has to get you involved in it, get under your skin. That means it has to be smart. The characters have to be as real as your friends. The plot has to keep you up late turning pages. The book has to make you believe. This one does all that easily. Revelation Way is also by turns darkly funny, sharply observed, and like the best dystopian fiction, subversive in all the best ways. It leaves the reader questioning her own world. If you haven’t met Rebecca and Daniel yet, you should. You could, in fact, start reading their adventure with this, the third book in the series. It would still be the wildest ride you’ve been on in a long time. But I’d recommend you go back to Book One, The Salvation State, and get the full-force experience. Book Two, Absolution Island, is great, too. The Salvation State trilogy is set in the future, in a place called New America, where there is no boundary between an incredibly corrupt and repressive church and the state. All news is censored and fabricated. Cutting school can land you in a reform school from hell. And questioning—being smart and tough and having a fighting spirit—that gets you dumped on Angel Island, a place run by two of the most hateful villains I’ve ever encountered on the page, Reverend Matthew Black and his horrid wife, Ruth. The only way to get out of the place is to let them break you—or to escape. Revelation Way is the story of that escape. We get to see how our favorite characters (for me, after Rebecca, it’s Caroline) fare. No spoilers here, but Damanda keeps the tension almost unbearable throughout. There are wild flying machines and boats, walls of water, barely patched-together computers to communicate with other rebels, and a chase to end all chases in the book’s conclusion. And the Ceremony of the Lamb, during which this frantic escape has to occur? Like I said, no spoilers. It’s really, really, really scary. Read this book!
