Review - Gabriel's Clock and Sammael's Wings by Hilton Pashley

 

Gabriel's Clock and Sammael's Wings by Hilton Pashley

Published 4th September 2014 and 1st May 2016 retrospectively by Andersen Press

Goodreads Challenge 77/50 and 78/50

Star Rating - **.5 and *** retrospectively 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Gabriel's Clock
Jonathan is half-angel, half-demon, and the only one of his kind. But he has no idea of his true identity, and now a rogue archdemon wants him for his own sinister purpose . . .

With the aid of a group of unlikely new friends, Jonathan races to find the mysterious Gabriel's Clock, which has the power to start a war between Heaven and Hell that could engulf them all.

Gabriel’s clock is ticking . . . and time is running out.

Sammael's Wings

Jonathan is the only half angel and half demon in the world. Having discovered his heritage, he must now continue the battle against the demonic forces that are hellbent on ruling creation. The Archdemon Baal is one such monster, and he holds Jonathan's parents captive. But to succeed, Baal needs the wings of an Archangel. Jonathan and his great-aunt Sammael are the only two such angels left, but they aren't going to give up their wings without a fight. Jonathan will not rest until his family is safe once again, even if he must go through heaven and hell to save them.

My Thoughts

These are the first two books in the Hobbes End trilogy with the third book being released this month. This series follows Jonathan who is the only half angel half demon in existence. In the first book Jonathan is left in Hobbes End under the care of his Archangel Grandfather after being on the run from an Archdemon. He begins to learn that not all is as it seems and discovers who he really is just in time to find out he is being sought out by this Archdemon. Jonathan and his friends from Hobbes End work together to fight the forces of evil and try and stop an all out war between the angels of heaven and the demons of hell. We continue this adventure in book two with Jonathan becoming more atune to his powers which brings all sorts of trouble as the Archdemon in book one is not the only one after Jonathan. 

I've decided to review both of these books together as I have fairly similar feelings on both of the books. I also read them one after the other so I feel a joint review is the best thing to do. This is a really fun middle grade series that I did enjoy reading. Being middle grade the writing is quite simple and the story moves very quickly but this didn't detract from my enjoyment. That being said the simplistic nature of the story meant that I felt the writing was lacking depth. Action scenes were skimmed over quite quickly and a lot was packed into a page meaning things weren't developed as much as I would of liked. The characters also lacked depth for me and I would of liked a little bit more exploration of their personalities and their emotions. Especially Jonathan who goes through a lot in these two books. The first book suffers more from these flaws then the second. I think the authors writing developed in between book one and book two and we got a bit more description of the world in book two, especially of places we didn't visit in book one. Book two also got a bit darker in places which I liked. This seemed very fitting to the story. 

The characters are very likeable. I liked the supportive nature and the close feelings of friendship between our main characters. It's nice to have both strong male and female characters who have a role in the story. It was especially nice to see Cay come into her own in book two. My favorite character by far was Elgar. I love his sense of humor and wit and he appeals to older readers. I definitely found myself chuckling out loud several times throughout both books. 

Overall I thought this was a fun and enjoyable middle grade story that children of this age would definitely enjoy. I would of liked a bit more depth though and I think this would of helped it appeal to older readers like myself. That being said I found it to be an enjoyable reading experience and I'm looking forward to diving into book three. I'm part of the blog tour for book three so I will be posting a full review of that one, I'll link it here when it goes live. 

Overall Ratings (2.5* and 3*)