Ravage

by Tillie Cole

I loved Raze, I was left a little cold by Reap but with Ravage…I’m floored!

The series isn’t for the faint hearted, the depravation, the despair, the destitution, words fail me.

The depravity of the situation that these young people have been though staggers me, and I say people because in this book we get more of an insight into everything, the drugs, the sex trafficking, the death matches, everything and the determination of those at the head of it to do whatever necessary to enforce their evil grip on those they control, on those they insist call them Mistress and Master.

The tentacles of unequivocal evil have reached Manhattan, and the joy of discovering her brother Zaal (Reap) is alive means that Zoya can step out of the shadows but her desperation to see her brother for her own eyes means that she inadvertently puts herself in the path of the killer that the Jakhua have sent to eliminate Zaal.

Valentin and his little sister were taken when he was only 12, stolen away in the depth of the night from an orphanage that should have been a place of refuge, instead it was the death nail in their childhood, because Valentin has been chemically manipulated and managed to become a killer that knows no empathy, no kindness, no love…he soul has been stripped from him and he kills mercilessly at his Mistress’s command. And now she demands he extracts her revenge by killing Zaal.

His freewill may have been taken from him but he fights the effects of the drugs that are incessantly pumped into his system, he remembers his sister but knows that her safety relies on him doing exactly what is asked of him but with Zoya, his resolve, his humanity are flicked back to life, a woman that refuses to crack no matter how cruel he is and believe me he initially leave no tactic off the table in his attempt to break her.

Zoya can see the man behind the collar, the humanity that lies in his eyes and it is that, that drives her one, she refuses to back down and despite the situation, she is drawn to a man that doesn’t know how to love himself, how to allow himself to love anyone, who has been used and abused his entire life but who she wants to show that he is worthy of being loved, no matter what he has done.

Zoya breathed life into a man that was no more than a shell and when everything came to light she stood her ground before her brother and the families to ensure that they saw what he meant to her. When she laid with him in the dungeon I didn’t even know that I was crying until the tears splashed off the screen of my kindle, the intensity of this book is simply staggering.

I loved the fact that the author has almost set course for the next book, giving a strong indication that the hunt for Valentin’s sister is the task before these reluctant but resolute allies. These brothers in arms have suffered at the hands of monsters all their lives, is it finally time to draw their torment to a close?

There are many words I could use to try an quantify how I felt when I finished the book, but I don’t know that any of them are suitable, I feel slightly wrong when I say I loved this, it was a harsh story, it covered topics that no-one should “love”, it was brutally descriptive but it was honest, it pulled no punches, it stayed true to the emotions that have travelled through the previous books but it took it all up a notch and I am almost afraid to ask just how Ms Cole will be able to top this, it was staggering.