KEEPERS & DESTINIES by Carl F. Brothers is based on Biblical prophecies about Armageddon and is set, for the most part, in modern-day reality. The book’s stellar protagonist is a guardian angel named Andrea, sent to Earth by heavenly powers to stop Armageddon. Naive to a fault yet brutally honest, Andrea is eager to gobble up all things human – especially junk food. James Wexlar is her comrade in arms and eventual love interest. The war veteran has rebranded as a private eye post-combat while living with serious PTSD issues. Andrea hires him to find a prophet who roams the earth unaware he knows how to stop the final battle between good and evil. She believes she can save the drug and alcohol-addled former soldier from himself and redeem his soul. They find the prophet hiding out in Nevada, preparing an arsenal for the war between angels and demons. His cryptic prophecies are less than helpful. Worse, they hint that when Satan bursts from his cage, Andrea’s role may be less clear than she thinks. The Nevada battle site turns into a supernatural landmark that draws devoted followers, including the son of Satan, named Beal Z. Roberts, or Billy. The attacks begin and, as hints and omens are revealed, the gruesome battles escalate.
KEEPERS & DESTINIES’ three parts are professionally presented. Brothers’ powerful imagination makes for strong action scenes and dynamic writing, though his pacing can be uneven. The author struggles to keep the shifting points of view of the book’s multiplicity of characters focused as his layered narrative progresses. In A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin shows that fantasy, however far-fetched and extreme, can wow readers if a story’s characters are clear, strong and relatable. In the first half of the book, Brothers wows with characters who carry their improbable storyline using believable, often witty, dialogue. However, the author dwells largely on action instead of character in the numerous graphic battle scenes that comprise the rest of the book. As a result, readers may lose the thread of his layered, complex narrative.
Though author Carl F. Brothers’ take on Biblical dogma is creative and compelling, his fantasy epic KEEPERS & DESTINIES needs stronger characters and dialogue that is less expositional throughout to hold readers.
~Robin L Harvey for IndieReader