INDEPENDENT BOOK REVIEW reviews FERREN AND THE DOOMSDAY MISSION

Here’s the full review, from Alexandria Duckworth

Harland strikes again in this thrilling sequel.

The first battle between the Residuals, Humens, and angels has passed. Now it’s up to Ferren and Miriael to gather forces before the next Humen wave attempt to take over again.

After dealing with the heartless Humen soldiers, Ferren and Miriael finally meet a fellow tribe, but the elders are suspicious and resistant. But Ferren doesn’t plan to give up on finding a group, especially with the numbers of Humens on the rise. Meanwhile, Miriael reflects on her position on Earth until she meets the angel Asmodai. He promises Miriael a chance to return to Heaven. At what cost though? Miriael faces a difficult decision to remain on the physical plane with Ferren or return to her rightful place in the skies. Whatever she decides will unleash a seismic wave of events on both planes.

The Ferren sequel captures that same level of excitement I expected after that first book. There is some enormous character development within the main protagonists. Ferren, merely 15, must grow up exponentially as a resilient leader. Fighting Humens is one thing; creating alliances is another. It’s something his former tribe leaderwould’ve done if only he still lived.

Ferren also has a bit of girl trouble. A girl from a new tribe has set her intentions on him while he’s maintaining his growing feelings for Miriael. And Miriael’s conflicting Heaven decisions rise. Her aspirations and identity have changed ever since she fell from Heaven and met Ferren. Harland has managed to change these characters after the first book while still giving plenty of new reasons for readers to root for them.Harland instills genuine fear in the reader with these Humens. They were creepy and heartless before. Reading them again brings back that disturbing energy. You do not want to be in a world with these guys.

It’s refreshing to meet a new Residual tribe in the sequel. It’s a way into the deeper parts of Harland’s rich lore and worldbuilding. Tribes beside Ferren’s have different traditions and abilities. It makes you wonder what happened in the past that made the tribes separate from each other.

Ferren and the Doomsday Mission checks all the boxes for a successful sequel. It carries you through various emotional levels and is filled with a number of exciting events—giving us what we loved about book one but making it feel fresh. Richard Harland has outdone himself again. May the last book in the Ferren trilogy hit its target as hard as these two have.

by Alexandra Duckworth for the Independent Book Review