Wednesday 10 February 2016

REVIEW: David Dubrow - The Nephilim and the False Prophet (Armageddon #2)

Genre: Armageddon / End of the world.
Publisher: Obsidian Point
Publication Date: 10th Jan 2016
Pages: 374

MY REVIEW:

A copy of The Nephilim and the False Prophet (Armageddon #2), was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author, David Dubrow, in exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by Obsidian Point.

So David Dubrow. Dirty Dave as he is sometimes known. I have known him for a while now, since reading part one of the Armageddon Trilogy, The Blessed Man and the Witch. You can read my review of it here.

Now I have a lot of respect for Mr Dubrow, both as a writer and as a person. He has been a tireless supporter of Confessions since it first started and for that I am truly grateful, and he knows this. He also knows that because I think he is a decent guy, this will not grant him any favours when I read his stuff and post a review.

That being said, here is what I thought of The Nephilim and the False Prophet.

****Warning**** this book follows on from The Blessed Man and the Witch. As such, this may mean spoilers for you if you have not read book one. So, go buy it and read it first then come back and read this review!

The final run to Armageddon has started. The Slaughter of the Innocents is inevitable. It can’t be stopped. Or can it?

Hector, his wife Reyna and Siobhan are fighting on the side of the good guys after the sounding of the horn. Aren’t they?

Kyle is doing the lords work as he has been called to. Isn’t he? People are calling him the False Prophet saying he has no powers and no claim to his position. Is he?

The end is indeed in sight but what can be done to stop it. If anything.

Continuing the epic battle between the various planes of existence, everyone is battling their own demons, both real and imaginary. Everyone is searching for the answers.

No one can be sure what they are.

I have been sitting staring at my screen for about an hour now because I don’t know where to start with this one. I quite honestly do not know how to describe this book in a review. An epic? A masterpiece? Those are certainly words that spring to mind. One thing is for certain though, no matter what I write down here, and you read over the next few minutes, can ever do this book, and indeed this entire story, any sort of justice and give it the credit it deserves.

Characters wise we have some of the same from book one and we lost a couple. Are they the same type of characters as book one? Some are, some aren’t. Not telling you which are which because that would give things away and spoil things for you. People are hard when they need to be and soft when they don’t want to be. The one thing I will tell you about these characters though is that you will believe everything about them. You will believe everything they do and everything they say and everything they think. You have no choice. They are written in such a way that you can’t help but let them fully under your skin.

The plot? Hmmm. Let me think. I want to try and make it easy for you but it isn’t. I don’t want to make it sound complicated either because it isn’t. It is confusing at times but that is purely because the story is going in so many different directions and has sub plots and sub stories and sub worlds that are all intricately intertwined. You know they are all going to come together at one point. You think you know when that point is going to be only to be fooled again by another little twist that Mr Dubrow shoves in your face. This book has more twists and surprises than any rollercoaster in the dark.

I guess the easy plot is that the world is coming to an end. Some people want to let it happen and some don’t. Easy. But then there are others who want to do their own thing and set up different things and then others who have some other agenda and…….see what I mean? The end plot is not something that I have totally figured out yet. This is obviously going to become clearer in book three. Well I have. Sort of. It’s like I said the end of the world, heaven versus hell, good versus evil. Demons versus angels. I have been trying to think what I could maybe compare it with and one thing that sticks in my head is Constantine. Only this is Constantine on speed.

Do you know your bible? Do you know The Book of Enoch? The Missing book of the bible (missing for many reasons but that is another story). Well you don’t have to but that is where I think Mr Dubrow took some of his inspiration from for this story. It is very very clear that he has spent a lot of time and effort researching for information and studying the plight of the fallen angels. I’m not a religious man by any means but religion interests me. The Book of Enoch interests me. In some ways, this trilogy is bringing The Book of Enoch to life.

Some scenes in this story are set on earth in the present day. They paint a very bleak picture of the earth in these times of turmoil and tribulation. Everything seems to be very dark. At the start of each story there is an excerpt from either a newspaper, or radio show, or television news programme. They describe things that are happening all over the world in the run up to the end of the world. They get progressively worse as the story progresses. They describe unrest in many major cities. Crimes against property and people alike. Crimes against the world. You know what is striking about these excerpts though? They are in a story, but it could very possibly be something you or I could see or hear on the news today. This is a story. Made up for entertainment. It is rather worrying though that through the expertly subtle writing and inclusion of things that could happen in our normal day to day lives that: is it made up? Are we already heading for Armageddon but just don’t know it yet? This book for me is so very powerful in its subliminal messages sometimes that it is scary in the extreme to be able to make you pause, and think it is possible.

There are other scenes that are set in other worlds. Other planes of existence.

These are magical. Written in such a way that you get a very vivid and intricate picture in your head of the locations and the beings in them. One thing is very prominent when you read this book and it’s something I can say without doubt: David Dubrow has some imagination going on inside that head of his. It must be like the Tardis in there.

To summarise: the continuing story of the end of the world. Armageddon is coming. The bad want to accelerate it, the good want to stop it. Who is going to win? You know at this point it could be either. Roll on book three!


General rating:

★★★★★ just superb.

Horror / armageddon rating:

★★★★★ ditto!


If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer, then please consider using the links below to buy The Nephilim and the False Prophet or any other books from David. This not only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy books after reading my reviews.

Thanks.




Book Synopsis:

Fuelled by brutal, random violence and a worldwide leprosy epidemic, the Earth descends into chaos. Preparing for Armageddon, Hell plans an atrocity called The Slaughter of the Innocents while Heaven’s scattered agents fight a cold war against superstar evangelist Kyle Loubet, who they believe is the False Prophet foretold in the Bible.

The Eremites walk the Earth: black magicians kept alive through unholy relics. Terrible visions assail the world’s remaining psychics, promising an eternal night of blood and fire and endless agony. Caught in the middle, Hector, Ozzie, and Siobhan face terrible dangers from all sides. Now free from their infernal prison, what are the Watcher angels planning? With only days before the Apocalypse, can humanity be saved?


Although Dave's parents have maintained that he read The Chronicles of Narnia when he was only four years old, he doesn't remember it, and the only evidence of their claim is his reverence for lions and tendency to get lost for decades of subjective time in wardrobes. Of his later youth little is known and less is spoken of, save for the diving watch incident that still makes his older brother crack up. Despite a love of reading and a family that placed great value on scholarship, his academic career was distinguished by mediocrity; the sheepskin he earned at Temple University should probably have an asterisk on it somewhere.

His Puritan work ethic saw him through years of hard labor in Philadelphia at thankless tasks, and the skills he acquired amaze supermarket cashiers and assistant produce managers even today. Belatedly heeding Horace Greeley's admonishment to "go west, young man," he drove his beater in the direction of the setting sun and fetched up at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with few prospects and fewer friends.

It was in Colorado that he found the love of his life and a career in publishing with "the most dangerous press in America," in reverse order. Over a decade later, he condensed the techniques of combat shooting, knife fighting, martial arts, and survival skills he'd learned first-hand into a book titled, "The Ultimate Guide to Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse." Lavishly illustrated by a baker's half-dozen of talented artists, it was written under the pseudonym F. Kim O'Neill and published by Paladin Press in 2010. Scott Kenemore, author of "Zombie, Ohio" and "Zombie, Illinois," called it, "One of the most capable and engaging how-to zombie survival books I've encountered."

Eventually, the stories in his head needed to come out. Eschewing the more old-fashioned technique of trepanning, he instead went digital and began to write e-books. His first novel is titled "The Blessed Man and the Witch." The beginning of a trilogy about a Biblical apocalypse, it addresses western occultism, angelic phenomena, demonic possession, and the slow dissolution of American society within a credible and original framework.

Dave, his wife, and their son now live on the west coast of Florida, swatting alligators and wrestling mosquitoes.

And for more about David, see his site or find him on social media:

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page

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