Fallen Masters was a bit of a mixed bag. There were some aspects I liked about it, and some that really didn’t work for me at all. The basic premise of the story is that the forces of evil are trying to destroy the universe, and a select group of people who have the souls of certain individuals who have died most oppose them. I liked the concept of the story, but the execution was really weak at times.

The positives were that I thought for the most part the characters were well done. They were plausible and well developed, although there was a fair bit of repetition since most of the main characters on the good side had lost a spouse. Now to the problem areas. The whole dead people are positive or negative energies just didn’t work for me. It was fairly incoherent and not well explained. At times, the writing was so over the top flowery that I could barely read it at times. It wasn’t plausible based on the rules of the story that the forces of good could even prevail given that they had all of these rules like they couldn’t directly interfere with people but could only guide them, yet the forces of bad could do whatever they wanted. It would be like fighting someone with both hands tied behind your back. The ending of the story made no sense to me at all, and by the end I got so tired of the story that I just wanted to be done with it. All in all, there was just too much here that I didn’t like for the story to be enjoyable and I would not recommend it.

Carl Alves - author of The Invocation ( )

Firstly, it should be noted that I received this book as part of the 'First Reads' program so it was delivered speedily to my door for free last week. Because of this I felt rather obligated to not only review it but also read this monolithic tome all the way through. At 500 pages this was a sense of obligation that I honestly could have lived very happily without.

From an editorial and stylistic standpoint this book is a travesty. The dialog is woefully in need of revision and tends to be distractingly inane. Characters are drawn out in some descriptive detail but when they speak all that was built is quickly eroded. Veteran cops, singers, psychics, doctors, all speak with sadly generic voices while teenagers address those around like they're seven years old. Where the dialog does not fail reality does as the author makes obvious blunders in simple fact checking. Since this is a pre-release copy perhaps some fact-checking will resolve some of the more obvious issues.

As story lines go, this is a fairly generic good versus evil scenario. The plot is simple but the people involved are all very complexly intertwined. I give the author good credit for keeping all this straight but ultimately it ends up feeling rather like bubble gum that has been chewed for too long. Half way through one almost cares about the characters and what is transpiring but by the end the gum has lost its flavor and one just wishes desperately to be finished with it. Edward's offering, sadly, for all the effort that obviously went into it has all the crescendo and drama of the phone book. ( )

A terribly written mishmash of one dimensional characters and implausible plot developments. ( )

A myriad of characters, interwoven together yet individual, all come together in this earth-shattering saga of good versus evil.

Edward takes us to the other side where evil battles with good and where good hopes to reign supreme by using the ‘godness’ of the human race. Souls partner with humans in a race to save Earth as we know it. Characters from around the world are thrown together in a confusing and tumultuous showdown.

The President of the United States is slain and his son is kidnapped. IRA, the President’s guide on the other side, tries to help him understand why he’s there, while the counsel have their own struggle to bring the President to their side, knowing he and his son are key to the ultimate death of or the stay of execution of Earth’s existence. Will evil win out? Will the human race have enough faith and good in them to help the other side?

Edward does a fantastic job of not only bringing the characters together but also of making sense of and bridging each character’s individualized calamities, making known the reason they are brought together in the first place.

This is a good read, but be sure you have a lot of time. It’s definitely not a one-dayer.

Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “One Major Mistake”

This is about the never ending story between good and evil. I think that many of us populating the planet today have felt as if there has been a shift to the dark side. I know I have, Lying and cheating have become acceptable in a way that perplexes me. Rudeness abounds, as does flat out hatred and violence. Has it always been this way, and we just never realized before access to so much information on the internet? I sincerely don't think so.

I don't want to minimize the cruelties and ugliness that history tells us have occurred. Wars have always been a part of the human experience. The Holocaust, and what happened in North America where a land was ripped from the hands of the native people. Oh yes, evil has always been abundant wherever there were humans. It just seems to me that everyday evil has 'grown. It seems that empathy has diminished. This more than concernes me, it frightens me, more for my children's futures than my own.

This book portrays both a physical and metaphysical picture of the battle between good and evil. A battle fought here on the earthly plain as well as others. The forces of good and evil have made themselves more and more apparent to the characters and attempt to bring certain of them into the fight, to help tip the balance to their individual sides. It gives personality to some of the metaphysical players on each side.

This is a very good story. IT is a good story that is not as well told as it could be. I am a fan of this author, but more for his work as a medium than his work as a writer, I'm afraid. I have read every book he has written. The non-fiction books touched a chord with me that his fiction does not. So taken as a simple story, this leaves some things to be desired, There was no flow for me, it was choppy and somewhat clumsy as it went from one situation and character to the next. Characters that were presented as important, or even essential seemed to fade into the background.

So taken as just a book, a story to be told, I would say that this isn't worth the time it takes to read it. But there is more to it than that. If you take it as a snapshot of the the times, as a philosophical treatise, it takes on a new and different light. I believe that this author has a unique perspective on the times in which we live. I think he has used this perspective to try to remind us of the fact that it is up to us, each one of us, to make what difference we can. Each time we remember to do the right thing, to stay in the light, we make a difference. OF course it isn't easy, especially when se feel the dark and the negative looming so near, but each time we make the right choice, we push that darkness, that evil back. So this is much more than a simple book of fiction, and I had to add that into the many things to be considered when reviewing a book.

This is a good solid read, even if it is more due to the message than the story itself. ( )