This is a story about God and the Devil, but not how you were taught to believe.
This is also a story about love and hate, and the suffering both can bring.
This is about rights and wrongs, and all of the spaces in between.
This is about revenge, courage, death, passion; with no villains, no heroes… only those left scorned.
This is a story about Heaven, Hell, and the Jury that holds them together.
This is The Antithesis.
This book is definitely different from what I was expecting. First off, I was very hesitant about reading this one, because I'm not a big fan of the cover and then I read the summary and thought "Heaven and Hell?... ahh, I don't know about all that" I'm not big on reading books with religion in it, but this book was a surprise. This book definitely doesn't just involve religion, there is a lot of scientific knowledge thrown in there as well. Hell, your main character is a physicist who lives in Purgatory. Heaven and Hell, you pretty much have your Demons and your Angels, but, it's thrown at you like a business/militia type format. Everyone has a boss and everyone reports to that boss. The Demons and Angels are in a contest. This contest was struck up by the Lucifer, leader of the Demons and Yahweh, leader of the Angels. Lucifer and Yahweh have come to an agreement that they don't want to have another war brewing between both sides, therefore the contest is created. Tallies mark up on souls to each side and in the end one side will win. There are codes and rules, and these codes and rules cannot be broken, which is where our main character Alizair comes into play. Alizair is a Judge in this contest along with his commander/boss Leid and Leids' other two guardians Adrial and Zhevraine. These four are Judges of the contest and intercept when needed.
I liked that this book throws you off to what we all think we know and learned about religion and our beliefs (whatever they may be). I also like the idea of Judges and rules and everything that goes on this book, definitely different. I didn't like that I felt I couldn't keep up with the characters. There were so many characters being thrown at you. I had to try and remember the names and who was who.
This book is definitely something else. It captured my eye from the beginning and kept me hooked until the end. I would definitely recommend this book. Even if you're not big on books with or hinting religion, I'm telling you, this book is good and definitely worth the read. You're thrown into this whole different world, where what we know (or think we know) about Heaven and Hell, is completely different from this world that Terra Whiteman has opened up for us. This book is part of a series and I can't wait to read the next book in this series!
The Terabicz Ruins was a collection of towers composed of black rock and sharp peaks, complete with floating circular platforms hovering in the sky like halos. Vines could be seen wedged between surface fractures, though I didn’t understand how any vegetation could survive in this perpetual darkness. A winding staircase led to the first platform a thousand feet up. As we approached the base, Leid tripped over her own feet, landing on her knees.
I moved forward, but she shot out a hand to stop me. I froze.
Then she lurched, vomiting blood all over the first step.
I reeled back, eyes wide, fear rising in my throat. Leid only crouched on the steps, panting.
“Jesus Christ!” I shouted, the confusion and fear now propelling into anger. “Are you dying?!”
“No,” she responded coarsely.
Leid tried to get up, but collapsed. She attempted getting up a second time, made it one more step, but then collapsed again.
I frowned, kneeling in front of her with my back turned. “Get on.”
Reluctantly she crawled over me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, legs hooking my elbows. She couldn’t protest this time; walking was out of the question.
I began up the stairs, Leid now on my back.
“Thank you,” I heard her murmur quietly.
“Sure thing. Just don’t puke on me.”
The climb was exhausting, seeming to never end. Leid wasn’t heavy in the least, and in fact Vel’Haru could probably lift three hundred times their own weight; but the last four days of almost nonexistent sleep and nonstop traveling had finally caught up with me. I was tired, and it was showing.
I took a breather on the first platform. The second, I’d decided to just keep going. By the apex, I was staggering.
The apex platform was shockingly covered in moss. An iron gate surrounded a stone temple with a courtyard covered in…statues.
“What is this place?” I whispered.
“Civen’s old temple. Since the Deadland’s decline, another has been built in Alatonia.”
I now understood why she’d placed the statue here. It would have blended in perfectly with the garden of others surrounding the temple. My eyes drifted over the platform, a frown pulling at my lips. Something didn’t feel right. It was so quiet, though that had been consistent throughout the entire area. I really couldn’t explain why I had this sense of impending doom.
Slowly, I carried Leid toward the gate.
My hand pushed against it; it opened with a creak.
I stepped inside, eyes surveying the courtyard.
It was isolated, save for the ever still and silent stone army surrounding us. I moved to the side of the wall, kneeling and letting Leid slide off. She collapsed against the ground, limply sitting up.
I had to admit I was a little pissed off for the fact that there weren’t any demons here. All of this for practically nothing? Though I supposed it would have been considerably bad otherwise since Leid could barely move and I currently wasn’t at my best.
“Hurry,” she pleaded.
I nodded, and she hadn’t needed to point out which statue was the target. Despite the clever hiding spot, it stuck out like a sore thumb.
Surrounded in marble soldiers and half-naked maidens, a woman knelt; arm outstretched, eyes wide and lips parted in the beginnings of a despairing cry. She seemed carved out of black glass, shimmering like an obsidian beacon within the otherwise white wash of the garden.
…Obsidian. This woman.
I momentarily forget about my sick noble, slowly moving toward it, seamlessly weaving through the other nondescript statues. My eyes were narrowed, head slightly tilted in curious awe.
I stopped in front of her, drifting over the details of her face; all the while my face had become a contortion of disarray. I spun, pointing at the statue.
“Why does this thing look exactly like you?”
Leid tried to respond but coughed instead. When she was finished, she tried again:
“Will you just kill it, please? We’ll talk about this later.”
“…How do I kill it?”
“With your fists, you genius. Smash it to bits.”
“Exactly how were you expecting to destroy this thing on your own, by the way?”
“Shut up and finish it!”
“Not until you take back what you said.”
Leid stared, falling silent. She knew what I meant.
I waited, silent as well.
Conceding, she looked away shamefully. “I was angry; I didn’t mean it.”
“What didn’t you mean?”
“I would never regret meeting you, Alezair. I’m sorry.”
Though I’d coerced her into saying this, I could tell she was being sincere. Her expression was somber, painfully so.
I grinned. “Thanks. One pile of black sand coming right up.”
I turned, just as a thwump broke through the air. I felt a pinch. My grin faded into a confused wince and I looked down at the source of the sharp pain.
…There was a dart sticking out of my chest.
I looked up at Leid, though my vision was already beginning to blur; the world around me swayed. She was screaming something, pointing behind me, but now everything was moving in slow motion and I was having trouble comprehending.
I was about to turn but was tackled; a group of hands held me down, shoving my face into the moss. I thrashed, snarling, still strong enough to fling some of my assailants off. But each time a pair of hands left, another instantly replaced them. I couldn’t see anything—just a cluster of feet as the crowd scurried around, trying to keep me down.
Another group of feet left the crowd and began for Leid, who at this moment was hopelessly trying to crawl away. As they got further from us I could see them clearly:
Demons. Tons of them; at least two dozen.
Instead of retreating for the gate, Leid deliriously went the wrong way. During the struggle I’d been shoved about twenty feet from the statue. She was crawling toward us.
The demons pursuing her eventually backed off, waiting at the first row of statues. When Leid passed the third row, a shadow slid out from one of them, advancing slowly in a steady, calculated gait.
I squinted, teeth clenched and still struggling, trying to see the demon clearly. And then I did.
It was Caym Stroth, Raith’s second general. Unusually dressed in a black suit, the Obsidian Court insignia on his right shoulder, he held a giant serrated axe, swinging it nonchalantly at his side. He whistled an unfamiliar tune as Leid scrambled toward the statue. It seemed she was too delirious to even see him.
“Leid!” I screamed, though it was pointless because she couldn’t hear me. “Leid, behind you!”
She was now within a foot of the statue. Gasping, she reached toward it with a trembling outstretched hand.
Caym stopped behind her, lifting the axe over his head, his lips curling into a malicious sneer. 
