Review: Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution by Keith R.A. DeCandido

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

When Ichabod Crane, a soldier from the Colonial Army, is resurrected from his grave, more than two centuries after he was killed in battle, he partners with Lieutenant Abbie Mills of the Sleepy Hollow Police Department to fight the evil forces that have taken hold of the town.

It’s a cold day in January, and Ichabod visits Patriots Park for a moment of peace. Instead, he receives a disturbing vision from his wife, Katrina, in which she delivers a cryptic but urgent message: he must retrieve the Congressional Cross that he was awarded by the Second Continental Congress for bravery in action. There’s just one problem: Ichabod was killed before he ever received the medal, and he is unsure where it might be. Together Ichabod and Abbie set out to uncover the mystery of the cross and its connection to George Washington and his secret war against the demon hordes. They soon learn that a coven of witches is also seeking the cross in order to resurrect their leader, Serilda, who was burned at the stake during the Revolutionary War. Now they must locate the cross before the coven can bring back Serilda to exact her fatal revenge on Sleepy Hollow.

MY TAKE:
I like reading tie-in novels so even though I've only seen commercials and a few minutes of Sleepy Hollow episodes, I wanted to give this one a try.

In Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution, Ichabod, Abbie, Irving and Jenny must race against time to retrieve Independence Crosses that witches are planning to use to resurrect Serilda.

I like that the novel uses more formal words and tone when Ichabod is the character in focus. It's a little bit like getting inside Ichabod's mind.

Since I'm not super familiar with the series, it took  a couple of chapters (and some Wikipedia research) for me to get up to speed on the characters and events. The book takes place between the tenth (The Golem) and the eleventh (The Vessel) episodes. While it's best to be familiar with the series before reading this, you can still more or less follow what's happening even if you've never seen an episode.

The story is quite exciting. If you're a fan of Supernatural, Charmed or X-Files, you'll probably like this book too. It takes some real places, events and people, for example George Washington crossing the Delaware, and injects some magical element, so it feels like it could possibly have happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and Broadway Books for the e-ARC. Publication date of Sleepy Hollow: Children of the Revolution is on September 30, 2014.

THE GOOD:

1. The story is exciting.
2. You can still follow along even if you haven't seen the show.
3. The use of real places, events and people make it seem a little more plausible.

THE BAD:

1. It's a little bit morbid.

READ IT IF:

1. You like the Sleepy Hollow show.
2. You like Supernatural, Charmed and/or X-Files.
3. You like action-packed novels.

RATING:


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