Obsessed with finding the mysterious man she calls Stephanous, historical research assistant Sofia Adams had no idea that her search would lead her to far more than just the keys to immortality. Nadja Baer’s novel Redemption begins when Sofia’s boss assigns her what seems to be a pointless wild goose chase, but winds up leading her to a world filled with angels, vampires, and destiny.
Character Analysis:
Sofia is, of course, the main protagonist. Her parents died when she was young leaving her and her sister, Lorelyn, to be raised by their grandmother who is long gone by now. Sofia works for a History Professor who seems to be rather scattered, picking up projects to quickly move on to the next. He uses Sofia as his researcher and ghostwriter for his many books. I enjoyed watching how she goes about uncovering the mystery of Stephnous. It was almost like a detective and I thought that this was a unique approach. However, I had a very complicated relationship with this character. I loved her, then I hated her. And around and around we went. More about this later.
Lorelyn is very different than Sofia, who is an introverted homebody. She is lively, outgoing, and doesn’t understand her sister’s almost antisocial ways. Her importance to the story does not seem clear until the end, leaving you to wonder about Lorelyn and Sofia’s connection.
Miki is probably one of my favorite characters. Before you jump down my throat, let me explain and I will try to do this without giving too much away. Yes, he’s a bit annoying. Yes, he may or may not be a suspicious character. Yes, he’s probably made some terrible mistakes in the past. Yet, at the end of the day he’s really the only character who’s there to help when help is needed. Plus, he has a fun side-kick quality to him.
Nefriti is the librarian “friend” who helps refer Sofia to some books to aid her in the search for the mysterious Stephanous. She’s an interesting one, you never really know whose side she’s on.
Stephanous is the man Sofia is obsessed with finding. She happened to run into him in photographs and he kept popping up in different centuries, seemingly immortal. Does she find him? Is he really immortal? These questions and more are discovered and explored in this adventure.
Arthur, the cute guy that seems to be everywhere and nowhere all at the wrong place, wrong time. Her boss takes Sofia off a project and transfers it to this new guy which has never happened. Who is he? Is he her replacement? How can she protect her job while falling head over heals with him at the same time? Their relationship becomes complicated, but yet very compelling and is one of the main things that kept me turning the pages.
My Thoughts on the Story:
I really loved how this story incorporated angels, vampires, even reincarnation, and the desire to do good. I really respected Sofia for wanting to find out who the good guys were instead of making assumptions. It gave the story more depth and allows the reader to explore every aspect of this new world.
Though this story had really great aspects to it, there were a couple of things I did find a bit disappointing. This story seems to contradict the whole “two wrongs don’t make a right”. In fact, two of Sofia’s wrongdoings seem to make a right quite often! This was extremely frustrating. I was also not a fan of how Sofia seems to be easily manipulated by everyone around her. When she finally decides to do something for herself, it leads her to betraying the people that care about her the most. But I guess that’s life, right? Sometimes what we think is right, actually turns out to do more harm than good. That’s what makes this book relatable. The story is very compelling from the start and it makes you empathize with the tough situations Sofia is put in.
Overall, this book is a very good read. The action, mystery, plot and all of the little clues sprinkled throughout the pages kept me turning the book. At each point I thought I’d figured the story out, I stumbled upon yet another plot twist. Once you start reading this book, you really can’t put it down. I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book!
