Over a series of books set in the same world, we get to watch the character of Ferryn grow in the peripheral from an innocent child into a full of life, rebellious, yet still innocent teenager; until ultimately her world is brought to a crashing halt in the book “The Fall of V”. While The Fall cannot be read as a standalone, The Rise of Ferryn most definitely can be as there is enough past tense chapters to flesh out her background and it is set to be the beginning of a follow on next generation series. We start about 8 years after the events of ‘The Fall’ with Ferryn training extensively to reach her ultimate goal- turning her body and mind into a weapon so she can complete her personal mission of taking down sex traffickers. She allows herself next to no comforts in life aside from her weekly letter she writes to her mother back in her hometown of Navesink Bank.
One of the true talents of author Jessica Gadziala is her ability to build a world that is just so believable. Navesink Bank is where our hero reigns from and where criminal groups co-exist in relative harmony. While that sounds utterly impossible to happen in real life, the way she gently weaves the community together throughout each story gives it a genuine feel. There are ‘Fixers,’ private investigators, gun-running bikers, a vigilante and even a touch of a mob family, because what is a criminal world without a bit of mob? Each of these factions have their own series of books, following individual members as they meet the women they ultimately get their happily-ever-after with. Told from dual point of view each story feels fresh and new which is a true triumph when there are so many. Gadzialas’ Navesink Bank is thought out and thoughtful, managing to take the utterly brutal and at times, delightfully absurd, lives of her characters and knit them into the fabric of this world with an ease and fluidity that you just don’t often see, particularly in this world of self-published ebooks.
Ferryn slots beautifully into this world, as a strong young women fighting tooth and nail to rescue those without hope. Eight years holed up in relative obscurity with the communication challenged Holden Ryker (please lord let him appear in a future book), an ex spec ops soldier broken down to his very core. He takes his lifetime of training and trains her until killing another person becomes a reflex and not a thought. Like a vast majority of the other books in this world, the story has dark overtones and a penchant for murder but it’s hard to be upset about the demise of human beings as vile as kidnappers and sex traffickers. The start of the story has Ferryn convinced that while she knows she must return home, she has no hope of fitting into the large extended family she grew up with, believing herself to be altered on such a deep level she is no longer even a whisper of who she was. On the day she finally bests her mentor and unlikely companion in hand to hand combat, she knows it is time. Expecting somewhat of a welcoming committee when she arrives at the gates of the biker club her father rules over, she is surprised to find her parents and siblings are out of town and the most unlikely of men is now a member of this cut throat gang. The boy she made moon eyes over for years and promised her little girl heart she would marry is now a patched member of the Henchmen and just as stunning as she never dared let herself remember.
Vance is over two years older than Ferryn roughly and as the older brother of her childhood best friend he never let his eyes linger on her before she disappeared, though did harbour the hope that when she was older and no longer “jail bait” they could one day explore something between them. Vance is present the day that Ferryn is kidnapped in “The Fall” and being unable to save her, he feels her absence for the next eight plus years as a deep mark upon his soul. When he no longer feels a purpose in his life, he approaches Reign, president of The Henchmen MC and father of Ferryn, for a chance to prospect with the club, ultimately finding a small place in this world for himself. At times I felt that Vance was a bit too cookie cutter of man, a bit of a push over, even though overall, he is a likeable enough character. I would have loved a bit more of Vance showing that bite he has when Ferryn does eventually push his buttons as it made him more real and less of a pleaser. His sister, Iggy, who was once best friends with Ferryn doesn’t get as much face time as she deserved either and while this is potentially because she has her own story in the pipeline perhaps I still think that friendship needed more than a short chapter for them to reconnect and that there wasn’t enough anger from Iggy. If your best friend disappears off the face of the earth for almost a decade, there’s going to be some low key anger no matter how relieved you are that they’re back and safe. Iggy however, welcomes her back with not so much as a frown and they essentially pick up where they left off to a degree.
Interacting with her family and embracing the feelings growing between her and Vance, Ferryn comes to understand that although she thought the person she was before was long gone, she is in actuality still there and that it is possible for her to be both this vigilante type saviour of lost souls and Ferryn, member of a large, loud family and a partner to Vance. The true let down with this book was how easily Ferryn gave up what was, at the beginning, her life mission. She dedicated the better part of a decade as well as literal blood, sweat, tears and the creature comforts of home and family in order to become this ultimate killing machine version of herself. However, she returns from her final mission and admits to Vance that she thought she was pregnant (she isn’t) and that that event made her realise fully that she would like to have a family and is then able to let the rage go. It almost felt like a disservice to the pain and transformation this strong female character had gone through for it to end with such ease. The author closes each book with an epilogue that is told in a staggered time frame, starting at days to weeks down the line from the final chapter, up to years in the future. This is another wonderful feature of these books that truly should be appreciated however, this also enables the author to prolong the story and in the case of Ferryn, would have been the ideal place to have her continue with her mission for more than six months (though she doesn’t go on missions during that six months) and actually get something more out of all her hard work and sacrifice. There is no need to have her skip out on marrying Vance or having that future with him. Being this kick butt vigilante character doesn’t cancel out her “day life” and real relationship, they can coexist.
Overall, The Rise of Ferryn met expectations but did not exceed them. It rung true to the world of Navesink Bank but left the reader wanting that little bit more to elevate it to that extraordinary status that a character like Ferryn could achieve. There were a couple of characters introduced that intrigue for future books in this new generation series and I, without a doubt will read them on their release days. For anyone looking for a series that keeps you engaged and rooting for the main characters to have a happily ever after ending while fighting a few demons along the way, Jessica Gadziala is absolutely for you. A solid 8/10 for The Rise of Ferryn but a heartfelt 10/10 for this wonderful micro universe overall.
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