Solomon's Jar

This is a good follow up to Destiny in the Rogue Angel series. I enjoyed it enough to buy the next few books in the series and am on book 4, The Chosen, now. I hope Alex Archer keeps up the good writing because I have the first 8. Annya Creed is an archeologist who now wields the mighty sword of Joan of Arc. OK, don't get turned off yet. Yes, it sounds a little bizarre, but it's so well written, and seemingly well researched (I haven't fact checked, but everything sounds plausible) that the story moves along quite nicely. There's adventure, exotic locales, danger, sword fighting, romance without all that gratuitous sex that seems to creep into everything nowadays. The focus is the story, and the story is a lot of fun!

Again, not going to rehash the entire plot like others have done already. It's a nice read, easy to pick up and put down (such as lunch time reading)and interesting enough to keep me wanting to continue with the other stories in the series.

Annja creed is slowly coming to accept her role in fighting evil as Joan of Arc's successor. In Solomon's Jar, Annja learns that the jar in which King Solomon (of biblical times) had captured/held demons in had been found. The problem is everyone wants the jar! Annja goes off to find the jar to discover if it really does exist, are demons still inside it and who will get to it first. A very exciting sequel to Rouge Angel: Destiny. If you have not read Rouge Angel: Destiny you will still be able to read this book as a stand alone. Alex Archer does a good job in recapping what you may have missed from book 1. I think that this is going to be a great series as we follow Annja and she learns more about her powers and how to use them for good.

maybe not 5 stars, but darn close. Very well done, with an interesting and pragmatic view of good, evil, and religion. Time to go order the rest in the series. (says the guy that's literally read thousands of books - I very rarely bother to write a review, much less simply give a few stars) Read and enjoy.

In "Rogue Angel - Destiny", we met Annja Creed, a beautiful young woman who is an archaeologist who has trouble making a living at archaeology. She makes do by working for a tabloid-type television program called "Chasing History's Monsters." While she travels around the world, exploring sensational stories from the past and trying to squeeze in some serious archaeological work, Annja stumbled upon two possibly immortal French knights, Roux and Garin, who are connected to the search for the remnants of Joan of Arc's shattered sword. When Annja finds the last piece, the sword becomes whole and hers, endowing her with enhanced senses and skills. Now, in "Solomon's Jar," Annja's archaeological studies leads her to believe there is an effort afoot to find the jar used by King Solomon to bind and hold demons, whom Solomon then used to help him build his great temple. The jar, while unlikely to still hold demons, is a powerful artifact in and of itself, and it is sought by a group of Russian mercenaries, a back-to-Nature extremist cult from England, and a charismatic televangelist-turned-cult-leader. The televangelist wants to use it to build his cult into an empire, the British cultist want to use to kill off most of humanity and thereby return the Earth to Mother Nature, and the Russian mercenaries are out to secure it for a wealthy collector, the identity of whom surprised me. As Annja searches for the jar, on a trek that starts and ends in South America, with side-trips to The Netherlands and Israel, she keeps finding scenes of horrible, recent bloodshed. The closer she gets to the jar, the more danger she encounters, and she has to fend off numerous attempts to kill her, including one by a very tall, blonde supermodel! Along the way, Annja manages to find two allies, besides an abundance of enemies. Aidan Pascoe is a British archaeologist and a possible love interest for Annja. Tsipporah is a believer in Kabbalah, who is a cornucopia of wise advice and insight. Will Annja survive? Who will find the jar first? Are the demons still inside? Is the jar a source of power, demons or not? Who is behind the Russian mercenaries? All of these questions are answered, with a few surprises involved. This is a very good action-adventure novel, with supernatural and religious components. The character of Annja Creed continues to develop, as she tries to figure out what her role is, now that she has Joan of Arc's sword. I was disappointed that Roux and Garvin have very small roles in this story, but there are still plenty of interesting supporting characters. I did notice a change in the writing style, with two aspects being most pronounced. First, the fight scenes are so rapid and chaotic, that it was very hard for me to follow them. On several occasions, a character in a fight was suddenly standing when I was sure he or she had just been knocked down, causing me to have to re-read the passage, so that it would make sense. The bigger cha