The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegan

TFaegan-Mephisto Covenant

Though young adult romance is not usually my style, The Mephisto Covenant is an innovative book that is everything the Twilight series should have been. Trinity Faegan has pulled me into a world where sons of hell are warriors on an eternal quest that makes me eager to read the next installment.

TFaegan-Mephisto CovenantSasha is desperate to find out who murdered her father. When getting the answer means pledging her soul to Eryx, she unlocks a secret that puts her in grave danger—she is an Anabo, a daughter of Eve, and Eryx’s biggest threat.

A son of Hell, immortal, and bound to Earth forever, Jax looks for redemption in the Mephisto Covenant—God’s promise he will find peace in the love of an Anabo. After a thousand years, he’s finally found the girl he’s been searching for: Sasha.

With the threat of Eryx always looming, Jax knows he has to keep Sasha safe and win her over. But can he? Will Sasha love him and give up her mortal life?

The Mephisto of the title is Mephistofele, one of the most intriguing and underused characters of urban fantasy. When I started reading The Mephisto Covenant, I had just performed in the opera Mefistofele and was stoked to read his story in young adult lit. Though Mephistofele is merely a background character and the father of the main love interest, this set the whole book up to be a unique take on a good vs evil love affair. 

My favorite characters are the sons of Mephistofele. Faegan describes the brothers both clearly and vaguely which presents them as individual stokes of a single cog. It is uncanny how indistinguishable each brother is, with mere attributes separating them. Faegan uses this to her advantage and I am constantly reminded of how connected the brothers are. They are many limbs of the same darkly sexy beast whether its Jax, the love interest, or Eryx, the villian.

I must confess that many female protagonists irritate me but luckily, this is not the case with Sasha. Instead of a cliched plain Jane brunette outsider, Sasha is a successful, fairly likeable and attractive blonde. As I was reading Sasha’s thoughts I began to like her more. Once again contrary to common plots, Sasha does not begin as the outsider with no direction in her life. In fact, she’s a good student with ambitious college plans who has willingly sacrificed her social life for success. Then her life went to hell when her dad died and it was a downward spiral. The difference in Sasha is that she still perseveres and continues the best she can to excel no matter what. Despite moving cross nation, and falling into an insane world of angels and demons, she’s still quite focused on her college essay. For me, this reminded me of my 17 year old self and was certainly a refreshing change.

Love and lust are recurring themes throughout The Mephisto Covenant. Lust is not held back because of an author’s idea of teenage purity but carried out as a realistic aspect. The characters do what anyone would given some restraints, good chemistry and an increasing thirst to live out impulses. For me, this is truly pure, characters acting as they would. Love is explored in the romance capacity but more importantly Faegan explores Sasha’s love of her parents and of other human beings.

Fighting scenes within The Mephisto Covenant are somewhat glazed over. I am usually bothered when this is the case. However, I overlooked this fact because of how it was presented. Each fighting scene reminded me that the sons of Mephistofele are essentially demigods and incredibly powerful while their opponents are mere humans. Therefore it seemed that short, almost non-existent fighting scenes were another aspect of purity of characters. When a fight is that imbalance, would you really have many pages worth of fighting? I think not.

The Mephisto Covenant is a unique compilation of YA romance norms with subtle, yet impactful, differences. Trinity Faegan creates a world where characters are realistically pure in their actions and motives. No character, villain or hero, is simply good or evil and free will is not only a right but a responsibility. This harmonious dance of right and wrong is presented an unassuming book and is a must read for any fan or skeptic of the genre.

About Natassia 143 Articles
I am a performer by trade and have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. My bookshelves are full of many genres but I have a love of fantasy, SciFi and steampunk which have only spurred my performing dreams to help one of these fabulous worlds come to life. I tend to read books with a lot of edge and grit; if it's got zombies, space battles or fantastical steam inventions, I'm in. When I'm not reading or off making my own adventures, I can be caught watching movies of every era, gaming, and being scandalously political like any good steampunk heroine.