Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Jovienne (The Immanence #1)” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Jovienne

(The Immanence #1)

Linda Robertson (Goodreads Author)

3.06 · Rating details · 34 ratings · 17 reviews

Linda Robertson, author of the Persephone Alcmedi urban fantasy series, now brings you The Immanence series.

A horrific car accident put Jovienne in a coma. When she awakened months later, she was told that her family had died. And Jovienne? She felt different…irreversibly changed.

Years passed, and she was raised by a stranger who trained her to use the quintanumin. She ex ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 424 pages

Published May 9th 2017 by Ragnarok Publications

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Jovienne, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Jovienne

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 3.06 ·

Rating details

· 34 ratings · 17 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Jovienne (The Immanence #1)

Jun 30, 2017 Victoria Rose rated it it was ok

Shelves: badass-ladies, urban-fantasy, violence-in-great-quantities

Jovienne is nothing if not an ass-kicker of a book. The eponymous lead seems to be modelled on a gothic rocker from the 80's, which may or may not be your cup of tea. Add into the mix an unhealthy dose of Christian mythos, atheism, Hawaiian witchcraft, murder, and a sickeningly touchy feely demon and you may or may not have yourself a party.

The story follows Jovienne, a young woman who, after suffering the loss of her family in a car accident, is trained to slaughter demons by her tutor Andrei. Jovienne is nothing if not an ass-kicker of a book. The eponymous lead seems to be modelled on a gothic rocker from the 80's, which may or may not be your cup of tea. Add into the mix an unhealthy dose of Christian mythos, atheism, Hawaiian witchcraft, murder, and a sickeningly touchy feely demon and you may or may not have yourself a party.

The story follows Jovienne, a young woman who, after suffering the loss of her family in a car accident, is trained to slaughter demons by her tutor Andrei. Right at the beginning, her learned skills are put to the very literal test - if she kills a powerful demon, she will be rewarded with abhadon status. (An abhadon is a kind of angel specifically created to kill demons). On the other hand, if she fails, she'll be tortured in hell forever after. So there's a fair bit riding on this test. The real hard stuff comes later, when Jovienne struggles with her new status/servitude and what it means.

The story is quite convoluted. I found it difficult to follow each character's motives. Jovienne's motives were the most clear - she wanted to be free from her forced servitude. However, I couldn't understand so many of her choices! At first I thought I was missing important information so once she did something I would skip back a few chapters to check what I'd missed - but I hadn't missed anything. It was just hard to follow and Jovienne's headspace is a difficult one to get into, especially considering all the info dumps, changes of POV, and 'revelations' that meant nothing to me since I didn't understand where these revelations came from or what they meant. (view spoiler)

The world building needs a little work, as does the plotting. Being introduced to so many characters and ideas so early on before they had any bearing on Jovienne's story made things difficult for me. Also, there were some characters who I thought were utterly expendable (looking at you, Nathan!)

Jovienne was at first a character I was lukewarm towards. I appreciated what an ass kicker she was and liked her fiery spirit (note: the sassiness, fiery spirit etc does not need to be mentioned every 10 pages. We get it.) However, her bitterness and rage get tiresome quickly, especially when I just couldn't understand her at all. In the second half of the novel I'd gone from being lukewarm to actively disliking her and her foolish, rash decisions. The only thing I didn't mind about her was her apparent interest in saving innocents, but (view spoiler) I also HATED how she behaved around Araxiel - because she is a virgin, she allows this creep-o to tear her clothes off and be unspeakably rapey??? No thank you! I expected more of you, Jovienne!

I felt much the same apathy towards other characters - Andrei, who was kind of flat and dull; Eitan, who we barely got to know; Araxiel, whose motives were unclear; and Damsel, who was as one dimensional as possible to ensure we had no sympathy for her.

Overall, the action scenes were many and fun, but there was little word building, or character growth. Add to this a weirdly happy ending for what was a grim book and I had sincerely run out of patience for it. However, I truly believe that with a bit of editing and altering, this would be someone's perfect novel. It's dark and violent and full of cool angels wearing leather and stabbing hell spawn. Not my cup of tea, in the end, but certainly somebody's. ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2017 Marta Cox rated it liked it

Shelves: my-reviews, netgalley

Three and a half
A new author to me but such an eye catching cover. I'm always on the lookout for original urban fantasy and certainly feel that this books ideas ticks all the right boxes. Yes it's about Angels so if theology not really your thing then it might not suit but as it's the story of a human woman who becomes a warrior for God I thought I'd give it a go.
It's hard to like Jovienne and even though she feels that she has been manipulated and is used I really couldn't quite see past her bi Three and a half
A new author to me but such an eye catching cover. I'm always on the lookout for original urban fantasy and certainly feel that this books ideas ticks all the right boxes. Yes it's about Angels so if theology not really your thing then it might not suit but as it's the story of a human woman who becomes a warrior for God I thought I'd give it a go.
It's hard to like Jovienne and even though she feels that she has been manipulated and is used I really couldn't quite see past her bitterness at times. Yes she is incredibly brave ( although some might say foolhardy ) but her anger meant she makes hard decisions and takes such stupid chances. Yet this book details her progression in such a way that I found it hard to put down.
Frankly at first I was a little confused by the authors use of different perspectives as she introduces characters that initially have no bearing on what Jovienne is going through in San Fransisco and then it all falls into place as the connections start to happen.
Andrei was a sort of mentor and trainer to Jovienne and clearly has feelings for her but having pushed her away it's hard to trust him and yet he does have redeeming qualities.
Nathan is introduced as a man marked by stigmata and he turns out to be more than instrumental if Jovienne is to rise above her base instincts. Sometimes she can resist anything except temptation !
Then we have Araxiel, a demon hiding on Earth with no desire to return to Hell . His selfish thoughts are consumed with his own wellbeing leaving him with the cunning idea of manipulating Jovienne and quite frankly he does a pretty good job.
We do meet other characters as Jovienne isn't the only one fighting against the Demons and the author lets her imagination play here. Are Angels all good? Do they always do the right thing? Perhaps more importantly though is what is the right choice as after all we were all given free will . Plus just what does it take to become demonic?
So many questions and yet some answers trickle through. There's very good reason why Jovienne is the way she is and her past helps define her. Hurt, betrayed and yet she carries such guilt because of one small childish action and I understood why her own survival meant little to her.
It's a little wordy at times which occasional meant it felt dry and I wanted more feelings, more humanity I guess. Yet Jovienne really wants to help but her hands are tied. Speaking of hands those blessed by God have unusual powers that range from being able to move at great speed occasionally to the use of ghost like hands that stretch like something out of the Fantastic Four ! Plus I understand the use of more angelic terms but some of the words used just didn't wow me. All in all very different to other books I've read and it's the start of a series that hopefully will be fleshed out enabling the various characters to show more warmth and feelings. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2018 Darcy rated it did not like it

Shelves: did-not-finish, 2018, e-book, demons, angels, uf

I really liked this author's Persephone Alcmedi series, was a bit leery on reading this one as books with heavy religious themes don't always work for me. I made it about 40 pages before giving up. I didn't care for Jovienne, she came off as very spoiled and if she couldn't get her way she would throw a fit. I also was very uncomfortable reading the pass she made at her mentor, was glad that he turned her down. This one just wasn't for me. ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 02, 2017 Viktória Tóth rated it it was ok

I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review from NetGalley.

I read a couple of books from the author before from her Vicious circle series and even thought i wasn’t really fan of the writing style or didn’t love the series the author have great ideas. So when I saw the gorgeous cover of this book and read the synopsis there was no doubt in my mind whether to read it or not. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the synopsis a bit and not just because of this but ended up struggling wi I received a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review from NetGalley.

I read a couple of books from the author before from her Vicious circle series and even thought i wasn’t really fan of the writing style or didn’t love the series the author have great ideas. So when I saw the gorgeous cover of this book and read the synopsis there was no doubt in my mind whether to read it or not. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the synopsis a bit and not just because of this but ended up struggling with the story.

First of all, I didn’t realize how much this story revolves around angels and God and such. Yes I could have expected it based on the cover but the synopsis didn’t give too much indication regarding this so I went into reading with hope. Well, this hope of mine got dashed pretty quickly but regardless of my dislike of angels there are a couple of great ideas in it.

My main problem other than the topic, was the writing style or more like the way the story was presented in a discursive and unfocused way. And this didn’t help me create a clear picture of the world building which is complex but really confusing and holey. Not just the supernatural aspect of the story but the basic world too. Sometimes I felt like it had a dystopian background with the devastation some scenes represented but I couldn’t be sure because it was just a feeling I got during reading. So in the end I didn’t understand the meaning behind half of the plot and it bothered me so much. I tried; I really did but had no luck in really immersing myself in the story.
As for the characters, the story is told from 4 different points of view and this was my favorite thing about the book. These four characters not just completely different but also represent different sides of the world, the story even though they all had something common. I loved how it showed the good, the bad and everything in between.
There is Jovienne, who is an abhadhon, basically an enforcer angel who does the dirty work for God. The thing s though she is really didn’t want to become one but her loneliness and infatuation with her teacher lead her to this path. She only realized that she had a choice when it was too late. So in the beginning she is bitter about her predicament and starts to fight tooth and nail to get out of it or to find some freedom. As she progresses she finds out a lot of things about her past and herself. She could be interesting character but her point of view is specially detailed and there is a lot of extra information and scenes that just confused me about her. But she is a fighter for sure. I absolutely loved her connection with Eitan. Their bickering was a great addition to the story.
Then there is Araxiel, the demon who got a taste of freedom from Hell and doesn’t want to go back. no matter what, so he is even willing to approach the one who can send him back and offer her a tentative alliance, at least until he reaches his goal after that everybody is for themselves. He is cunning and greedy and manipulates others around him spectacularly.
Or Andrei, Jovienne former teacher who is lost, who was lost even before meeting the girl. I didn’t particularly like him; he is a bit of a coward at the beginning and makes a lot of bad decisions but slowly starts to redeem himself.

I didn’t enjoy the book and even think that starting the book after Jovienne training and the initial realization of her new powers created an empty space in the plot and also helped with my confusion. It’s a shame because I had high hopes for this book.
...more

flag Like · see review

Feb 04, 2020 Dee rated it it was ok

What can I say? The cover caught my attention in my local Barnes and Noble~ That was basically the reason to buy this book XD I dig angels!

But...the blurb on the back of the book is a little misleading. I thought Jovienne would be this kick-@$$ warrior angel, not this...whiny girl that made REALLY bad choices because she felt like she'd been betrayed. "Forced into servitude", she kept calling it. Personally, I don't think what she had to do was all that bad. She got to defeat evil, she had some What can I say? The cover caught my attention in my local Barnes and Noble~ That was basically the reason to buy this book XD I dig angels!

But...the blurb on the back of the book is a little misleading. I thought Jovienne would be this kick-@$$ warrior angel, not this...whiny girl that made REALLY bad choices because she felt like she'd been betrayed. "Forced into servitude", she kept calling it. Personally, I don't think what she had to do was all that bad. She got to defeat evil, she had some holy weapons on her side, angel wings and the ability to really fight on the side of good. Yeah, she got picked up by this guy when she was a kid, so he could train her, but...was it all that bad? Why did she act as if she'd been tricked into it? =/

Some parts were REALLY hard to read. There should've been a warning label on the book about some of the parts. I'm not really into horror, and then we've got these gross descriptions of limbs being ripped off and being burned and...ugh. Then we had almost-incest. Very nearly rape in two sections of the book. The cringy kind that makes you mutter to yourself while you're reading, wanting someone to come in and stop it. >< I nearly stopped reading when it came to those parts, and only hung on because I was hoping it would get better. It...did, mostly, but it was still very uncomfortable. It was also a bit more religious than I prefer, but that's just me.

I wanted to like Jovienne, but half the time, I was questioning what was going on in her head, to make the decisions she did. I think I liked her mentor, and later on, her weapon/clothes-maker-angel dude, better. I just couldn't understand why she would do those things, when it only made things worse, and she should KNOW better. She was trained for this warrior angel life. She'd been groomed for it for years! It wasn't like she was going in blind. It was just disappointing.

Won't be picking up the next book to this series. If the first book made me cringe so hard while reading, I wouldn't survive the second book! ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 03, 2017 Nicki Markus rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-fantasy-sci-fi

Jovienne was something of a mixed bag read for me. I adored the plot idea, which was original, fresh and full of great potential. However, I never really connected with Jovienne. I wanted to care about her, relate to her, but I simply couldn't, and that lack of empathy with her affected my overall enjoyment of the story. I did like the secondary characters, such as Araxiel and Andrei. Even so, right from the start Robertson throws the reader into a complex plot, starting at one point and then ju ...more

flag Like · see review

Aug 10, 2017 Marissa rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, fantasy

Jovienne is the story of young woman who, through a series of unfortunate events, finds herself caught up in an epic battle between good and evil as she is trained to fight demons. As a result of her training, she's raised to an adhadhon status. Readers are introduced to a variety of classes of angels and some pretty gnarly hellspawn demons. For me, there was just way too much going on and not a lot of connectivity. The story would start going off in one direction and then take a completely diff ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 18, 2017 Shannon rated it really liked it

Jovienne has trained her whole life for a destiny she never wanted. While battling demons, she's fighting for her own autonomy. Her story is one of loss and betrayal, but also of hope. She desperately wants free of this allocated duty... to have a normal life. But is that even possible?

This book hooked me at the beginning and swept me through Jovienne's story in one sitting. I couldn't put it down. It's an urban fantasy tale with elements of horror. The scenes are eloquently set, full of fierce ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 18, 2017 Larissa Campos rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, netgalley

One of the best angel-related plots out there, but the writing is at times confusing and the individual details so convoluted I had a hard time keeping my interest up. The MC suffers from chronic teenage angst which really annoyed me since she goes from outrage at a certain situation at the beginning to pretty much accepting the development of the same situation at the end. The only two women are overly bitchy which took away from their overall bad-assery to me.

flag Like · see review

Jun 18, 2017 Polly Krize rated it liked it

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A difficult book, both to read and review. Jovienne is a strong woman, forced into being something she does not wish to become, leading to what amount sto disregard both for her life and for God, making her rebel against any type of authority. Haunted both by her mentor and a demon, she must fight, not really knowing the reason for her struggle. Imaginative, and I will be on the lookout for the next installment.

flag Like · see review

May 01, 2018 -cookie Doughten rated it really liked it

I like Angel books so I bought this New author to me . I liked it it was well written . Good story not cotton candy feel good story . Gritty harsh and makes you think. You feel for Jovienne and you get mad at her at the same time . but you want her to win and do the right thing. A good book. worth the read . Hard to put in one category Romance, religion ,intrigue scifi ?

flag Like · see review

Oct 29, 2018 Kathie rated it it was ok

Shelves: own-it

I really didn't care for this book at all. Jovienne is unlikeable and behaves like a petulant child. I won't be reading the next book. I also have a problem with authors who write series but don't finish them, like her Persephone Alcmedi series. ...more

flag Like · see review

Sep 20, 2018 Todd Skaggs rated it really liked it

This book read like a rock-opera and as I turned the last page, I wanted more. The world is laid out beautifully and makes me want to finish the review so I can get the next book!

If Angela and demons and the world in between are your bag, then you have one more book to throw in!

flag Like · see review