REVIEW: The School of Ministry: The Windgate by Braxton Cosby

Title: The School of Ministry: The Windgate
Author Braxton A Cosby
Series: The School of Ministry #1
Published Date: Aug 21st, 2013
Publisher: Keith Publications
Buy It Link: Amazon
Rating: 3 1/2 stars

Synopsis: A young man named Ziv struggles to find his place in life after both of his parents are murdered. Orphaned and alone by the age of six, he bounces in and out of foster homes hopeless and afraid, wondering if he will ever find a path to happiness. He resolves to accept a life of depravity, until one day he discovers he possesses the gift of sight: to see creatures from the afterlife, but not angels...demons! Ziv is recruited by The School of Ministry, a secret society that promises to help him find his best friend Stephanie, who has gone missing. But there is one catch: he must agree to join them in their quest to eradicate evil and protect the weak. Ziv learns that he is a "Conduit," which allow him to cross over into the spirit world and transcend time itself. When he is partnered with two other young men who have similar gifts, the unlikely trio is trained in the mastery of weapons and the art of Shouting, during treacherous challenges of the tortuous Quad in preparation for their mission: to secure the Windgate. Ziv becomes entrenched in a quest of identity, love, and will, until comes face to face with pure evil itself--Akabod, the spiritual prodigal son to the School of Ministry and a master of talents.

Review: I'd like to thank the author as well as Promotional Book Tours for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
It's been awhile since I've given anything less than 4 stars, and I feel badly about giving this book anything less than 4 stars because towards the end it was really good. The premise behind the book was intriguing, and I loved it. The first half of it moved so slowly, it was almost painful to get through.I was glad I did get through it because it did pick up for me.
The author is a great writer, and he write so descriptively, it is easy to feel yourself in the story line. Some of the word choices that were made during the writing made things a little awkward. I found myself sitting back and wondering why he used that particular word. For instance, there's a part where the main character "crumbles" into a seat. I expected the word crumple, and if it was the first instance of a strange word choice, I would have put it up to a typo. However, if you think about it, crumbling and crumpling into a seat could both technically be done, but I don't really like to examine an author's word choice that closely, especially if I'm in the middle of an action scene.
I have seen some incredible reviews for this, very positive ones. I guess I just wasn't feeling this book from cover to cover.