This series is very close to horror. The golem myth incorporation was really interesting, and of course, I'm always gaga for angels. Some of the violent elements were disturbing, especially with children being harmed. Nevertheless, this was very good.

Reviewed for Bitten by Books. http://bittenbybooks.com.

Remy Chandler lives a life he enjoys, with his dog and his wife. But now his wife is dying, age is something he doesn't have to deal with but she does, and there's nothing really he can do about it. He is an angel who decided to investigate what being human was like and found himself living among them. Deathless he can communicate with anything that has sentience and after several centuries he can put his hands to most jobs. He's investigating for a divorce case when the man shoots his lover and then himself and fails to die. What disturbs Remy more is that the man can see him for what he really is. It's then that Remy finds out that the embodyment of death is missing, that he has a mission to find him and that there's rumours of an apocalypse, and his dog Marlowe needs a run in the park! Marlowe steals the show in the book. I liked Remy and a lot of it reminded me of Pratchett and Gaiman's Good Omens, (only without the antichrist) I was quite pleased to see that there were sequels.

An ancient cabal of sorcerers once performed an incredibly powerful, but incredibly dark ritual that empowered them all – or would have had they not then turned their great powers against one another.Decades have passed since that moment and these sorcerers have been changed, driven by unnatural hunger – and preying on each other. The oldest and most powerful of them is plotting to repeat his ritual – but on a much grander scale, with the help of a fallen choir of angels, he can bring death on an apocalyptic scale.But another member of the cabal, one betrayed, how has his own quest for revenge against his former associate. Driven by revenge he is willing to use any tool in his arsenal – even kidnapping the friend of an Archangel to use Remy as a tool for vengeance.Remy needs to save his friend and to prevent untold death – but both the Sorcerers hunger, and a Seraphim may be the tastiest treat of all.I think very few books have even close to the level of epic that this series can bring. The world is constantly in peril in grand, dramatic fashion. The tension is perfectly maintained, the plot is powerful and keeps moving and the previous books’ habit of bogging down in Remy’s personal angst is largely absent from this one. From beginning to end, from vague portents and consequences after the world came close to the apocalypse, to a steady build of power as more details become clear. It’s brilliantly paced, it’s thematically maintained, it’s excellently developed – in all, the epic sense and excellent pacing are spot on. It really reached a point where I couldn’t put it down and would have to have my hands broken to make me let go of the kindle - this book held me. Most of the time.I love the characters as well- Remy is a complex conflict between his angelic side and his human side and we finally have him embracing that to some degree rather than constantly denying it that has so characterised the last few books. We also don’t have Remy’s angst – not that it was ever wrong, but it was rather all-consuming. Even Remy’s habit towards internal monologue is… well, not gone, but certainly reduced. And he’s building new relationships with Linda and Ashely adding a greater depth to both him and them and moving away from his moping.Read More

Adam, the first man, is breathing his last, even his extremely long life is coming to an end and he has one dying wish – to be buried in the garden of Eden, a wish that his descendants, the Sons of Adam, wish to make real, even if they have to consume the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge itself to bring Eden back to EarthUnfortunately he’s not the only one who has designs on the garden. Before Eden was sealed, Lucifer sought to use the garden as a beachhead from which he could invade Heaven – prevented only by Remiel – Remy Chandler – sealing the garden. Worse, someone else is abusing the garden – possibly even killing Eden in the process, to use its divine power to their own dark ends.Remy Chandler has a mission with the remaining Sons of Adam to try and find the Daughters of Eve who have the second key to opening the gates to Eden. But they do so under constant attack from the garden’s raging and insane Cherubim guardian – and all of their actions may be being directed by a far older, far greater puppet master.In this time of conflict, a new dark force may be rising, the Shaitan, a creation that may be far worse than all the legions of Hell.This story continues to bring the epic. The world in the balance, fate of humanity , good vs evil, the whole nine yards of epic storytelling with everything riding on the outcome. This is one thing this series has always done well – and this is no exception. The sheer amount resting on the actions of the characters was never lost or distracted from and always forefront in all of the action since then.Part of this means not having any side plots – that can make stories linear but this managed to tell the story from several points of view with different aspects all moving together. So, by following Remy and his investigations, Francis in Hell and Mulvehill with Fernita it prevented the story being linear while making sure it didn’t deviate off the importance of the main plot line.The action scenes were well written, exciting and truly got a sense of the forces involved, including the awesomeness that the angel’s represent and the power and fear that goes with them. This is difficult to carry so consistently and especially difficult to keep fresh with so many different action scenes throughout the books. It keeps being exciting, keeps being fresh, keeps being fun to read. The pacing was excellent, without the down times for angst or distractions that bothered me in previous books – everything was relevant to the story and the plot of all 3 storylines moved forward together, intertwined and naturally flowing from one to the other.I really liked the insights into Francis and Fernita’s past, again, without derailing the main story or detracting from the epicness of it. It added a much more human element to Francis as we saw what he was pushed to do to seek redemptions. It’s nice to see him as more than a repentant angel who kicks arse.Read More