Remy Chandler, private investigator and seraphim, is
still in a rut from the death of his wife, fighting both depression and his
angelic nature that flares more strongly with his loneliness. Even his friend
is beginning to worry about him – and not much worries the veteran cop.
He also has a new case – a man has run off with his
daughter without the mother’s consent, and she is desperately worried for her
child. More, this child, Zoe, seems capable of seeing the impossible including
both the future and Remy’s true nature.
She has a power inside of her, a power that isn’t meant
for humanity but is highly desired. Remy is faced with the challenged of
finding the child with what erstwhile allies he can gather, while both the
soul-consuming seductress Delilah (yes,
of Samson and Delilah) and the long weakened god Dagon both seek the same prize
for their own reasons – and that doesn’t include the welfare of the child.
I’ve said before that there’s a lot of research that goes
into this series and it really does show. It has a very rich, wide and broad
world with a lot of weight to it. Everything is solid, non-contradictory and
holds up well and still brings in a vast amount of information and different
legends. The introduction of Samson and Delilah was nicely done with their lives
after the Biblical legend. It was another level of richness and depth to this
world.
It’s also interesting to see the depiction of deity –
because it does seem to be the ultimate personification of a righteous – but incredibly
harsh and unforgiving god. After all, the plot here revolves so much around
Delilah trying to escape her excessively cruel punishment. I am curious where
this is going to go – because it does fit very well with what we’ve seen of
Remy’s Seraphim side and the other angels. Just, right, powerful, determined to
fight evil – and utterly lacking in any kind of mercy, compassion or empathy.
Yet, at the same time, the scene with the reclaimers suggests the powers that
be have at least some level of compassion. I’m curious and I definitely want to
see more and how it fits.
In fact, the world has been expanded generally here with
the introduction of other deities (albeit ones under god), other powers and a
suggestion that there is a lot more out there beyond the Judeo-Christian style
divinity we’ve seen so far. I always like to see a world developing and
growing.
Remy Chandler is a complicated character – his angelic nature
constantly pushes at him, all the more as weird cases are drawn to him. He is
still very much grieving for his dead wife which, in turn, makes his angelic
nature – and it’s uncompromising, vengeful attitude – far harder to resist and
hold down. He has some strong friendships, but even with them the hole in his
life is palpable He is a very rounded and powerful character.
Pacing wise, this book is much better than previous books.
We have many different points of view as we can see different people focus in
on Zoe and what she has, from Delilah to Dagon to her father to Remy. The
multiple plot lines are spaced out and do come together well, none of them drag
too long and we’re not bogged down in too much extraneous knowledge, red
herrings or unnecessary side tracks. I found the writing much tighter and much
more exciting than the previous 2 books. There is still some issues with
over-description, I think, especially in fight scenes that can drain some of
the sense of movement and action out of the depiction, but otherwise it fits
nicely and it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as I’ve found in the past.
The story itself wasn’t unpredictable, but there were
enough interesting and fascinating elements – and so many different actors all
with their own motivations, their own methods and their own slant on things to
make it original and interesting. The destination was something we’ve seen
before, but the journey had lots of interesting and new things along the way.
This book does have a very large cast of characters and,
sadly, like the previous books it is extremely erased. Everyone was straight
and the only POC were in minor roles – and 2 out of 3 of them ended up dead.
That was about it, it was pretty depressing.
There are lots of minor female characters, but Remy is pretty much a sole protagonists with relatively minor involvement of anyone else. But the major female inclusion was a worried and desperate mother (all she was) and a dangerous and cunning evil seductress who ate men’s souls. And she’s constantly referred to as “bitch”. It’s not like another insult wouldn’t have worked just as well (“traitor” is one I’d go with.)
This series also seems to have a habit of having magical
disabled people and even inherently linking their mystical abilities to their
disabilities. We saw it before in Dancing
on the Head of a Pin and this book we have an autistic child with divine
magic – and that autism magically disappears once the magic does. It presents
disability as something unearthly, something mystical. It also presents
disability as a cost someone has to pay for power – disability as a downside, the price you must pay.
This series continues to interest me. It has unique, fun
elements and strong characterisation. The plots are interesting and exciting, though
not the most compelling I’ve read and I’m always happy to pick up the next book
in the series. I think it needs a little more zing – partly pacing and,
perhaps, partly Remy moving out of his depression, just to bring the books to
the next level. They have a lot of great scenes and excitement, but there are peaks
and valleys that make it a very good book as opposed to an excellent book.
