Michael continues his battle against Asmodeus – not just
through revenge but also to end the injustices that God has created and fix the
flaws of his creation
But how does one fight someone who can predict your every
move, someone who can see the future, some who will always be 2 steps ahead?
Only by being unpredictable. Only by trusting others.
Only by not even knowing what you yourself are going to do next
But not knowing your own plans also means you do not
realise what you have chosen to sacrifice…
This book is nearly impossible to review without giving away
spoilers, while at the same time even a hint of spoilers would ruin some of the
major issues of the book.
The world of this book continues the
previous two
books in the series with its complexity and nuance: the nature of hell,
purgatory and heaven, of demons, of their sins and of the denizens of each
realm is maintained and revealed with the same steady, well paced, well
balanced skill. From the manipulating of the elements (the nature of magic) to
the way the three realms are separated and the very nature of angels, demons
and the powers that shape the world we have a huge world here with lots of
elements that need to be carefully balanced and explained so the reader doesn’t
get lost – and it really is well done. Not only over this book, but over all
three books, each building on each other, revealing more and reinforcing what
has already been learned: here we have some excellent development on the very nature
of foresight, the core of the battle against Asmodeus and further display of
just how very broken the current system is. This isn’t done in clumsy info dump
– but through a lot of showing of injustices, of seeing people time and again
caught in the clumsy simplicity of the system Asmodeus has created. Not out of
malice – it’s far too simple to have the bad guy be just malicious – but out of
complete lack of understanding and an overwhelming self-centredness.
What I particularly liked was seeing how the flaws of
Asmodeus’s creation is reflected not just in Hell – where the flaws are writ
large – but also in Heaven with the constant dual refrains maintained:
deception and ego. The whole of creation is Asmodeus’s lie – not just a lie to
everyone else, but to himself about what he has created – and his willingness
to twist everything (certainly what people believe) to further elevate his ego.
Even Heaven itself is hierarchical, constantly requiring people, driving
people, to seek Asmodeus’s favour. It’s excellently presented because it is a
continuation and development of the books that have preceded it, this world
constantly being reinforced and unfolded before the reader without any
inconsistency.
But with lots of questions. These books are never going
to be easy reading. They beg lots of difficult questions about good and evil,
truth and lies, authenticity and honesty and control. Even relatively minor
elements in the book have vast questions attached – like the demonic angels,
the avatars of sin; in theory evil but also inherently what they are,
inherently honest avatars of their true natures. Or the furies, old powers with
their own city – powerfully displaying the very wrongness of blanket condemnation
without nuance or examination – a city of women who have been wronged and have
sought to defend or avenge, condemned without any reasonable examination of
their crimes.
And rarely have I seen a book adequately present foresight and its power as well as this one. Ultimately, an enemy who can predict your actions is one who is nearly impossible to defeat because he will always be ahead of you – the complexities this brings derailed the entire campaign and requires vast conspiracies, secrets and some truly excellent manoeuvring to actually have a chance in the final battle against Asmodeus.
Which in turn creates a truly amazing story with a lot of excellent twists – twists that by their very necessity need to be shocking and surprising because that is the only way to catch the future seeing Asmodeus completely off-guard. This means the book has some truly awesome moment of surprise, epic action – time and time again as both sides try to out shock the other – and the ending….
I don’t even know what to say about the ending. I don’t
know whether to be devastated or angry or happy or thoughtful. Possibly all of
the above.
The characters move through this developing world and
fast paced, complex story the only way a good character possibly could – by growing.
Michael has a lot to learn, guided by mentors like Zoroaster and the
Perceptionist, he learns not just his magic but far more importantly, he learns
what he truly wants. What is his ultimate goal? Revenge, to enter heaven, to be
with Charlotte forever, to free Hell, or to realise Zoroaster and the
Perceptionist’s vision? Even to understand that vision? All of this is
essential for him to even know what victory is, let alone how to achieve it. To
maintain hell and his followers he also becomes a truly excellent leader – wise
and inspiring, flawed but willing to listen to others and their perspective.
He also is called
upon to trust his friends a lot more – for all his power (and his power is
immense) he isn’t the great saviour who will do it all himself – he must rely
on others; he cannot win without Mary and Charlotte and Marlowe and Clytemnesta
and Smithy and all excellent
characters, strong characters with their own growths and expertise, their own
skills and powers to bring to the table. Michael couldn’t succeed without any
of the, Diversity-wise we still have no GBLT characters, but we do have some
POC – Marlowe and Zoroaster in particular and some background characters but
given the large cast it’s an unfortunate flaw in an otherwise excellent book.
This trilogy is a must have. The three books together
raise huge and complicated ideas that can have you chewing on them for hours,
complete with an excellently complex, powerfully fascinating world and a story
that is both exciting and deep that will grab you and drag you in until you
have to come up for air only to try and digest the concepts raised. And all of
this told through the lens of some of the best characters I have ever come across
– a truly excellent trilogy.
