The Archangel Remiel, now living as the human PI, Remy is
struck low by an assassin’s bullet and apparently dying. Only Francis, Linda,
Squire and his faithful dog Marlowe can try and bring him back to life before
the assassins finish him off
While Remy’s soul is missing, to a different world, a
different Earth – one where the worst has happened and the greatest dream of
god and angel has been cruelly destroyed. He must find the truth in this
apocalyptic waste land, try to find some way to fix the horrors – and perhaps
learn a warning for his own world
I am torn about this book.
A large part of it involves following Remy into an
alternate reality. No, let me reassess that – nearly every part of this book,
certainly every really relevant part of this book involves Remy in an alternate
reality. And… this is book 7 in a series and nearly all of the book was… kind
of irrelevant to the overarching series? All the action, the people they met,
the foes vanquished, the darkness faced is, at best, a cautionary tale for the
main series. All of the action in the book is, at best, a warning for what
could happen, a prequel, more than the actual story itself.
It doesn’t help that one of the main twists of the last
book and another source of conflict is so… downplayed. The Bone Assassin’s
attack on Remy seems to come from a very mundane source. I’m not going to spoil
it, and it’s certainly an unexpected twist but, again, it’s another major plot
element that doesn’t really seem to fit into the overall scheme of the series.
This gives me the odd feeling that the whole book is a time out, an intermission between the main plot, maybe even a new prologue for the new major plot line. I suspect the latter mainly because of the whole burgeoning storyline of the Unification.
The plot of God forgiving Satan and the Fallen Angels and
reunifying the broken lands of Heaven, Hell and Eden is clearly going to be an
immense, incredible storyline. Which may be the purpose of this book – while
it’s not directly contacted to the main storyline of the series, it is there to
tell us what is at stake. This is the worst case scenario. This is exactly what
could happen if the following plot lines go wrong. This is just how terribly
wrong Unification could go. This shows that, while Unification may be a
wonderful, shiny thing, it also takes a whole lot of effort and there is
immense risk connected to it.
This also shows that, yes, there are actually people out
there who are clearly, eagerly willing to ruin everything, literally everything
because of their own issues. As well as more than a few people who are not
ready for the big bad guys to be forgiven – not at all. This all links nicely
with Squire’s backstory and the suggestion that we have many many many many
worlds have completely fallen apart. It’s all at stake here.
Then we have the b-plot of the Bone Assassins which also
adds nice twist; so while we’re all foreshadowing the big mega awesome plot
line to come, there’s also this nifty reminder that small things can ruin
everything. It doesn’t take an epic force beyond imagining to completely ruin
everything – even simple, insignificant little interactions can really ruin
your day. Expect the epic, but don’t ignore the little things.
So, really, in terms of substantive plot? No, the alternate dimension means this book doesn’t add a great deal. But in terms of theme, foreshadowing and establishing a new paradigm? Yes, it most excellent adds to the series and sets up a whole new chapter going forward
And it does this with a huge world, an epic cast of
characters, some excellent personalities and a really fun, deep and interesting
core team. I like them a lot, I like the richness of the world a lot. It’s huge
it draws upon so many Biblical myths and I could just chew on it all day. If
there’s one downside to all of that it’s that there’s a whole lot to remember
which means, especially after the gap between this book and the last –
characters like Simeon, or organisations like the children of Samson can take a
moment to remember. I rarely say this, but this book could actually use some
recapping, it really could.
Unfortunately between the epic storytelling the epic
world and the generally epicness that is this epic series, we also have a
notable problem. Terrible diversity
Firstly, let’s look at gender. There are three prominent
women in this book – Linda (Remy’s love interest) and Ashley (Remy’s friend)
and an alternate world Child of Samson (who exists to establish a quick and sad
relationship so she can then die and it be super sad – because a dead woman who
gets to play child-like figure to the manly man is much more tragic than a man
dying – that whole precious pedestal jewel trope). Oh we have some random bit
parts (including a giant pregnant female monster that eats people which I’m not
even going to touch except say “giant pregnant female monster that eats
people”) but his is the crux. Everyone else is male. And it’s not just a case
of a skewed male cast – their roles are blatant as well.
Take Remy being unconscious while his mind wanders the alternate
dimension – to save him we call up Ashley and Linda to do some emergency
cuddling (along with his dog). Yes, they will cuddle and their super-duper love
will saaave him (apparently, I mean it – and they – don’t actually seem to do
anything at all all book except be sad and cuddle but this supposedly achieves
something). And hey, close friendship and love anchoring a soul? I can run with
that. But Steven has been Remy’s friend for waaay longer – and Francis has been
his friend and confidant for several human generations – why are none of these
menfolk making with the life saving cuddles? Would that be rigid gender roles
and homophobic terror of male intimacy? Why yes, I believe it would be.
Meanwhile the men, who are not lying on a bed doing some
vital cuddling, are fighting and killing and making quips and generally kicking
arse and apparently doing something.
We have one tiny cameo appearance by a character who was established
as gay in a previous book (but there’s certainly no indication of it in
this book). This is not inclusion. We have a similar cameo appearance from a
Black woman (who is at least indicated as such) and a very briefly appearing
Samson who is a POC. The most prominent Black character is Assiel and angel… an
angel of healing. And sacrifice. Guess what happens to him? There is another
POC who is more prominent but due to his condition is only actually revealed as
dark skinned towards the end of the book.
The lack of inclusion in this series frustrates me
immensely. It frustrates me more than many books – it frustrates me more
because the series is so huge and contains so many characters that it is all
the more glaring. And it frustrates me that I love this series so much and it
has this massive inexcusable hole in the middle of it.
