Review: Armageddon is ramping up, and both Heaven and Hell are wanting Seth to fight on their side. This is not going to end well…
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2014
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: Armageddon is ramping up, and both Heaven and Hell are wanting Seth to fight on their side. This is not going to end well…Opening Sentence: “You want me to what?”The Review:This series is proof of my belief that when starting a series, you need to read at least the first two books before deciding if you’re going to continue or not. I gave the first book in this series 3 stars, but it was a low 3 if that makes sense. Then I read the second book, and it was a definite 5 stars, and I started this next book right away. This one is 4 stars, mainly because little things that have irked me in the series continued to irk me this time around, and I didn’t find it quite as fast-paced as book 2.It’s only been a few weeks since the events of book 2. Alex is trying to carve out a life with Seth, but this is proving to be more difficult than either of them anticipated. Seth is having trouble identifying with any human other than Alex, and any time Seth tries to touch her, Alex can’t help but remember Lucifer disguising himself as Seth and raping her. Her work life isn’t much better, with random acts of violence escalating against pregnant women due to the “virus,” aka Fallen Ones going around impregnating human women, who then give birth and die all within a three week period. The stress is building up, and Alex has nowhere and no one to turn to.Aramael has been made an Archangel and is struggling to ignore his remaining soulmate connection to Alex. This becomes difficult when Michael orders him to watch over her after realizing that Samael is following her. Thus, he’s forced to watch Alex as she lives her life with the man she chose over him.In Heaven, the One is struggling and failing to contain the aftereffects of Seth’s giving up his powers. She tells Michael that they need to have Alex convince Seth to take them back and return to Heaven, a task that is easier said than done. Meanwhile, in Hell, Lucifer is continuing to look for Alex’s sister and niece to fulfill his plan to create an extremely powerful Nephilim. What more could go wrong?Something that alternately pleases and vexes me about these books is that the characters are flawed. I love Alex. I can’t imagine how strong she must be to deal with everything she’s learned in the span of a month, but at the same time, she drives me crazy with her inability to talk to anyone about what she’s feeling. Instead, she bottles everything up, and it ends up making the situation that much worse. I heaved many a frustrated sigh at some of her actions during the course of the story.In the same way, I love Seth. I liked him more than Aramael in both books 1 and 2. He just seems to have more personality than Aramael, who often comes off a little flat to me. In this book though, Seth drove me up a wall. I had such a hard time seeing him as the same character I’ve loved for the past two books. I like that Linda Poitevin can surprise me like that, but at the same time, it was truly heartbreaking to see his actions at times in this book.My feelings about Aramael remain the same. I like him, but mainly just because I can tell that he’s a good guy. Other than that, I don’t feel much one way or the other toward him. I’ve always had a hard time feeling a connection between him and Alex, which makes it hard for me to deal with the whole “soulmate” thing.While the events of previous books are discussed, I still think it’s best to read the series in order, if for anything else, to get a sense of who each of the characters are, which would make certain events much more meaningful. Point of view changes constantly, so if you’re a fan of just one or two narrators, this probably isn’t the series for you. If multiple points of view don’t bother you, and the idea of a different take on Armageddon intrigues you, then you definitely need to give this series a try! After these last two books, it’s definitely made it on my list of must-read series!Notable Scene:“Something’s not right.”His wings instantly unfurled part way, brushing against a parliamentary page who glanced around, saw nothing, and gave a puzzled shrug. Scowling, Aramael folded the wings close again.“What?” he asked. “I feel no Fallen-”“No.” Alex shot him a warning look. “That stroller down there.” She nodded her head toward the lawn. “I don’t see anyone with it. I want to have a look.”“I’m coming with you.”Striding across the driveway, she headed down the stairs, Aramael at her back. One of the plainclothes RCMP officers beside the podium looked toward her, eyes hidden behind sunglasses. Alex turned the lapel of her coat over to expose her badge and gave a jerk of her head to the right. The woman frowned and leaned forward to murmur something to her burly colleague, who also looked toward Alex. With a nod, he returned to his crowd surveillance. The female officer stepped away from her position and crossed the grass, intercepting Alex halfway between the podium and the stroller. “You are-?”“Alexandra Jarvis, Toronto Homicide. This is my partner, Jacob Trent.”Barely glancing at Aramael, the woman responded, “Julia Greer, RCMP. What’s up?”“That stroller.” Alex nodded past her. “No one’s with it.”Greer swiveled and did a quick reconnaissance. “You’re right.”Alex fell into step beside her. Greer lifted her left hand to her face. “We have what appears to be an unattended stroller on the west side of the podium,” she murmured into the microphone clipped inside her sleeve. “I’m taking a look.”A half dozen pairs of sunglasses swiveled in their direction, tracking their progress. Fifteen feet, ten. At the center of the group clustered nearby, a man raised a cell phone as if to take a photo. Alex’s steps slowed. She frowned at the words on the sign he held aloft in his other hand. Luke 21:23.Luke, chapter twenty-one, verse twenty-three. A biblical reference.Son of a-The man moved his thumb.FTC Advisory: InterMix/Penguin provided me with a copy of Sins of the Lost. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.