Review: A let down
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 29, 2013
I was so excited for this book after I finished the first one.  It wasn't terrible but it didn't have the magic the first one did.  It starts right after the first one ends.  Alyx and Israel have relationship problems.  Which is initially good because love isn't easy.  Except their relationship goes up and down through the whole book.  It's distracting and takes away from the story.Which leads me to another problem.  The story wasn't great. The overall plot is the war.  That's an epic story and the actual story for this book was really lacking.  There was nothing compelling about it.  The actual focus was Alyx and Israel.  Every time I got interested something unimportant would come up and I would get bored.There is no character growth in this book.  Israel has no understanding of why Alyx thinks the way she does.  Alyx delves into petty acts of I'll show him which I didn't expect from her.  For a supposedly skilled Lightwarrior, Alyx is very inept at tactical thinking.  Other "ancient" seraphim don't really show any accumulated wisdom.The climax was anticlimactic and the ending was bad.  The whole thing had a very George RR Martin feel to it. If you have read any of the Song of Fire and Ice books or watched Game of Thrones you know exactly what I am referring to.  That itself was why I gave it 3 stars.  The ending could have brought this book to a solid 4.I will give the next book a chance.  If that doesn't redeem the series I will be done.