It’s not often that I’ll say this, because I think there’s value in the world-building and character/relationship-building of reading the entire series to date. I do think that you’ll miss some of that depth, HOWEVER, I think it’s possible to read this book without reading the previous 12.
Yes, you’ll get tons of spoilers for the previous books. And you’ll definitely miss out on some of those amazingly well developed characters, and the relationships that bind them. But this story takes place in a new region with a different archangel being the center of it.
Plus, I just adore Titus and Sharine.
The war has been fought, evil vanquished – mostly. All that remains is cleaning up the very deadly messes left behind. The world is in a state of quiet chaos, and everyone is trying to do so much more to make up for the ones that are dead, lost, or injured.
Titus has been Archangel of the southern half of Africa for millennia. Now, in this post-war world, he’s taken on responsibility for all of Africa. The southern half is ravaged by the diseases his enemy brought to the war against him. But the northern half, his enemy’s territory is in almost worse shape. And all of Africa is suffering under the onslaught of the reborn – think vicious zombies that are extremely contagious. Titus fights a never-ending battle to clear the land of these more contagious reborn before they can spread over the planet and accomplish what their enemies didn’t: complete and utter destruction.
Sharine, most commonly known among angelkind as “The Hummingbird,” a title filled with respect and care, has spent several hundred years of her long life lost in the “kaleidoscope” of her mind. Injured greivously she retreated beyond the reach of more trauma. We’ve seen her occasionally before, through Illium, her son, and Raphael. Most recently, as she’s begun to become active outside the spinning kaleidoscope of her mine, she’s been in charge of the angelic repository of art.
Getting to see her spread her wings, figuratively and literally, in this book was a true joy. Sharine is one of those characters that you can’t help but love, I think. She’s so incredibly kind, but also stubborn and smart. She’s also not afraid to challenge an Archangel.
I’ve enjoyed Titus every time we’ve had the pleasure of seeing him in the previous books. With his loud, boisterous, and infectious personality, I knew that I would enjoy his book. What I didn’t know was how much I’d laugh throughout it. Titus is the most human archangel I’ve yet met in these books. Perhaps it’s to do with the close and loving family that still anchors him to the world, or maybe it’s just his personality to be down to earth. But he’s a warrior that has no time for subtle power-plays. He isn’t comfortable with being “cunning,” but change that to “strategy” and he’s right at home.
I was literally texting Sarah while we buddy-read this every few pages with quotes and laughter. It’s not to say there are no high stakes, that there’s no tension, worry, or problems. Titus and Sharine just light up the pages until I was mesmerized and in love.
In fact, immediately upon finishing there was nothing I wanted to do more than pick it up and re-read it. So I did.
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