Text Publishing : The Rephaim Series - Background : https://www.textpublishing.com.au/lists/the-rephaim
Text Publishing : Haze #4 : https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/burn ( )

A perfect end but why is it over? .:.sobs.:. ( )

One day, Gaby knows who she is: a backpacking teen who is grieving the loss of her family. The next day, her life is totally turned upside down when she finds out she is half angel, half human, one of the Rephaim. And then she remembers what happened, and realizes why her memories were tampered with. She and her team are meant to protect the balance that exists, and the Fallen are trying to destroy it. And the Rephaim have set the Fallen free, only to find connections they never knew existed. Now the question is: can the Rephaim and the Fallen find a way to co-exist? I liked this book, but unfortunately for me, it is the fourth and last book in a series, and I didn't realize that. There were lots of references to what had happened in previous books, and of course, I had no idea what had happened, so I had gaps in the story. If I had read from the beginning of the series, it may have been easier to follow the characters and the story. ( )

This book really packed a punch! Truly left me reeling. We learn why Gaby was mega pissed with Rafa, why Jude and Gaby went their separate ways and how they lost and had their memories altered. I don't want to spoil anything but this is such a great way to end the series. Especially with all the revelations and explanations to questions that have been raised from the first book. Something I truly enjoyed in this book is how complex yet realistic all the characters are. ( )

I am not clear on the intended audience for this book. I had thought the series was YA but this instalment has sex (not graphic though), swearing, smoking and drinking... perhaps it is meant for older YA? But it certainly isn't meant for a cynical adult reader like myself - way too simplistic motivations and not enough emotional complexity: if someone was mad, they hit, if they were sad, they fled... no complex emotional reactions, communications or growth. And the main premise for the internal struggle was supposed to be love and betrayal but it really did not ring true: why did Gabe feel betrayed by Rafa??? Well, she would have in a YA setting since every slight to a teen is a HUGE DEAL, but to an adult, naw...

I did read one of the earlier books in this series but I found this one confusing, even knowing the history. There is some jumping in time (but the characters were identical in both the past and present so I guess they didn't change or grow over time?), and there are just too many characters... I think there are 11 or 12 recurring names and there was not enough time spent on most of them to tell them apart; it probably didn't help that a lot of the names weren't 'real' names so you frequently didn't even know what gender a character was until you saw a pronoun in the sentence.

There is some recap of the goings-on in earlier books but, honestly, I found that part confused me even more than it would have if I didn't know... was the prologue, or the 11 years ago scenes meant to be from the past books, or an addition to them now? I think a couple pages identifying who the Rephaim are would have sufficed. Removing this long-winded background, clearing up the timeline, chopping out a half dozen characters and spending some more time developing the remaining characters would have made this a much better story. ( )