An ancient cabal of sorcerers once performed an incredibly powerful, but incredibly dark ritual that empowered them all – or would have had they not then turned their great powers against one another.

Decades have passed since that moment and these sorcerers have been changed, driven by unnatural hunger – and preying on each other. The oldest and most powerful of them is plotting to repeat his ritual – but on a much grander scale, with the help of a fallen choir of angels, he can bring death on an apocalyptic scale.

But another member of the cabal, one betrayed, how has his own quest for revenge against his former associate. Driven by revenge he is willing to use any tool in his arsenal – even kidnapping the friend of an Archangel to use Remy as a tool for vengeance.

Remy needs to save his friend and to prevent untold death – but both the Sorcerers hunger, and a Seraphim may be the tastiest treat of all.

I think very few books have even close to the level of epic that this series can bring. The world is constantly in peril in grand, dramatic fashion. The tension is perfectly maintained, the plot is powerful and keeps moving and the previous books’ habit of bogging down in Remy’s personal angst is largely absent from this one. From beginning to end, from vague portents and consequences after the world came close to the apocalypse, to a steady build of power as more details become clear. It’s brilliantly paced, it’s thematically maintained, it’s excellently developed – in all, the epic sense and excellent pacing are spot on. It really reached a point where I couldn’t put it down and would have to have my hands broken to make me let go of the kindle - this book held me. Most of the time.

I love the characters as well- Remy is a complex conflict between his angelic side and his human side and we finally have him embracing that to some degree rather than constantly denying it that has so characterised the last few books. We also don’t have Remy’s angst – not that it was ever wrong, but it was rather all-consuming. Even Remy’s habit towards internal monologue is… well, not gone, but certainly reduced. And he’s building new relationships with Linda and Ashely adding a greater depth to both him and them and moving away from his moping.

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This is the fifth book in the Remy Chandler series. Like the last book, this story is told from many different POVs. However for this book it works much better than it did for the previous one.

A woman who is like a daughter to Remy, Ashley, is kidnapped and it is up to Remy to find her. Remy finds that she has been taken by a once-formidable sorcerer who wants vengeance against all who have hurt him. The sorcerer wants to use Remy as a weapon and Remy wants to rescue Ashley..but can he stop the sorcerer without getting Ashley killed?

If you have enjoyed the previous book in this series I think you will enjoy this one as well. This book was similar to the previous book in style; the story is told from a million different points of view. I didn’t really like that in the last book, but in this book it works well.

We hear from characters both in the past and the present. Events is the past are told about a group of formidable sorcerers that ended up creating great evil to extend their lives. These events end up tying in with current events that are happening. The time and POV changes do an excellent job of slowly unraveling and revealing the story.

Remy is struggling a lot in this book. His angelic nature has been pushing more and more to the surface and he struggles over and over to keep it in check. This book looks like it will just be the beginning of his struggles to hold on to some of his humanity.

I really wished that Marlowe and Remy’s girlfriend, Linda, were in the story a bit more...you barely spend any time with either of them. Not having Marlowe there as much sucked a bit of the fun out of the story. This book didn’t have as much humor as previous ones and had a pretty dark and serious storyline.

There are some very interesting new characters introduced though. Ashley is one tough cookie and I hope we get to read more about her in future installments. Detective Steven Mulvehill also plays a part in the story and I am to curious to see what becomes of him in future stories as well. A brand new character named Squire, who is a hobgoblin that resides in the Shadow Realms, added a lot to the story as well.

I loved that we spent some time in the mysterious Shadow realm. There are things revealed about this realm that reflect things that could happen to our Earth. All of this ties into the over-arcing story regarding the Grigori and their quest to end the world.

The book was easy to read and very well written. It was an engaging read and all in all a great urban fantasy story.

Overall an excellent continuation of this series. The story is told from a lot of different POVs, but for this book it worked. Remy struggles against his angelic nature and also uncovers some interesting information about the shadow realm. We meet some excellent new characters as well. This whole series is highly recommended to fans of urban fantasy. ( )