"When Octavia Coal goes to the mountains to clear her head, she doesn't expect to find an angel in trouble.
He tells her his name is Tamiel and he's one of the Irin – the army of angels tasked with keeping demons from overwhelming humanity. But Tamiel broke a sacred law – he fell in love with a human – and now he's being hunted by the same angels he once served.
With nowhere else to go, Octavia and Tamiel – along with Jack, the human in question, and her brother Caleb – appeal directly to Zev, the Demon of Games. A trickster of unparalleled power, Zev gives nothing for free, and the gift he offers Octavia to keep Tamiel alive comes with a confusing catch: He makes her the Healer of Raphael, archangel and Commander of the Irin.
Suddenly a target for both angels and demons, Octavia quickly learns that the only way to survive is to play the game better than they do.
The only problem is, she doesn't know whose game she's playing …"
I got an ARC of this book.
I adore Crunden, so even when I see a book that isn't quite my genre I have to give it a shot. I am not interested in angels and demons generally, so please take what I say with a grain of salt.
The characters come in hot and they don't rest. The action started immediately and really didn't let up. Of all of Crunden's books, this felt like one of the fastest. My issue was the characters didn't feel as fleshed out like in other books by her. She normally can do these intense familial bonds, but in this case because the action was the focus that intense bond was just talked about and less shown.
The action was pretty heavy. Which is both a good and bad thing. There were times where even the characters didn't get a chance to respond. I would expect more of a reaction to finding out angels and demons existed, but the MC just didn't have one. That just seems odd. If the world was more like an urban fantasy where everyone knows about the existence of werewolves and stuff, then hearing about angels might be a bit less surprising. But that was not part of the world building.
As always, this is a queer norm world. The characters being gay actually helped save them, because it created a loophole in the law. I can't go into it much, but know that homophobia is not a driving force and is generally not a thing. I will never get over how powerful a queer norm world is.
If you want a queer norm world with tons of actions and a spunky MC, then this one is for you. I just wanted a bit more character development thrown into the ring.
3.5 out of 5 stars. I would maybe recommend this book.
You can buy the book here.
~Isaiah
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