I did not finish this book. I tried to read it but I won’t be finishing it. I won’t be rating this book.

Book was well written. At times the language was quite clinical, which when appropriate I appreciate that.
I could also appreciate unique twists to lore. But at times the book dragged a fair bit and it did take me a while to stay motivated to finish the book.

I got this one from Netgalley because I thought it’d be a fun romp with some interesting mythology. The use of Abrahamic faith stories is one that tends to carry a risk of not meeting preconceptions, but I like to try them anyway. Unfortunately in this case, I found the prose too dense and heavy for my liking, and the first scene was too focused on the action and not enough in building my interest in the story. As such, I put it down rather quickly. The blurb did sound interesting so I’ll still throw it out there for people who like YA with Angels, but this one wasn’t for me.

This book was... strange. It definitely wasn’t what I was expecting, and got a bit too wild for me at times. The angel-devil battle I was expecting turned into a mishmash of Egyptian magic, necromancy, angels, devils, and witches. While some of these elements are normally seen together, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with both angels and Egyptian magic. The utter uniqueness of this book threw me off at times, but I still really enjoyed this.

The main thing that stood out to me about this book was the mythology and world it created. While some books skimp on worldbuilding to provide more action, this book devoted a lot of time to creating a fleshed out world. We’re educated on every warring group, and given little snippets into the history of the world. Instead of feeling like we were being lectured like it may sound, these snippets were super enjoyable. We got to read from a character’s perspective from that time, which I though was a genius way of explaining events.

I also really loved the dynamics in Jake’s friend group. Every one of them has a distinctly different voice, and I can remember them all. I loved the way they cared for each other, and having so many different personalities made this super fun to read. Donovan is by far my favorite, but there’s a lot of potential for Rhys and Maddie to be developed in the next book!

While this book definitely isn’t the best I’ve read this year, it was an impressive start to the series. I’m interested to see where Jake and his friends go, and can’t wait to get my hands on the next book!

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The story was well written and had a lot of great thoughts that just needed to be fleshed out a bit more.

I am co fused as this seemed to be in a fantasy world and then our world as well. I also found the characters not to my liking as they felt that they needed to have more oomph.

Not a bad book but not great. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC of this book.

Thank you to Matador and Netgalley for providing me with ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I rarely write negative reviews because i strongly believe that every author puts a part of themselves in it - emotions,fears,longing ..... mixed with anxiety and sleepless nights doubting in their work but afterwards bravely put it out there for the whole world to see and disassemble into pieces with their comments.
Sadly i must admit that i had a hard time reading this book...it felt like reading a dry history book with checking through the facts and the years instead of diving into a new story and living in it... and i just couldn't connect emotionally.
I loved the idea of the plot with a great potential and i am sad it didn't unleash it's potential to the fullest.