...Including Sissy, the innocent he freed from Hell. Jim’s determined to protect her—but this makes her a weakness the demon Devina can exploit. With Jim torn between the game and the woman he’s sworn to defend, evil’s more than ready to play dirty.
Humanity’s savior is prepared to do anything to win—even embark on a suicide mission into the shadows of Purgatory. True love is Jim’s only hope for survival—and victory. But can a man with no heart and no soul be saved by something he doesn’t believe in?
Comment: Although I consider myself a fan of this author, the truth is I didn't have any trouble waiting to read this book. I've had it in the pile practically since it was released but I admit I wasn't feeling very eager to read it. I like the author as a writer and I still love the BDB, the series that really hooked me to PNR. But this Fallen Angel series, no matter how interesting some scenes, didn't win me over as easily.
In this 6th and final installment, we finally have the battle between Good and Evil and the solution for Jim's task and whether is can be accomplished successfully or not. In the previous book, Jim forfeited a win in order to save Sissy but now he pays a price too heavy on his heart. But as the final soul comes near, who wins it may become the winner of the game the Creator has started.
Could Jim be the savior anyone wants him to become or will he let his anger and past be the final straw that will unbalance things to the side of evil?
Two things that stay with me after having read this final book, especially after all the sort of secret "aura" given to the books and what would happen in them: the battle seems redundant, considering the key players and the end of this books feels rather incomplete and unimportant to the whole scheme of things if we barely see a reference to the previous characters and the ole they played in the whole thing.
To me, the biggest problem in all this is that too much page time was dedicated to Devina, the villain, and not to the connections between characters, namely the good ones. It makes all this sound silly considering we more or less expected the good guys to win. If the lesson is supposed to be about the hearts and actions of the souls to be saved, it was great they were important in their books, but what about now? Sure, Jim has always been the key player but the way this final book showed things, all the other things lost some importance. Why do we need to spend so much time in Devina's head - even if her character is important to the story - and not with the characters that obviously need to make the biggest change?
I liked the overall feel of the story, how the good ones tried their best to accomplish what they had to and how many inner thoughts were shared with us but the romance between Jim and Sissy, after everything, every sacrifice, could have been even sweeter. Jim is not a sweet guy, I know, but come on, everything he did was because of Sissy, I kind of wanted them to interact and bond more. Even the physical aspect, which had importance because of Sissy's role in all this, wasn't as romantic or special as I imagined after so many books.
I still feel dedicated to the author's writing, but it seems she is looking more towards individuals and not couples or the developments always necessary to the better improvement of the protagonists. Who are Jim and Sissy together? If certain aspects of their lives/personalities were given importance before, why not now?
Anyway, I liked Adrien and all the other secondary characters, I liked how some feelings were explored in specific contexts (like Nigel's inadequacy feelings or Adrien's losses) but they also almost felt like adds up to what could have been a stronger central romance.
Overall, I liked many parts of the book, many scenes, but when I think of the big picture, it's not as intensely romantic as I expected, after all the buzz.
The end was sweet, hopeful of course but a little bit bland. It was not a complete surprise but I imagined a different, better scenario to fit all the struggles and fights of before.
I finished the book feeling better than worse, though, because the series has an end and not a dried up version of an end. Better to stop before things get too tricky or out of familiar and expected content. Still, entertaining.
Grade: 7/10
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