James Faulkner, the
most powerful witch in the world is facing some pretty bleak times. Elise has
been taken by her worst enemy and greatest nightmare - and he is at least
partially responsible
She seems beyond
rescue, but there’s at least his family he can take care of and get to safety…
and some old friends who he definitely owes
But when even that
derails he turns back to Elise - even is rescuing her may mean walking through
hell itself
The last book saw a
massive change in the direction of the series with the transformation of Elise
and the exploration of her past, her purpose and all the plots around here
And this is the one
that really follows those plots and tells their story by not even including
Elise. Elise is lost for this book, a prison of the very god she was designed
to slay. This story follows James and his early history with Elise, what the
whole deal is with his cover anyway, their links to Netarayon and what they
were actually doing all along
I… can’t say I
especially like it. Though James showed a whole lot of growth and development
from his early days, the fact the whole coven had a less than great history
with Elise and that James in particular had a very fraught history really puts
a whole very negative slant on all the previous books and the relationship
between James and Elise which was such a central concept of the story
This was kind of the
one thing Elise had. When everyone else died or fell short, she had her
relationship with James was still there… even strained. And now it’s been very
badly stained and I’m not sure it can come back from that. We learn that James
has been magically fascinated by her since he first rescued her from the
garden, from when she was 16 years old, vulnerable, terrified and traumatised.
Yes it’s presented as magic compulsion but honestly there’s no way “I’m
sexually enthralled by a fragile, helpless 16 year old who is dependent on me”
can ever be a good look.
I mean he doesn’t
take it to a romantic or sexual level at any time when she was so vulnerable
and he did stop her when she did kiss him. And ultimately he did definitely
develop real affection and emotional connection with her after several years
together and we’ve already seen how powerful it is - it has been a cornerstone
of these books. But because this is something of a revelation it means we’ve
missed James fighting his “duty”, resenting his oath, trying to find loopholes
et al that would have made this… an onerous duty rather than something he seems
comfortable going along with
We also can’t ignore
that he did end up having sex with Elise… and he didn’t tell her the truth
first. Oh he agonised over it, apparently, but it remains that he didn’t - he
slept with her without ever telling her he was magically compelled by her
presence, he slept with her without telling her he was sworn to hand her back
to god one day, he slept with her without telling her that far from being her
saviour, he had been her warden for about a decade and he slept with her
knowing he was going to betray her
I can’t see that as
not undermining this whole epic relationship. I can’t help but feel like an
epic part of these books have been betrayed and fatally wounded by this. That
doesn’t mean the series is - but it means James now has some consequences to
face and to come back from this.
I also don’t like
what it added to Hannah - especially given how she is so disposed of in this
book which felt less like a plot or character moment and far more about getting
an inconvenient character out of the way (which along with Betty’s death and
Elise’s mother being a not prevalent or great character and the generally male
world that Elise already lives in adds to problems). In the last book we had
James building a relationship with her, willing to defy this whole epic legacy
to be with her. And then it’s like “magic Elise, what does Hannah look like
again?” and that’s like, a line or two. And so ends Hannah’s part in James’s
life? I mean, is that it? Is that all she’s worth?
While I’m not exactly
thrilled with the wrecking job on Elise and James’s relationship, I do very
much like James’s adventures, even with Malcolm (I actually like how they
bounce off each other - clearly neither likes each other much, but there’s
respect there and Malcolm is growing on me). He’s often somewhat in the
background - but here we get to see what the often repeated “most powerful
witch in the world” actually means with James and his likely even more powerful
son. It was nice to see James step out and show just what all that power means
and set the Union back hard before jumping on various dimension hopping quests
to find Elise
But I also liked that
the epic quest of isn’t-James-awesome was tempered - by both Nathaniel’s
obviously equal if not greater power, him needing help and his own moral
conflicts because the Union is far from an evil organisation - and the people
who make it up cannot be killed with impunity. And I liked Alison - a witch he
regarded with considerable contempt as being far beneath him managing to set
back his ego quite perfectly. Yes he’s powerful, incredibly so, but even he has
his limits.
And this part of the
plot? It was epic. It was awesome, it was shiny and impressive and excellent to
follow and made for a great story I really want to follow later
This book has given
me lots of epic, lots of world building and some fun explorations on
different elements of hell which is great fun as well as some nice visits with
the old demons of Reno, I like that because these last few books have taken
such a turn away from that it’s nice for a callback. And nice to see they’re
not all dead
Which does remind us
of interesting female characters Numa and Jericka who are also in a
relationship - which would matter more if they appeared as more than brief
helpers when James needs a leg up. Still I have hopes that this won’t be the
last of them. Same with Bree, the naieve and I’m-slightly-suspicious-of new
coven leader
We have some racial
diversity among the Union but they’re not exactly super established or
important characters. I actually found them more of a nuisance and distraction
about half way through the book even with the massive and important damage
Zetel causes.
This book leads me
torn - I love the epic, I love the dimension hopping battling and I do like
more of the world… I don’t like the turn of James’s character - or the
revelation much. But at the same time I appreciate the plot hooks he brings and
how, even in a book full of epic, there’s something meatier there as well which
more will be built on in future
