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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
Heaven is supposed to be nice. A quite white place filled with love and self-satisfaction. Where the already dead wait in their paradise for their living loved ones to join them. After all, what do you want than after a hard journey through life, to finally for an eternity to relax? For Bethany and her mortal boyfriend Xavier, they literally have been to hell and back. But finally they are together, as husband and wife. Yet when they said their vows, not everyone was pleased, and decided to strike back.
Bethany and Xavier have been through it all. Xavier even brought Bethany back from hell. So at the end of the second book it came no surprise when he asks Bethany for her hand in marriage. Yet this defies the whole heaven as it is against the law for their marriage. Yet they go against the law and pounces their "I do's". This unleashes a whole new level of hell upon the couple. When Gabriel and Ivy find out, the quickly rush the couple to safety away from Heaven's secret military force the Sevens. The Sevens are determined to keep Bethany and Xavier apart, but what do they consider a necessary act of evil?
Bethany does not do well in isolation. Yes Xavier is with her, but unable to touch him in case the Sevens can sense it, makes it even worse. The Sevens are excellent hunters and quickly found Bethany and Xavier. When they manage to get away, Gabriel and Ivy needed to find a new spot for them. It was Bethany who gave them the new idea of hiding in plain sight. Meaning that Bethany and Xavier finally get to go off to collage. But there they find new problems, with the Sevens but also keeping their relationship secret. Even worse when an old friend from the past shows up, with her new devil-in-disguise boyfriend. Bethany and Xavier will have to fight tooth and nail to save their relationship, as Xavier has already given everything he got, is Bethany willing to give up the most important thing, in order to live a life with Xavier?
Oh my Alexandra Adornetto, you took a trip with this one. This book is the last one in the trilogy and it is no better than the first two. Bethany big moment was surviving in hell (which was not that hard with Jake making her untouchable) and other than that and her sacrifices she did not do much. I do not even know why Xavier loves her considering what he has to do and give up all for her. Although the reason why Xavier can handle it was a complete shock twist. It would have been more unreal if Gabriel did it and not Ivy. Other than that it is a good book. Not one to re-read but a good book to end the just good series.
Bethany and Xavier have been through it all. Xavier even brought Bethany back from hell. So at the end of the second book it came no surprise when he asks Bethany for her hand in marriage. Yet this defies the whole heaven as it is against the law for their marriage. Yet they go against the law and pounces their "I do's". This unleashes a whole new level of hell upon the couple. When Gabriel and Ivy find out, the quickly rush the couple to safety away from Heaven's secret military force the Sevens. The Sevens are determined to keep Bethany and Xavier apart, but what do they consider a necessary act of evil?
Bethany does not do well in isolation. Yes Xavier is with her, but unable to touch him in case the Sevens can sense it, makes it even worse. The Sevens are excellent hunters and quickly found Bethany and Xavier. When they manage to get away, Gabriel and Ivy needed to find a new spot for them. It was Bethany who gave them the new idea of hiding in plain sight. Meaning that Bethany and Xavier finally get to go off to collage. But there they find new problems, with the Sevens but also keeping their relationship secret. Even worse when an old friend from the past shows up, with her new devil-in-disguise boyfriend. Bethany and Xavier will have to fight tooth and nail to save their relationship, as Xavier has already given everything he got, is Bethany willing to give up the most important thing, in order to live a life with Xavier?
Oh my Alexandra Adornetto, you took a trip with this one. This book is the last one in the trilogy and it is no better than the first two. Bethany big moment was surviving in hell (which was not that hard with Jake making her untouchable) and other than that and her sacrifices she did not do much. I do not even know why Xavier loves her considering what he has to do and give up all for her. Although the reason why Xavier can handle it was a complete shock twist. It would have been more unreal if Gabriel did it and not Ivy. Other than that it is a good book. Not one to re-read but a good book to end the just good series.
Finally....! I have completed the series.
I love the first book, Halo, and not so for the second book Hades. And then now the final book, Heaven....I am stuck between liking and disliking it. Ok, maybe almost hating it.
First, the cover is awesome. Love purplish/bluish color. In fact, I'm attracted to books with nice cover.
But the title....why can't the second book be name Hell (*or something*) instead of Hades. After finishing Heaven, I don't see anything in the story related to Greek mythology. The title is quite important as it tells the readers what to expect from the book they are going to read.
Second,
Finally, there is a part of the story that I like. I mean who doesn't like a couple going through so much trying to be together and gets married at the end. I really like the love shown by Xavier towards Bethany.
Well....I think the author is trying to write a good ending for the series but its just all over the place. One moment Bethany and Xavier is hiding from Seven, fighting against them....the next Bethany gives up. I'm just not impressed how the series ended and the second and third book isn't as good as the first one.
I love the first book, Halo, and not so for the second book Hades. And then now the final book, Heaven....I am stuck between liking and disliking it. Ok, maybe almost hating it.
First, the cover is awesome. Love purplish/bluish color. In fact, I'm attracted to books with nice cover.
But the title....why can't the second book be name Hell (*or something*) instead of Hades. After finishing Heaven, I don't see anything in the story related to Greek mythology. The title is quite important as it tells the readers what to expect from the book they are going to read.
Second,
Spoiler
here in Heaven, Bethany and Xavier got married but causes Father Mel to die? Just because he officiates their marriage? I don't think heaven works that way even though it is mentioned that He isn't the one that issued the order and that the Seven are acting all on their own. And Gabriel have his wings cut off just to save Xavier from Lucifer's possession. Ok....I will respect him for being a brother to Bethany but I thought Gabriel is an Archangel?! Like...one of the great angels....losing his wings? I just can't accept that.Finally, there is a part of the story that I like. I mean who doesn't like a couple going through so much trying to be together and gets married at the end. I really like the love shown by Xavier towards Bethany.
Spoiler
Xavier never stop loving Bethany even though she was away for two years!Well....I think the author is trying to write a good ending for the series but its just all over the place. One moment Bethany and Xavier is hiding from Seven, fighting against them....the next Bethany gives up. I'm just not impressed how the series ended and the second and third book isn't as good as the first one.
This is not your typical angel story, but its really well written and an amazing read. I bought the first to books at a discount book store on sale on a whim and I feel for Xav and Beth immediately and I knew I had to find the last book. Their story is so pure and sweet it shows you true love at its purest. The story also shows us human nature is in every one and all people have faults and flaws. I defiantly recommend these books to any one who loves angels and demons their a great read they truly are.
Creo que leí unos 2 o 3 capítulos pero es que... No me interesa seguir con la historia. Aunque sé que puedo pensar: En serio? Solo te falta este libro para terminar otra saga, sólo son unas cuantas páginas. Pero es que la historia de amor, es tan empalagosa (y a mi me gustan ese tipo de historias, me encantan), es amor a primera vista y puede existir ese tipo de amor, no estoy diciendo que no pueda suceder, pero la historia es muy surrealista. Uno puede tener un "amor a primera vista" pero no le dice te quiero a esa persona a las 2 semanas y con este libro he sentido eso. Además, que se centra demasiado en el romance y no en el tema paranormal. Y por ahora, no voy a seguir con él. Y en el futuro tampoco (creo).
Like my last review, this is too long for Goodreads and is HEAVILY CUT. Please check my blog out for more fun.
I’ve written quite a number of opening lines to this review, but I can’t settle on one.
Just like this book, and its plot! Yes, the last, final book of the Halo trilogy has at last been defeated. Each Halo book is bad for the same reasons, yet stands out with a fresh new layer of badness. Halo was unbelievably boring. Hades was insanely silly. Heaven is… um…. Heaven’s….
You know, I think it’s part of abrahamic belief that heaven as a place is indescribable, a place where the unknowable divine is finally knowable. So maybe the author was just making a point about theology when she sat and came up with a book as listless and bizarre as Heaven.
I must warn you: Big Daddy isn’t in this one. :(
Plot
I took really extensive notes via live reacting to the entire book to my friends and every member of the Mortal Engines discord, which helps greatly, since the ‘plot’ of this ”book” is very ”’interesting”’.
Outta Hell, Bethany and Xavier ended the last book on a proposal. Thunder rumbled ominously, and a small earthquake shakes the town. Xavier still thinks they should get married, so they rush to the church and immediately get married. The priest asks if they’re sure, since they’re both about eighteen and show up without rings and in their school uniforms, but Beth tells him its God’s will, and he becomes rather serious and accepts.
At the end of their marriage ceremony, an angel of death walks through the doors of the church and gives the priest a heart attack, killing him slowly as Beth and Xavier watch. The reaper warns them about consequences for their actions. Personally, if I wanted our heroes not to be married, I’d kill the priest before they actually… became married.
The angel sibs, Gabriel and Ivy, turn up and start speeding away from town (god can’t see fast cars, I guess), scolding Bethany and Xavier for their rash decision. Now, they must flee, as they are already being hunted by Heaven. An angel can’t marry a human! An angel can date a human though, evidently, since she’s been doing that for two books without being scolded. God approved the latter, but isn’t commenting on the former. Gabriel also tells them they shouldn’t have sex, a statement they both are quite offended by. As book two taught us, sex is ONLY for reproduction, so I’m surprised how quickly they want to have kids. Surely last book didn’t include that as a rhetoric it had no intention of following.
After a few weeks of laying around a cabin in the woods being insufferable, one of the evil angels hunting them shows up. We learn these are the Sevens, a voluntary order of elite military angels who intervene in internal angel affairs (?). They all have ghastly white skin and no eyes or mouth, just sheer, sealed up orifices, and wear black suits. They are the Silence from Doctor Who, during the worst of Moffat’s horrible arcs. They are our villains. Anyways, Beth shows powers she never has before, becoming angry enough to become one with the molecules around her and throw a brick really well, snapping the Seven’s neck a bit. She shoves the Seven into the log cabin and with her mind sets it ablaze.
Cabin life wasn’t working, so the angel sibs relocate Xavier and Beth to college. Evidently the best place to hide is among humans, yet it wasn’t angel sibs first choice? At college they have fake names and identities, and have to pretend to be siblings. They get the go ahead from Gabriel to have sex, so they do, unprotected in the middle of the woods. This college section is weird and doesn’t last that long, but contains so many details I’ll discuss later. It’s mostly here for Beth to be very jealous possessive about Xavier, Molly to reappear with her weird cult fiance, and a concerning amount of incest based flirting and drama. Beth uses her weird sudden powers to seal the lips of a classmate shut and extract her memories. The Sevens show up in class one day and kill Xavier.
Xavier’s death is short lived, but it’s long enough for Lucifer to possess him. The next 15% of the book involve this Lucifer possession plotline, which leads nowhere and achieves really nothing. He’s there, he makes Gabriel have his wings torn to bits, he’s exorcised.
Next sudden tirade is the revelation Xavier isn’t human, and a whole bunch of lore that’s really too late in the book to be introduced. Xavier, a ‘Halfling’, is the result of divine interception by Ivy, giving him special abilities the Sevens now want to abduct him to study.
Molly’s cult fiance is in a cult. We have a large chunk about this story, where she’s being abused but neither of her friends think they should intervene, until eventually Gabriel dramatically saves her and they kiss.
The plot begins to draw to a close now: Beth is abducted into Heaven. To escape, she has her wings cut off by a secret underground slightly rebellious group called the ‘Dark Angels’. With her wings done, Beth is human and returns to Earth. She reunites with Xavier, the end.
You might be like, this sounds janky as all Hell. Yep. Yeah. Yeah…
The Matrimonial Embrace
The premise of this book is that Beth and Xavier get married, and Heaven’s not down with that. It’s the basic idea that in theory runs the story.
I don’t know why their marriage is illegal, and the book doesn’t explain it at all. There’s not really even a section or quote I can point you towards here: I plainly don’t understand why this is the case, and the book doesn’t either. Bethany wasn’t allowed to date Xavier in book one, or fall in love with him, but the angels were told by a ‘high authority’ (read: god) to okay this. God has said their relationship is fine, yet their marriage is forbiddon?
The military order who hunts them down (I’ll get to them) want to… hn…. split them up…? Divorce isn’t an option here. They want to pry the couple apart, or kill one or the other, though their goals are never consistent from appearance to appearance. This makes the ‘driving force’ of the story exceptionally weak. At least in Hades we always knew she wanted to get out of Hell.
While in college, Bethany and Xavier are pretending to be siblings. It’s so, so uncomfortable, and I need to highlight if Heaven has any running threads, it’s incest that isn’t incest. Shortly before they have sex for the first time, Xavier kissing Bethany and she teases him with ‘that isn’t very brotherly behavior!’, which is, ew. Later they’re caught hardcore making out by Bethany’s roommate, who is horrified and rejects their attempts to explain what’s going on. This is the part where Bethany uses body horror magic and erases some memories.
There isn’t any incest in this book, but there’s a real theme of people telling me none of this is incest, which is not a good sign and generally not something you should ever need to clarify. Gross.
Marriage also brings sex. Last book Beth told us sex is only for reproduction, but Xavier and her both agree they aren’t ready for children quite yet. Huh. That moral was quickly forgotten. They meet up in the woods during their college hide out to get hot and heavy, but Xavier realizes he doesn’t have a condom and they should stop. Beth wonders if he doesn’t find her attractive anymore, goading him to have sex anyways, so they do. Great role models, book! Go teach young kids that unprotected sex is a sign of love!
At the end of the book, Beth is human, so I suppose that solves the problem of their marriage being forbidden. However, she’s still a rebel angel, even if an ex one, who wronged the Heaven and the angel police. I’m not totally sure she’s in the clear yet.
White Ops: Seal Team 777
The bad guys in this book are Principalities. You might know them as the order of angels Aziraphale belongs to in Good Omens, the order that watches over nations and groups of people. In this book, Principalities are the ‘Seventh Order’ or ‘Sevens’, an elite military order which serves as Heaven’s watch dogs and secret enforcement agents. Though once regular angels, they somehow now lack an understanding of the ways of humans and emotions.
Sevens appear as men without eyes or mouths, just fused flesh, and wear business suits in an appeal to be ‘modern’. As said, they look like the Doctor Who monsters The Silence to an exact degree, and this book did come out a year after they were introduced. For unknown reasons, the Seven’s leader is an angel who just looks like a regular dude (he’s also our second PoC, being black). Sevens’ arrival is always forewarned with an omen, such as a blood moon or a ghost white horse. Generally I find the best secret militias are marked by dark omens.
The Sevens are known to be rogue, acting perhaps more rogue in this book- they interrupt a class at Beth and Xavier’s college without disguising themselves, fully prepared and threatening to kill the humans there. They refuse suggestions from the other angel government bodies, the Arch and the Covenant, not to do this. When Beth wonders why God isn’t doing anything about this rogue military force that at one point even kills Xavier, everyone just vaguely answers God is kinda busy lately. Satan’s gathering forces, and like, he really only cares about Earth. Angel affairs and Heaven is a godless wasteland, this book posits, where faceless military troops can decide to single-mindedly try and destroy a marriage and no one can stop them. I feel like back in the day we just threw rebels into Hell, right? Why hasn’t anyone done that yet?
The Sevens exact goals change throughout the book, and they generally drop in and out of existence in the story to reflect this. At first they want the marriage resolved, and even offer multiple times to talk this over with Bethany, who always uses light powers/brick-arson combos to refuse them. At a certain point they’re trying to kill Xavier and / or Bethany, then only Xavier. When Xavier learns he’s special, they want to kidnap him to become a lab rat. When at the climax they use a human hostage to demand surrender, they’re only interested in kidnapping Bethany back to Heaven.
My angel siblings and I discovered the new avatar, a Halfling named Xavier…
Around 68% into this book, there came a series of revelations which came out of nowhere and mean (and meant) absolutely nothing. The first is that Xavier isn’t human: some Sevens taunt him about this, how he isn’t, and it’s the first ever reference to the idea he wouldn’t be. The angel sibs come clean shortly after: Xavier isn’t human, and they knew that. Ivy tells a story:
Twenty years ago, Ivy was on earth and came across a couple who weren’t having luck conceiving. Ivy blessed them, giving the woman fertility, and throwing in a fetus for good measure. Ivy explains this couple had a son, and then went on to have four more children, and that Heaven warned her this random miracle would come back to her, and she’d meet the boy again, and his world would merge with the world of angels. Beth and Xavier are astounded by this, but Beth especially.
Beth: Wow. Do you think we’re going to meet him?
Gabriel: You already have.
Beth: I don’t understand…
I dunno Beth. Have you tried asking your boyfriend, who you just learned was special, if he knows any other boys who are nearly twenty, live in the south, and have four younger siblings? Besides himself, of course?
Ivy’s miracle baby, Xavier, inherited divine essence from Ivy. Immaculate conception babies such as this have happened before, and always end up with some non-explainable powers, but no one in Heaven actually knows where these kids are. These special kids are divine blessed, making them both fully human but also an angel. Sort of a 100%, 100% split. Xavier is the first angel-human the Sevens have ever learned of, which is why they now want to kidnap him for testing (what are they testing for…?). These divine people are called ‘Halflings’, like they’re hobbits or dnd races or something.
It turns out, Xavier has special powers. He’s… he has…. he can control- no, wait, he doesn’t control or do jack. Look, he’s deeply tied to all four elements. Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Only Xavier, gifted with all four elements, can… uh… make Bethany think of these elements when she focuses on him, I guess?
His ‘powers’ do nothing and only appear in one scene, just as him having special powers does not impact the plot in any way. When Beth learns he’s special, she can suddenly sense how this is the case, but that is literally it. Him being a Halfling has no pay off, nor does it help or hinder the plot beyond the Sevens for a very short time wanting to kidnap instead of kill him (and this is after they already killed him once).
Big Daddy 2: Smaller, Daddier
Lucifer’s back! I wish he was the highlight of this book, but he isn’t, because there is no highlight I can scrawl out of this miserable exercise I put myself through. Lucifer is in this book serves no purpose and is here for a solid 15% chunk, several chapters.
Xavier is killed by the Sevens during a lecture hall. Bethany stands defiantly by his body as his confused spirit emerges, and she and a grim reaper have a stand off a la two divorcees trying to coax a dog to either side in a court room. Bethany orders Xavier’s spirit to come to her, and it does, returning to his body and bringing him back to life. However, oops! Despite being dead for a minute and probably Heaven bound, Lucifer snuck into his body.
Despite Lucifer seemingly like a big priority, Heaven’s such a mess no one comes along and deals with this. Maybe the Sevens would have been welcome about now? The actual devil is hanging out on Earth, and no one is doing anything. Lucifer offers to make a deal: Xav's body for Gabriel's wings. This isn't a trick, though it involves summoning Jake Thorn's ghost to mournfully... stand there pointlessly. Lucifer is then exorcised and never mentioned again.
Finale: The worst little angel in the world
This is a scattered review, I say, as if I really write ‘whole’ reviews. There’s a lot in this book, yet absolutely nothing. So it’s hard to comment on, and hard to conclude.
Halo as a trilogy is annoying. I look at the various bad angel books I’ve read, and each has a unique flavor. Halo’s is annoying. The characters are bland, very much WASPs who have little to define each other but love. There’s not quite conflict in this book, as if the author is constantly trying to pick a villain or obstacle but can’t decide on who that should be. And at the heart of it is Bethany, the world’s worst teen angel.
Do you think there’s a message to these books? By the end, I can’t even find a Christian core in this christian book. If you go through enough stupid events, eventually God will relent and the book will end? Perhaps. Bethany does net negative for the world, and we should all be thankful.
I’ve written quite a number of opening lines to this review, but I can’t settle on one.
Just like this book, and its plot! Yes, the last, final book of the Halo trilogy has at last been defeated. Each Halo book is bad for the same reasons, yet stands out with a fresh new layer of badness. Halo was unbelievably boring. Hades was insanely silly. Heaven is… um…. Heaven’s….
You know, I think it’s part of abrahamic belief that heaven as a place is indescribable, a place where the unknowable divine is finally knowable. So maybe the author was just making a point about theology when she sat and came up with a book as listless and bizarre as Heaven.
I must warn you: Big Daddy isn’t in this one. :(
Plot
I took really extensive notes via live reacting to the entire book to my friends and every member of the Mortal Engines discord, which helps greatly, since the ‘plot’ of this ”book” is very ”’interesting”’.
Outta Hell, Bethany and Xavier ended the last book on a proposal. Thunder rumbled ominously, and a small earthquake shakes the town. Xavier still thinks they should get married, so they rush to the church and immediately get married. The priest asks if they’re sure, since they’re both about eighteen and show up without rings and in their school uniforms, but Beth tells him its God’s will, and he becomes rather serious and accepts.
At the end of their marriage ceremony, an angel of death walks through the doors of the church and gives the priest a heart attack, killing him slowly as Beth and Xavier watch. The reaper warns them about consequences for their actions. Personally, if I wanted our heroes not to be married, I’d kill the priest before they actually… became married.
The angel sibs, Gabriel and Ivy, turn up and start speeding away from town (god can’t see fast cars, I guess), scolding Bethany and Xavier for their rash decision. Now, they must flee, as they are already being hunted by Heaven. An angel can’t marry a human! An angel can date a human though, evidently, since she’s been doing that for two books without being scolded. God approved the latter, but isn’t commenting on the former. Gabriel also tells them they shouldn’t have sex, a statement they both are quite offended by. As book two taught us, sex is ONLY for reproduction, so I’m surprised how quickly they want to have kids. Surely last book didn’t include that as a rhetoric it had no intention of following.
After a few weeks of laying around a cabin in the woods being insufferable, one of the evil angels hunting them shows up. We learn these are the Sevens, a voluntary order of elite military angels who intervene in internal angel affairs (?). They all have ghastly white skin and no eyes or mouth, just sheer, sealed up orifices, and wear black suits. They are the Silence from Doctor Who, during the worst of Moffat’s horrible arcs. They are our villains. Anyways, Beth shows powers she never has before, becoming angry enough to become one with the molecules around her and throw a brick really well, snapping the Seven’s neck a bit. She shoves the Seven into the log cabin and with her mind sets it ablaze.
Cabin life wasn’t working, so the angel sibs relocate Xavier and Beth to college. Evidently the best place to hide is among humans, yet it wasn’t angel sibs first choice? At college they have fake names and identities, and have to pretend to be siblings. They get the go ahead from Gabriel to have sex, so they do, unprotected in the middle of the woods. This college section is weird and doesn’t last that long, but contains so many details I’ll discuss later. It’s mostly here for Beth to be very jealous possessive about Xavier, Molly to reappear with her weird cult fiance, and a concerning amount of incest based flirting and drama. Beth uses her weird sudden powers to seal the lips of a classmate shut and extract her memories. The Sevens show up in class one day and kill Xavier.
Xavier’s death is short lived, but it’s long enough for Lucifer to possess him. The next 15% of the book involve this Lucifer possession plotline, which leads nowhere and achieves really nothing. He’s there, he makes Gabriel have his wings torn to bits, he’s exorcised.
Next sudden tirade is the revelation Xavier isn’t human, and a whole bunch of lore that’s really too late in the book to be introduced. Xavier, a ‘Halfling’, is the result of divine interception by Ivy, giving him special abilities the Sevens now want to abduct him to study.
Molly’s cult fiance is in a cult. We have a large chunk about this story, where she’s being abused but neither of her friends think they should intervene, until eventually Gabriel dramatically saves her and they kiss.
The plot begins to draw to a close now: Beth is abducted into Heaven. To escape, she has her wings cut off by a secret underground slightly rebellious group called the ‘Dark Angels’. With her wings done, Beth is human and returns to Earth. She reunites with Xavier, the end.
You might be like, this sounds janky as all Hell. Yep. Yeah. Yeah…
The Matrimonial Embrace
The premise of this book is that Beth and Xavier get married, and Heaven’s not down with that. It’s the basic idea that in theory runs the story.
I don’t know why their marriage is illegal, and the book doesn’t explain it at all. There’s not really even a section or quote I can point you towards here: I plainly don’t understand why this is the case, and the book doesn’t either. Bethany wasn’t allowed to date Xavier in book one, or fall in love with him, but the angels were told by a ‘high authority’ (read: god) to okay this. God has said their relationship is fine, yet their marriage is forbiddon?
The military order who hunts them down (I’ll get to them) want to… hn…. split them up…? Divorce isn’t an option here. They want to pry the couple apart, or kill one or the other, though their goals are never consistent from appearance to appearance. This makes the ‘driving force’ of the story exceptionally weak. At least in Hades we always knew she wanted to get out of Hell.
While in college, Bethany and Xavier are pretending to be siblings. It’s so, so uncomfortable, and I need to highlight if Heaven has any running threads, it’s incest that isn’t incest. Shortly before they have sex for the first time, Xavier kissing Bethany and she teases him with ‘that isn’t very brotherly behavior!’, which is, ew. Later they’re caught hardcore making out by Bethany’s roommate, who is horrified and rejects their attempts to explain what’s going on. This is the part where Bethany uses body horror magic and erases some memories.
There isn’t any incest in this book, but there’s a real theme of people telling me none of this is incest, which is not a good sign and generally not something you should ever need to clarify. Gross.
Marriage also brings sex. Last book Beth told us sex is only for reproduction, but Xavier and her both agree they aren’t ready for children quite yet. Huh. That moral was quickly forgotten. They meet up in the woods during their college hide out to get hot and heavy, but Xavier realizes he doesn’t have a condom and they should stop. Beth wonders if he doesn’t find her attractive anymore, goading him to have sex anyways, so they do. Great role models, book! Go teach young kids that unprotected sex is a sign of love!
At the end of the book, Beth is human, so I suppose that solves the problem of their marriage being forbidden. However, she’s still a rebel angel, even if an ex one, who wronged the Heaven and the angel police. I’m not totally sure she’s in the clear yet.
White Ops: Seal Team 777
The bad guys in this book are Principalities. You might know them as the order of angels Aziraphale belongs to in Good Omens, the order that watches over nations and groups of people. In this book, Principalities are the ‘Seventh Order’ or ‘Sevens’, an elite military order which serves as Heaven’s watch dogs and secret enforcement agents. Though once regular angels, they somehow now lack an understanding of the ways of humans and emotions.
Sevens appear as men without eyes or mouths, just fused flesh, and wear business suits in an appeal to be ‘modern’. As said, they look like the Doctor Who monsters The Silence to an exact degree, and this book did come out a year after they were introduced. For unknown reasons, the Seven’s leader is an angel who just looks like a regular dude (he’s also our second PoC, being black). Sevens’ arrival is always forewarned with an omen, such as a blood moon or a ghost white horse. Generally I find the best secret militias are marked by dark omens.
The Sevens are known to be rogue, acting perhaps more rogue in this book- they interrupt a class at Beth and Xavier’s college without disguising themselves, fully prepared and threatening to kill the humans there. They refuse suggestions from the other angel government bodies, the Arch and the Covenant, not to do this. When Beth wonders why God isn’t doing anything about this rogue military force that at one point even kills Xavier, everyone just vaguely answers God is kinda busy lately. Satan’s gathering forces, and like, he really only cares about Earth. Angel affairs and Heaven is a godless wasteland, this book posits, where faceless military troops can decide to single-mindedly try and destroy a marriage and no one can stop them. I feel like back in the day we just threw rebels into Hell, right? Why hasn’t anyone done that yet?
The Sevens exact goals change throughout the book, and they generally drop in and out of existence in the story to reflect this. At first they want the marriage resolved, and even offer multiple times to talk this over with Bethany, who always uses light powers/brick-arson combos to refuse them. At a certain point they’re trying to kill Xavier and / or Bethany, then only Xavier. When Xavier learns he’s special, they want to kidnap him to become a lab rat. When at the climax they use a human hostage to demand surrender, they’re only interested in kidnapping Bethany back to Heaven.
My angel siblings and I discovered the new avatar, a Halfling named Xavier…
Around 68% into this book, there came a series of revelations which came out of nowhere and mean (and meant) absolutely nothing. The first is that Xavier isn’t human: some Sevens taunt him about this, how he isn’t, and it’s the first ever reference to the idea he wouldn’t be. The angel sibs come clean shortly after: Xavier isn’t human, and they knew that. Ivy tells a story:
Twenty years ago, Ivy was on earth and came across a couple who weren’t having luck conceiving. Ivy blessed them, giving the woman fertility, and throwing in a fetus for good measure. Ivy explains this couple had a son, and then went on to have four more children, and that Heaven warned her this random miracle would come back to her, and she’d meet the boy again, and his world would merge with the world of angels. Beth and Xavier are astounded by this, but Beth especially.
Beth: Wow. Do you think we’re going to meet him?
Gabriel: You already have.
Beth: I don’t understand…
I dunno Beth. Have you tried asking your boyfriend, who you just learned was special, if he knows any other boys who are nearly twenty, live in the south, and have four younger siblings? Besides himself, of course?
Ivy’s miracle baby, Xavier, inherited divine essence from Ivy. Immaculate conception babies such as this have happened before, and always end up with some non-explainable powers, but no one in Heaven actually knows where these kids are. These special kids are divine blessed, making them both fully human but also an angel. Sort of a 100%, 100% split. Xavier is the first angel-human the Sevens have ever learned of, which is why they now want to kidnap him for testing (what are they testing for…?). These divine people are called ‘Halflings’, like they’re hobbits or dnd races or something.
It turns out, Xavier has special powers. He’s… he has…. he can control- no, wait, he doesn’t control or do jack. Look, he’s deeply tied to all four elements. Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Only Xavier, gifted with all four elements, can… uh… make Bethany think of these elements when she focuses on him, I guess?
His ‘powers’ do nothing and only appear in one scene, just as him having special powers does not impact the plot in any way. When Beth learns he’s special, she can suddenly sense how this is the case, but that is literally it. Him being a Halfling has no pay off, nor does it help or hinder the plot beyond the Sevens for a very short time wanting to kidnap instead of kill him (and this is after they already killed him once).
Big Daddy 2: Smaller, Daddier
Lucifer’s back! I wish he was the highlight of this book, but he isn’t, because there is no highlight I can scrawl out of this miserable exercise I put myself through. Lucifer is in this book serves no purpose and is here for a solid 15% chunk, several chapters.
Xavier is killed by the Sevens during a lecture hall. Bethany stands defiantly by his body as his confused spirit emerges, and she and a grim reaper have a stand off a la two divorcees trying to coax a dog to either side in a court room. Bethany orders Xavier’s spirit to come to her, and it does, returning to his body and bringing him back to life. However, oops! Despite being dead for a minute and probably Heaven bound, Lucifer snuck into his body.
Despite Lucifer seemingly like a big priority, Heaven’s such a mess no one comes along and deals with this. Maybe the Sevens would have been welcome about now? The actual devil is hanging out on Earth, and no one is doing anything. Lucifer offers to make a deal: Xav's body for Gabriel's wings. This isn't a trick, though it involves summoning Jake Thorn's ghost to mournfully... stand there pointlessly. Lucifer is then exorcised and never mentioned again.
Finale: The worst little angel in the world
This is a scattered review, I say, as if I really write ‘whole’ reviews. There’s a lot in this book, yet absolutely nothing. So it’s hard to comment on, and hard to conclude.
Halo as a trilogy is annoying. I look at the various bad angel books I’ve read, and each has a unique flavor. Halo’s is annoying. The characters are bland, very much WASPs who have little to define each other but love. There’s not quite conflict in this book, as if the author is constantly trying to pick a villain or obstacle but can’t decide on who that should be. And at the heart of it is Bethany, the world’s worst teen angel.
Do you think there’s a message to these books? By the end, I can’t even find a Christian core in this christian book. If you go through enough stupid events, eventually God will relent and the book will end? Perhaps. Bethany does net negative for the world, and we should all be thankful.
this book deserves less than one star. it gets a zero, but i dont know how to actually do that on goodreads. i am so finished with this. it was absolutely horrible.
fast-paced
The “romance” felt like something from an elementary school, I got the the point where I just hated the characters and the plot wasn’t interesting enough to make up for it