A review by alion18
Of Love and Evil: The Songs of the Seraphim, Book Two by Anne Rice

1.0

Really wanted to like this book, thought it was a very interesting premise. However, there is no character development. I find it very difficult to buy that Toby was ever a cold-hearted assassin. He mostly just preaches to the reader about the all-encompassing love of God and Angels the entire time, while crying prolifically and moping about his past. I think the tone was meant to be inspirational/awed but Toby mostly came off as condescending and sycophantic. I thought that the other characters were more compelling, and I thought if the plot had been more fleshed out and the mystery more built up, it could have been interesting. Especially the part where a "demon" tries to turn Toby from the side of the angels. I hoped that Rice would make this into an interesting moral quandary or create some uncertainty in Toby's belief that would make him more dynamic as a character, but instead she uses it as an opportunity for more condescension and drinking the Kool-Aid moments.