Ex Libris

Goodreads appetizer: When homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis sees a photo of Seth Benjamin on a police bulletin, she knows that Heaven's plan to halt Armageddon has gone terribly wrong. As the only mortal who knows of Seth's true nature, only she can save him.

Aramael was a hunter of Fallen Angels until a traitor forced him into earthly exile. Now, with no powers and only a faint memory of Alex, his mortal soulmate, he will stop at nothing to redeem himself-even if it means destroying Seth in the name of the Creator...

My Thoughts: I LOVED Sins of the Angels, the 1st book in Linda Poitevin's phenomenal urban fantasy series, it was one of my reading revelations of 2011 and Linda Poitevin's Grigori Legacy series rocketed to my favourite UF series list right next to Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, and ever since then I have been counting the days 'till the release of Book #2 Sins of the Son. I'm just telling you all this so you can see with what huge expectations I was looking forward to Sins of the Son and I am happy and relieved to tell you it was just as amazing as its predecessor.

Sins of the Angels was focused on the love story and romantic conflict between Alex and Aramael and the police investigation of the Toronto serial killer, whereas Sins of the Son is more the story of the "bigger picture", and previous main characters become one of the many characters who serve as posts around whom the story is canvassed.

Once again what incredibly amazed me was Linda Poitevin's rich and superbly developed world building, the way she uses original theological tidbits of the Christian angel mythology and puts her own modern and unique interpretation on them. She managed to not tell but show and make the reader feel what a forgiving, loving, good and meek god The One is.

"... my love is not defined by worth. It simply is."

What applauds Linda Poitevin's storytelling is that she didn't make Lucifer a black & white villain (which could have been the easy path to take), but instead made him a character for whom the reader even feels compassion and pity at times. I found it shocking and humbling that both Lucifer and the One suffer from their eternal conflict and how hard it hit both of them. They both want to believe in the other and that there is a chance to redeem themselves and somehow save their relationship. Lucifer still loves the One and wants to be forgiven and be near her.

In Sins of the Son the "screen time" was divided between many more characters: the One, Lucifer, Alex, Seth, Arameal, Mika'el, Hugh Henderson (the Vancouver cop helping Alex) and Dr. Elizabeth Riley (the Vancouver psychiatrist making Alex's life harder). It was interesting that this time we got a much more nuanced portrayal of the One and Lucifer, and Lucifer was a particularly interesting character. He had redeeming qualities and feelings, yet at times he was fine with using abominable ways to reach his goals. And what made him even more scary yet human was the humour Linda Poitevin included in his dialogues:

after beating his right hand man to a bloody pulp:

"I'm going out," Lucifer said. "When you are done putting yourself together, make sure you clean up the mess. And get me more peppermints you've ruined mine." (with the blood splatter)

Alex is back, even more hurting, closed off and vulnerable than before. Besides the horrors she experienced in Sins of the Angels she has to get over the fear and guilt of the danger her niece barely survived and in the meantime she has also lost her soulmate. She tries to cope on her own and becomes even more withdrawn from her family and colleagues as she doesn't want to worry them and open the gate on her unresolved feelings.

One of the glowing highlights of Sins of the Son is Seth. Seth, who was already an extremely interesting character in Sins of the Angels despite only having a couple of scenes, is back and even got promoted to more screen time. Seth has made the absolute sacrifice: he has forsaken his immortality, his destiny, his place in Heaven to come to Earth and be with the woman he loves. The only problem is that there was a glitch in the system and he forgot absolutely everything! Who he was, what he was meant to do, everything, even how to speak. Alex is the only one he trusts and she must make him remember so he can take charge of his destiny before it's too late. Seth was wonderful. He was vulnerable yet fierce, confused yet determined. His strong attraction and attachment to Alex and that we could get "inside his head" and see the world through his eyes brought his character even closer to the reader. And it lauds Linda Poitevin's writing skills that while I found Aramael an irresistible hero and was rooting for him and Alex in the first book, she made me reconsider my choices and even made me change my mind.

"I choose you," he whispered. "I will always choose you."

The mystery, the main plotline of Sins of the Son, everything is on a much bigger scale here: we feel that the Apocalypse (or as a well educated character said not Apocalypse, which is the end of the world but Armageddon, which is the final battle between the forces of good and evil) is drawing near, that the last spark to ignite the explosion between the angels and Lucifer's fallen followers is about to happen and due to that the tension is more escalated and near suffocating.

"The strength of every soul, mortal or immortal, lies in its capacity to make choices."

Verdict: Sins of the Son was just as phenomenal as its predecessor, Linda Poitevin takes the reader on a whirlwind rollercoaster ride which will leave you breathless and reeling long after the ride is over! If you haven't read Linda Poitevin's UF series yet, you shouldn't waste any more time, because the Grigori Legacy series is one of the best urban fantasy series I have ever read! It has everything: fast paced action, rich world-building, wit and humour, deep and layered characters, sizzling chemistry and much much more!If you like richly developed exciting urban fantasy and have already devoured everything by Kelley Armstrong, it's time you discovered Linda Poitevin's books, they are amazing! 

Characters: 9/10 (I deduct 1 only because I would have liked to have even more Alex and Seth time and much less Dr. Riley time, she irritated me so much!)
Writing: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Cover: 10/10 - once again brilliant!

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