As this is the 4th (ish**) book in a series, I’m not going to go into plot details. Instead, I’m going to talk y’all through my experience of reading this book.

1) I began this book not really knowing if I would read on. I’d read most of the series many years ago, and my memories of book 3.5** were sketchy. I said in the review of that novella that I was more inclined to read on now than I had been before, but nine months later, I just didn’t know if I had the interest any longer. The only reason I even had the audiobook was because it was free on a deal in Oct/Nov. I figured I might start it, then cull it from my list.

2) The book opens with an angel getting hit by a poisoned dart. He’s an angel who has been on earth for a long time and enjoys his time there, though he feels a bit guilty for it. He has a counterpart, a demon from hell who is a surface operative, that he meets with periodically and is friends with. Sound familiar? Yeah, this was me immediately saying what the hell, is this suddenly Good Omens fanfic?? I don’t remember ANY of this from Bitter Waters!

3) I went back to check my reviews of the previous 3.5 books, specifically book 3 (Grave Importance). While Bitter Waters was about vampires and such, Grave Importance – and presumably the previous two volumes, though I didn’t look into them specifically – involved angels and demons and armageddon. The whole series was published prior to the GO TV series, and def wasn’t fanfiction. Well, I couldn’t say how the book may have acted as an influence. I’m not the author, obviously (heh). But in any case, angels and demons working together on earth was apparently a big part of the series prior to Bitter Waters.

4) Intrigued by both the opening premise and by the extremely stellar review that I gave Grave Importance in 2019, I kept listening. And this turned out to be a phenomenal book. It was well-crafted and intriguing, pulling together so many different threads before the climax. Additionally, it was so funny in places. I wasn’t expecting the humor in places, like the conversation between the devil and his admin/right-hand-man, where the devil says he wishes he could show up to the diplomatic meeting with the angels in his giant snake form, and the admin says that it wouldn’t be very nice. It would be especially not nice if he showed up in normal form, turned into a snake halfway through without a word, and all the other demons/monsters continued talking as if all was normal while the angels freaked out. Corporate/bible humor at its best, honestly.

5) At the end of the third book, I thought this series was complete, and given that it took ages for another book to release, perhaps maybe it was intended to be. I’m really glad that it came back and that I gave it a chance by whatever combination of circumstances. I’m tempted to go back and reread the first three books of the series.

6) The audio is read by Catrin Walker-Booth, who did a really good job, especially with all the different accents.

**Technically, it’s the 4th book of the series, however, there is a novella that is considered book 3.5, a kind of side plot called Bitter Waters that I read in March last year.