Despite the Ash Angel victories in the prior books, the threat from the Dreads has only increased and the Ash Angel Organization finds itself on the verge of collapsing. Other Dread Loremasters have risen in power to fill the power vacuum at the top, and the war has grow so large that it now threatens entire cities of normals. As an Angel Born, Helo may possess power never before heard of, but that is also true of the new Dread leadership. Toss in the fact that Aclima is now back on the dark side, and Helo has limited options available to him. He knows that he can't win this fight without the other Ash Angels, but since he finds himself alone in his belief that Aclima can still be redeemed, joining up with them could cost Aclima her life. Despite his best efforts, Helo finds himself on a path where he may have to kill the only woman he has come to love in his afterlife in order for good to triumph over evil. Could he even do it?
For better or worse, relationships come to the forefront in the third entry of this series, and how those relationships turn out will ultimately be the deciding factor in the war. The female lead has changed multiple times in this series, and this book is no exception. With Aclima now back on the dark side of the equation, Melody takes center stage in the story and the romantic back and forth amps up to a new level. What started as a war in the shadows between good and evil now feels like a high school romance story involving super heroes and super villains. Brian K. Fuller may have taken it a bit too far on both fronts, but I still enjoyed it anyway. The 3 book story arc does wrap itself up here, and the author's website describes the series as a 3 book urban fantasy series, but the door is left open at the end for a new arc/series to start up. I do recommend this series if you are looking for a unique heaven vs hell story that doesn't take itself too seriously. In fact, I liked it enough to try out a fantasy series by the same author.
R. C. Bray is the voice of the apocalypse and he feels right at home narrating this urban fantasy even if it isn't quite apocalyptic. He makes this a worthy listen for sure.