(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Heaven and Hell are at war

The clock is ticking

Homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis’s niece is missing and pregnant with Lucifer’s child, her sister has descended into madness, and the human race has begun a relentless spiral toward self-destruction that Alex is desperate to stop. Now Michael, the Archangel she holds responsible for Earth’s plight, has returned—and he’s demanding her help to track a missing god.

Heaven is losing

Fighting for the very survival of his own realm—and that of humanity—Michael’s only chance to defeat Hell lies in returning Heaven’s long-lost daughter to her throne before it’s too late. But first he’ll have to convince Alex to help him—and to keep her out of Seth’s clutches long enough for her to do so.

There can be no right choices

In a desperate bid to save both their worlds, Alex and Michael must put aside their animosity and find a way to work together in the face of increasingly impossible decisions…and unimaginable sacrifices.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]

One of the things I’ve found in a lot of books is that if the main character’s ‘soulmate’ dies, they come back by some miracle or were never actually dead in the first place.  But oddly enough, the Grigori Legacy doesn’t play with those rules as it’s not the sort of book to have a cut-and-dry good versus evil plot.  It definitely doesn’t follow the conventions of the urban fantasy genre and despite missing the ‘soulmate’ in question, I personally wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sins of the Warrior is the darkest book yet in a series of quite dark books.  Alex has to make some awful choices: does she pursue the daughter of God as asked by Michael in order to balance Seth’s power or does she try to focus on saving humanity, starting with her niece who has only days to live?  It’s a brutal push-and-pull dynamic and Alex has to make absolutely unthinkable decisions.  I can’t go into much detail without spoiling some of the shocking twists, but needless to say she has to choose between a) saving humanity in exchange for a possible eternity in Hell if Seth nabs her and b) letting the angels and the Fallen battle it out without her so she can save her niece from certain death.  Again, if you’ve read the previous two books it’s not that hard to predict what Alex chooses, especially given her current state of mind.

The thing I love about Linda Poitevin’s Grigori Legacy is that despite the whole Heaven and Hell existing thing, there is no clear good and evil.  Her God (a woman, no less) is a benevolent creator who gave people free will but arguably takes it a little too far when it comes to not monitoring what Lucifer plots in Hell because she loves him so much.  Her Heaven is one where angels had free will before the fall but had it give it up (along with their soulmates) afterward because God couldn’t bear more of her angels defecting to Lucifer.  Poitevin’s God isn’t one who is cruel or overly nice; she simply is.  And she has flaws of her own, just like her creations.  These are some fascinating characterizations that I’m sure will be very controversial among certain sects but they’re refreshing nevertheless.

Alex goes through a lot in this book.  With her newly gained immortality that she never wanted and the end of the world looming over her as the Naphilim grow, she’s teetering on the edge of insanity.  Yet she still soldiers through with seemingly no regard for her own welfare in a desperate attempt to save everyone that she can, even if it means working beside those she despises, like Michael.  We also get to see some chapters from Michael’s perspective as he wrestles with keeping Alex sane while knowing if she loses her sanity it may be the kindest thing for her because of what she (and the rest of humanity) faces.  Michael was never a sympathetic character in the first three books but Linda Poitevin does an amazing job with his characterization in this last book.  He too goes through quite a bit by the end of the novel.

Basically, if you’ve read the first three books, you’ll probably love Sins of the Warrior.  I know I did.  You’ll be up reading into the wee hours of the morning much like I was in an attempt to find out how Alex’s story finally does end.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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