Reviewed by Angie on
I was excited and nervous about reading Angelbound. Angels aren't my thing, but I do tend to adore demons, and it's set in Purgatory! Myla is a quasi-demon, meaning she's mostly human but with a hint of demon blood. She also has a tail, which is like a character on its own! And she's an Arena fighter, so she battles evil souls who want to get into Heaven. But, her mom has been acting kind of strange and asking her weird questions, but won't answer any of Myla's questions about her father. Then she meets Lincoln, and everything changes.
Angelbound has a really interesting premise, but I found the world-building questionable. I loved the idea of Purgatory and that it's primarily occupied by quasi-demons and ghouls. Unfortunately, a lot of it doesn't make any sense to me, and some of it was just down right silly. For example, ghouls eat worms, and quasi-demons who are basically second class citizens must learn how to properly cook these worms! The undead eating bugs? Totally cliche. In fact, the whole way quasi-demons are treated is over-the-top, and a lot of the school scenes are cringe worthy. I can tell it was suppose to be humorous, but it's not my type of humor at all.
As for what didn't make sense: the entire Arena fighting thing. The Scala transfers human souls to either Heaven or Hell, which is perfectly understandable. But then there comes the souls who are given the choice to battle for their fate. They fight Myla (or another fighter) and if they win, they get to go to Heaven. This would be interesting if all souls had this choice, or if it was souls who were middling in their goodness or evilness. Instead it's only purely evil souls. Why would you give the evilist of evil a chance to get into Heaven?! I mean, I know one character in particular wants to see this happen, but they could easily just let the soul in to wreak havoc. And why does everyone go along with this plan?
The plot of Angelbound was pretty good though. There's a war brewing between the demons and the quasi-demons and ghouls. Ghouls think demons are their allies, but obviously not. Then the Thrax, who are demon hunters, show up and aren't killing anybody. Very suspicious. Of course, Myla ends up being the most super important person in the upcoming battle and the only one who can save Purgatory. And there's an enemies to lovers romance! It's kind of insta-lovey, but I didn't mind, because of reasons.
Angelbound was an okay read. I would have liked it better if it had been dark, rather than funny, because the humor wasn't one that I found funny. It was really long though. This first installment is almost longer than the following two books combined!
Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 26 July, 2015: Finished reading
- 26 July, 2015: Reviewed