Song of the Divided Review

Angel and demons go to war once again in the third and final part of CJ Sullivan’s Wings of the Divided trilogy. Song of the Divided is set immediately after the ending of the second book, following the separation of fallen angel Laphelle and goodie two-shoes Gidyon. 

Now all by his lonesome, Laphelle finds himself in a desolated waste land and sets out across desert, caves and warped forests to find out who he used to be. This is all while trying to avoid moving plants with eyeballs that want to eat his boots and the twisted ‘vivors’ who would prefer to chow down on his flesh. 

While all this is going on, Gidyon begins his own journey of discovery to find out who he really is. Trained to be a healer, but gifted with the skills and instinct of a natural-born warrior, Gidyon sets out to discover his true calling. 

The story alternates between Laphelle and Gidyon but also weaves in a third tale told from fallen angel, Malynko’s, point of view. Malynko, having served the underworld for thousands of years, begins to ask certain questions about why he does what he does. All this goes on while the threat of all-out war between the factions of light and darkness looms, in ever increasing urgency, over their heads.

If you’ve read my briefer Amazon or Goodreads reviews, you will know that I complimented the author on how well she wrote these three interweaving perspectives. I’ve seen authors try this before with more than two characters and they usually get lost along the way, leaving a confused plot and flat characters. CJ Sullivan does not fall into this category however. Her three leads are well-rounded with many sides to their personalities. 

In my reviews of the previous books in this series, I did comment that some of the characters lacked personality but I feel this has gone into complete reverse in book three. Even the co-characters seem really thought out and have plenty to offer. 

Like the second book in this series, Song of the Divided sees the characters travelling between worlds. Again, in my review of the second book, I felt at times that the constant location changes made the story disjointed. This time though it seems to work really well. I felt a combination of fewer places and far deeper scene setting really went a long way. Each locale really drew me into their unique environments.

Song of the Divided is definitely the best of the three and a great end to a fantastic series.

It gets 9/10.

Blade of The Divided Review

It’s Friday again and time for another ebook review (you lucky people). Up this week is Blade of the Divided, the second in CJ Sullivan’s series about angels. 

If you have not read the first one then I seriously suggest you do before taking a look at this one. Although the second book will fill you in on the main points of its predecessor, you will probably be confused.

Anyway, Blade of the Divided starts off three days after where Wings of the Divided ended. For recap purposes, fallen angel Laphelle turned against the forces of evil - who he was working for - and lopped his wings off. He wakes up in a church where Gidyon - a good angel - finds him. Gidyon was also in the previous tale fighting against Laphelle and his mismatched band of doom bringers. After convincing Laphelle that he is the main player in a prophecy the two set off to find out how said prophecy ends and what it has to do with them.

This was a good sequel to the original. Laphelle and Gidyon’s clash of personality’s leads to some very funny situations as well as deeper moments between the two and you can see a profound, steady change in both characters as the story progresses. Other characters from the first book also make a welcome return, like Noam and Malynko (though there was not enough of Noam in my opinion). 

One thing I did not like much was the constant change of settings; it just felt a little disorientating. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed some of the worlds Laphelle and Gidyon travelled too and they were all well portrayed, but I just didn’t think so many locations were needed. 

Also there were a few moments when I felt things went a little over the top, which I will not spoil here *coughtalkingdragoncough*. 

But ultimately this was an enjoyable and funny story. The dark moments were also very gritty and edgy, which added yet another dimension to the mix. I loved the characters and I enjoyed the comedy, but I missed Edenton. 

Blade of the Divided gets 7/10. 

You can buy it here.