Reviewed by: Sue Eaton

TITLE: Harbinger

SERIES: Fallen Messengers #5

AUTHOR: Ava Marie Salinger

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 267 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 30, 2022

BLURB:

When an unknown plague starts to decimate the Earth, Cassius Black and Morgan King soon realize they’re dealing with something not of the human world. As their allies gather in San Francisco to try and determine the cause of the contagion, unwelcome news reaches Morgan’s ears. The Dryad kingdom has come under attack by an unknown enemy.

Forced into making a difficult choice, Cassius and Morgan part ways to deal with both crises. But the battles in Ivory Peaks and on Earth end up costing the couple more than they could ever have imagined, bringing them face to face with powerful enemies from their past. On the edge of despair, Cassius finds hope in the arrival of an unexpected group of deities. Goddesses who are related to both Morgan and Victor Sloan by more than just Fate.

Cassius learns of the twisted threads of destiny that bind them all and discovers the latest peril they face is of Elios’s making. When he’s told by the Goddesses that the only way to end the God of Darkness’s deranged scheme is to find a legendary item lost to the tides of time, Cassius vows to stop at nothing to locate it, whatever the sacrifice.

REVIEW:

Another fantastic book in this magnificent series, building up to the epic showdown I’m sure will come with the final book.  This book has it all, action, suspense, emotionally charged, the will he, won’t he and you also find out about the past, what happened in the far distant past.  The epic love story between Cassius and Morgan continues and they have some of the most emotionally charged scenes, hanky at the ready, I cried and cried.

Ava Marie continues with her world building, book by book, you get to see a bit more of the other realms and the beings who inhabit them.  I really appreciated they way the world building evolves across the series.

Morgan and Cassius are stronger together so having to part to deal with the mysterious sickness has a massive impact, and sets the course to find a powerful artifact.  I really enjoyed finding out about the fates and how they were imprisoned, with the realisation that Cassius’s actions from the past had a much bigger impact than he ever realised.  Tearing the vale and causing the fall was something everyone thought they’d known all the ramifications but the surprise that this act helped the fates escape was a revelation.  It was heartbreaking to learn all the fates had suffered and continued to suffer and that they were enslaved and not responsible for their actions, which made fighting against them very tricky.

I really loved all the intricacies of the plot and meeting so many new characters as well as the characters from the previous books.  There is redemption for past actions, when it becomes apparent that they had been manipulated and this had influenced their actions rather than their own insecurities.  There are twists and turns along the way and the action scenes are very well crafted, I felt hope and trepidation in equal measures.  Hoping they’d win and worry that once again they wouldn’t quite defeat the evil mastermind, that is Elios, bring on book 6, I can’t wait to see what happens in the end.  This could have been very easily the final book, it was that good and built to a climatic finale, I can’t imagine what happens next but I am eager to find out.   Through it all Morgan and Cassius hold fast to their love, no matter what befalls them they are destined to be together.

RATING:

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