Title: Unleashing Fire

Author: Julie Hall

Pub. Date: July 22, 2021

Pages: 464

Pub: Not Listed

Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Goodreads

The Forsaken hunger for vengeance, leaving Steel and I with no choice but to follow Camiel to the only place strong enough to protect me — Eden, an ancient, hidden city darkened by my family’s secrets.

But Eden isn’t the safe haven I expected, and family runs deeper than blood.

As Thorne grows stronger by the day, his Fallen forces threaten to raze London — and then the world — to cinders. In order to stop him, the entire angelic community has to unite, but ancient feuds and millennia of prejudice put everything at risk.

My heart knows where I belong — fighting besides my loved ones — but I have a secret that could doom them all. There’s a dark power growing inside me, hellish and spiraling beyond my control.

The realms have merged. The darkness calls to me. And there’s only one thing standing in my way… Steel.

This will be a spoiler free review. I listened to the audiobook via Audible. You can check out my spoiler free reviews for the first two books – Stealing Embers and Forging Darkness. I won’t like, I’m kind of burned out on angels & winged paranormal creatures, so I struggled a bit to stay interested. But I wanted to know how this trilogy ended, and honestly, it didn’t disappoint.

So much happens in this book, with all the twists and turns and the final showdown…

Despite my reservations, I loved this book, and I can’t believe the trilogy is over.

—

Okay, so it’s been quite a while since I listened to this book, and I was a bad person and didn’t immediately (or even remotely) write this review after finishing the book. So, long story short, I don’t remember details, and this might be a really short review. I also want to mention before I jump in, that I think another reason it took me a bit to get back invested was the narrator. Now, I like Vanessa Moyen as a narrator, but she narrates a lot of indie books, and I think I was a bit tired of her voice. That’s not a reflection on the book, but just on I’d listened to a whole slew of indie books that she’d narrated, and the characters all started sounding the same. So, choosing to listen to an anticipated read narrated by her – maybe I should have waited, but I was impatient.

That being said, this book was great. It’s bittersweet that the story is over, but this didn’t disappoint. Julie Hall picks it up right where she left off – the world is going to hell; Thorn is leading the charge and there’s something else going on. Everyone is up in arms, borderline panicking and trying to stop the End Times before they really get started.

Could I have guessed what was going on with Emberly for a huge section of this book? Probably not – though maybe if I binged them all in one go. But it had been a while since I’d read Forging Darkness and I’d forgotten some of the things that had happened, and I was like ooooh damn when the reveal came around. Everything made so much sense and I loved it. Whole other level of drama on top of everything already happening.

I loved that we got to see some new places – the dynamic of Eden where lowkey 1 part infuriating and 1 part interesting. Also, Camiel. Honestly when he was first introduced in book 2, I wasn’t sure about him. He kind of grows on you in this book. But Eden was a choice. I like what Julie did, but damn was Camiel’s assessment of Emberly’s safety way off.

Now, Emberly and Steel are still great as ever. They’re still a little insta-lovey, but I kind of dig it. More things between them come to light as the tension around them grows and the stakes rise. I just love that he’s constantly by her side, constantly worried about her and there for her – even when she’s not acting like herself.

Overall, I thought the book was really good. I liked the ending, thought it was a good fit. I wish there were more books, because I don’t want to say goodbye to the characters yet. But I’m also excited to see what Julie writes next! I’m so glad that I pushed through my initial apprehension about reading another book featuring angels, because this didn’t disappoint.