Let's take a moment to breathe.....

Whew okay so to say I've been anxiously waiting for this book would be a huge understatement. I bought it bright and early Friday when it came out and then promptly waited till Sunday (because let's face it I knew once I started my ass wasn't moving until I finished the whole thing) to devour this gem of supreme awesomeness as quickly as my brain could digest the words it was reading.

First off our girl Piper grows so freaking much in this book I love it! She started out this series so cocky and kinda dumb when it came to deamons

"Shrimpy didn't exactly look like the fighter type... He was going to get shmooshed."

The first fight she comes upon in book 1 she automatically assumes the just because Ether is small he's not the most dangerous of the two, I mean she quickly learns differently but those quick judgments show she was really over her head.

This books really shows how much she's grown because we see her interact with other apprentices that act as invincible as she used to, she even realizes it, realizes how dumb and potentially fatal it was for her to go off cocky and undereducated. She really learns to deal with the shit storm that just keeps building between the Ra's and the Reapers, she speaks up and makes people listen trying to take on responsibilities instead of just kinda creating chaos.

All this wonderful growth and character development is great but now onto the most important part...Ash... Have you wiped your drool up yet? No, I'll wait.

So this book was marvelous with our whole Ash and Piper tête-à-tête I feel like all my needs where met without the whole romance angle being shoved down my throat.

I laughed mainly because of the wonderfulness that is Lyre's ever ending struggle to get in Pipers pants. I cried a lot happens to our crew of misfits. And at the end of it all I was so sad to see it end but surprisingly satisfied at the end. Now just five more months till the final book comes out in March!!!!! ( )

My last reread in the series before I read book 5 for the first time!

I feel like this book is much more of a bridge between everything that happens in book 3 (and there was a lot) and what the epic finale will be in book 5. Don't get me wrong, I still really liked it but it did feel more filler-y. I did like seeing Piper develop her skills more, and her relationship with Ash continued to grow :). We also got more hints of Lyre's backstory that I really enjoyed. I'm excited to see how everything wraps up in the next one! ( )

This is my absolute favorite YA urban fantasy series right now and this book was even more fantastic than previous books in the series. This book is full of wonderful action, awesome world-building, engaging characters, some romance, and a fast-paced plot. The fifth and final book in the series, Unleash the Storm, is supposed to release in March of 2016.

Piper is having trouble holding everything together. Lyre and Seiya are missing, Ash is still recovering from the ordeals in the last book, Piper is being forced to do typical apprentice activities, and the Gaians are fighting with demons all over the city. Things get even more complicated when Piper’s old enemy, Raum, tracks her down and asks her to take care of an escaped draconian. Then Ash and Piper realize that all this unrest might be about more than Gaians versus demons; Samael might be bringing the fight to Earth itself.

This was a spectacular continuation of this absolutely fantastic YA urban fantasy series! I just love how this series has been such a wonderful balance awesome world-building, engaging characters, fast-paced action, romance, and magic. Once I started reading this book I could not put it down; it just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go.

Marie does a really spectacular job writing action scenes; they are just amazing. She also has excellent description throughout which makes it super easy to picture the characters and surroundings. The other part I loved about this book was how interesting all of the characters continue to be, not just our main heros, but everyone.

A big part of what makes this story so engaging is the dynamic between Ash and Piper. Ash has been Piper’s protector throughout the series because he is so much more powerful than her. However in this book the balance of power starts to shift. Piper is concerned for Ash because she hates putting him in danger because of her weakness so she is striving to become an equal partner to him. I loved to see this dynamic and loved to see that her and Ash are trying to have a healthy and balanced relationship based on mutual respect (yay! for healthy YA relationships that don’t involve stalking).

Piper and Ash both struggle with their powers and the shading that accompanies them. There is a lot of discussion in this book about balancing sanity and power and it gave an interesting dynamic to the story.

The situation with the Gaians also gets a lot more intriguing as well. There are different factions of Gaians and these Gaians are wielding new and dangerous weapons that blend technology and magic into deadly force.

Overall I just absolutely loved this book (and this series so far as a whole). This series does everything right. I would highly recommend to fans of action packed urban fantasy who don’t mind a bit of romance. This has been an incredibly engaging series and I am both excited and sad to see how things wrap up in book 5. I really don’t want this series to ever end…. ( )