Not bad, but not particularly good either. Mainly many battles which the good guys always win because they develop a new ability at precisely the right time. The battles are interspersed with guilt and angst and occasional bouts of mundane banality (e.g. pausing in saving the world to deal with student leave requests). I wouldn't start with this, but since I've read the first trilogy I was curious to find out what happens next. I did like the detail on Chinese mythology. An interesting change from the standard Euro-centric fantasy in most books. I imagine, had I read the series prior to this, I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. As it is, the first half of the book is really quite good; I was enjoying it, and enjoying the rich backstory as characters are introduced. And then it kept going on, and on , and on; the action scenes kept coming in, and resolved not by any particularly great planning but by revealing yet another amazingly powerful character who's not what they seem.As a standalone series, I probably wouldn't recommend it. For people who have read prior books in the same universe, so that characters showing up with special abilities isn't quite out of the blue -- I still probably wouldn't recommend it, but you know what you're in for. For me ... I will probably read the sequel if I come across it, in the hopes that this book just had to set the stage and introduce all the players. The first half of this book really was quite good.
What do You think about Earth To Hell (2010)?
I love this series, it has everything, demons, shapeshifters, romance, kung-fu! I love it.
—lak
Hmmm bit mundane...expected a bit more...very pedestrian writing.
—Steph
I really liked this one. More cheek, and less drama.
—Emmac
