Thursday, January 10, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: She Who Fights Monsters by Kyoko M




She Who Fights Monsters is the sequel to Kyoko M's "The Black Parade," which I reviewed last month on the blog here.  I really enjoyed The Black Parade as well as the short story collection (Seven Deadly Sins) which I also read and reviewed in that post - it was a fun paranormal romance/urban fantasy novel which was just the right combination of trashy and well...fun (to be repetitive).  It was also a bit of a fragmented book, with three clear acts leading up the conclusion with their own beginning, middles, and ends.

She Who Fights Monsters is a more complete story, divided into two "books" but really focusing upon one complete arc from beginning to end, continuing the story of Jordan Amador/O'Brien and Michael O'Brien (aka the Archangel Michael) and their relationship as a new crisis emerges in the battle between the Angels of heaven and the Demons of hell.  Whereas the first book was about the two falling in love as they handled a bunch of crises caused by a few Archdemons, this book is about the struggles that entail when the two feel conflict between their love for each other and what they feel is their own duty toward the cause - and that conflict is very real not easily solvable.  It's a really strong follow-up, although it ends with a brutal ending that will make you want to pick up the sequel pretty much immediately.


---------------------------------------------Plot Summary---------------------------------------------------
Jordan Amador - now legally Jordan O'Brien - and the Archangel Michael have been married for six months - well, Legally and in the eyes of God in the "Marriage of Souls" at least.  But Jordan still feels uncomfortable - mostly with her own worthiness - and has spent the last six months refusing to set a date for the actual wedding and still forcing Michael to keep his own separate apartment.  And to make it worse, the Archdemon Belial continues to contact Jordan in her dreams to insist that Jordan wants him instead....and Jordan isn't sure she isn't at least partially attracted to the evil Prince of Hell.

Matters aren't helped when Seer start being killed just before they're awakened, and the only possible suspect appears to be a rogue Angel, who seems to think his actions are justified in saving the world.  To track him down, Jordan and Michael will be forced to team up with Belial, who is more than eager to meddle with Jordan and Michael's marriage in the real world, rather than just on the dream-plane.  But as they track down the killer, they learn of a prophecy in which a Seer will betray the Angels and bring forth the apocalypse, and thanks to the angel's own works....Jordan may be the only Seer left.

As Jordan seeks to find out the truth behind what is predestined and what is still for her to decide, she will come to need to depend more and more upon Belial's help....and may be forced to take an action against the advice of the Angels and her husband, an action that could destroy her own marriage.  But with the fate of the world at stake, Jordan and Michael's relationship may be headed for its end, and Belial is right alongside to help it along the way.....
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The Black Parade walked a fine line between being too corny and being just perfect in terms of its romance, and She Who Fights Monsters again manages to walk a different fine line perfectly, in this case, with the development of Belial and his actions toward Jordan.  Belial is not just an Archdemon who literally killed Jordan in the first book, he attempted to seduce her and pretty much force her (she stopped him) - so it's a tough line to walk to try and make a case that Jordan could actually find herself attracted to him in any way.  And yet this book actually manages to walk that line really well and the result is a central conflict - well, other than the threat of the murdering angel and the imminent apocalypse - that works out really well.

This is because Jordan and Michael are really believable characters with their own very real faults and insecurities.  This book splits time both leads' points of view (as opposed to The Black Parade which was solely from Jordan's POV), and as such we can understand each of their actions as their relationship is tested to the breaking point and possibly beyond in the middle of this crisis.  Both have serious insecurities - Michael for example feels like he's shirking his duties as Commander of Heaven's Armies while he's on Earth with Jordan and placing her welfare above everything else and still is getting used to the idea of being at least partially human and in a human relationship.  He's also easily jealous and a bit short-tempered, and as such has trouble handling when everything isn't going 100% perfectly well in the world and his relationship.

And then there's Jordan, who despite the split POV remains the real main character of this story.  Jordan struggles to have faith - not in the heavens (cmon) - but in herself.  As someone who had an abusive upbringing and accidentally killed her own father figure, Jordan has a hard time believing she's worthy of Michael, or even the rest of her new angelic family in general.  And her struggle with herself and of not being the perfect person she thinks she ought to be, which extends to being a struggle with her relationship with Michael (whose own issues make him not the best person at dealing with them), is written extremely well and forms a core of this novel that makes it work incredibly well.

And then there's the ending.  Hoo boy, if you expected this book to take an easy way out with resolving its plots, you are absolutely dead wrong.  It's an ending that is perhaps the most logical way to end everything, but man does it hurt, and it really made me desperate to read the concluding volume in the trilogy (which I did about a week later, because I couldn't bear to leave things hanging).

While I loved the book, it still has some problems.  The plot definitely has some plot holes if you think too hard about how all the set pieces make sense in the larger narrative, and well, certain twists around the end are incredibly predictable.  Also, like the first book, the conclusion to the final world threat was a bit too easy for all the work that went into setting it up, even if it makes sense (as opposed to the resolution to the emotional heart of this book, which is absolutely not easy).  Still, I was very happy to see how this book handled the question of prophecy and predestination - many books handle these situations with prophecy twists (the prophecy IS accurate, just means something different than what people think!) and this book chooses a different angle which I preferred.

So yeah, if you enjoyed The Black Parade, which you should still try since it's free for kindle, you will enjoy this book as well - and if you were waiting to try a free book for some reason to see how good the rest of the series is, you shouldn't, because this series remains really damn good. 
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