Rating: 4.5 /// 5
***Thank you to the Tor Staff at San Diego Comic Con for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.***
***Expected Publish Date: October 27th, 2026
I am convinced at this point that Marie Lu is the absolute queen of two things:
- Writing.
- Writing with intention extremely well.
After having recently writing Red City in 2025, I was excited to see what her next project was going to be (as I always am)! This book took me down a bit of a teenage nostalgic route because the whole time I was reading, I genuinely thought it was a mix of Men in Black thrown in with her previously written trilogy, The Young Elites. And I partially believe it was the reason I could not put it down.
Leaving your life behind to do the dirty work for the gods (Harbingers, they're called) was certainly not on Rose Lin Fairchild's bucket list, especially when its the God of Death you're working for. She hates him, but can't help but admire him, but also traded her life to keep her best friend alive. On the other hand, Etienne Beauchard is nagging at her like a thorn in her side working for the God of Lies. He's witty, sly with his words, and of course, annoyingly charming in all the ways that girls like.
Both of them find their lives intertwined when one of their own is killed, and they have to figure out why. I don't want to say anything else, but know it only goes from complicated to complete chaos from there on out.
So many good things happened in this book!
The worldbuilding was immersive and fun. It's visual appeal and the fact practical settings were taken into account to really makes the setting of London alot more vibrant. The concealment of locations only the characters would see called me back to Cassandra Clare's shadowhunter chronicles. Strong main characters are something Marie Lu pulls off well, and it was fun to see the stakes laid out for both Rose and Etienne. Plot wise, I do appreciate how there was push and pulls Rose encountered for herself, and for the overarching stakes in the contexts of both Life and Death (and that's all I will say on that).
The only very small thing I found a bit confusing was keeping track of all the gods and goddesses names, and what exactly the elements they were associated with. Having a reference list would have been much easier to visualize these moving parts.
Other than that, this was another fun YA read by someone who is masterful at the craft!