The series is about a succubus who hates her immortal job, having long ago sold her soul for her husband to forget she ever existed after he became suicidally depressed following walking in on her and his best friend. How long ago? Ancient Greece. But she meets a mortal man named Seth who writes her favorite books...and they hit it off.
The ensuing tale over the course of the series is one of love, angst, betrayal, and humor. However, during the last book I developed a theory...Seth was the reincarnation of her first husband. I was right. He sold his soul for ten reincarnations to try and get back together with the woman he loved as his other half, but could not remember. Life after life he was reincarnated and they fell in love, but never got together.
This changed in this book, with his remembering his past lives under hypnosis. She filed a claim with Hell that their contracts were invalid, and a Nephilim friend acted as her lawyer. He knew that he was committing suicide by entering Hell to present her case, but he did it out of love for her. A sacrificial love.
The same type of love that caused her to sell her soul to Hell. Then, she was freed. When she finally caught up to Seth at a Q&A on his book tour, she asked a question she mocked at their first meeting, "Cady and O'Neill have been through so much together, it's the final book, are they going to get together?" It was a pure shout out to the dedicated fans of this series.
But she was redeemed...and she was given a chance to do it without him. She was offered back her soul to keep it from a jury vote, and she refused. She sacrificed a chance at freedom to give her beloved a chance at his as well, and it worked.
Throughout this series, the power of love has been hinted at by an angel. In this book, it was made manifest, and so was Carter (the angel)'s mission...he was there to redeem her.
"I'm just one person. One soul. All your work and energy....I mean, it can't have all been just for one soul. An angel can't be soley dedicated to that."
"Well," he said, clearly enjoying my confusion, "it was actually for two souls, since you and Seth were both saved. But even if it wasn't, it still would've been worth it. Do you know the price of one soul, Georgina? It's beyond rubies and diamonds, beyond any mortal reckoning. If it had taken me centuries, if it had taken a dozen more angels to help me, it all would have been worth it."
Never before have I felt so moved in fiction. Though Mead's universe plays with theology and various mythologies alongside the Judeo-Christian paradigm fast and loose, I don't believe I've ever read the message of the Gospels expressed in such an amazing way.
One soul is worth more than anything we can comprehend. One soul is worth more than all earthly riches, one soul is worth the effort of choirs of angels. One soul is worth all the prayers in the world. And one soul's redemption, turning away from sin, is cause for all of Heaven to rejoice.
God loved us enough to send His Son to die. Though Mead does not acknowledge this in the scene, the message of all the angel has done conveys it. One soul. Our soul. Our soul, stained by sin, was enough for any sacrifice to be offered, any amount of effort to bring us back into Grace.
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