“You believe everyone can be fixed. They can’t. Some are meant to be forever broken.”

Title: Descent

Author: Tara Fuller

Series: Kissed by Death # 3

Publication: June 2, 2015 by Entangled Teen

Pages: 320

Source: Netgalley

Summary: 

Easton doesn’t believe in love. He believes in Death. Darkness. Sin. As a reaper for Hell, it’s all he’s known for over four hundred years. When he gets slapped with the job of training the boss’s daughter, an angel who knows nothing but joy, he knows he’s in for a world of trouble.

Though he’s made it clear he wants nothing to do with her outside of work, Gwen would do anything to get closer to the dark and wounded reaper—even taint her angelic image and join the ranks of her father’s team of reapers. But in all her planning, she forgot to factor in one thing—how far the demons Easton doomed to hell would go to get revenge.

When the dangers of the Hell threaten Gwen, Easton will do whatever it takes to save her. But as the darkness closes in on them both, will he be able to save himself?

My Thoughts: 

Descent is the third and newest release in Tara Fuller’s Kissed by Death series. Now, I want to point out that I have never read any of the other books in the series, so believe me when I tell you that you don’t need to in order to enjoy this book. I can also tell you this, after finishing Descent, I now plan to go back and devour every other book in the series just to make the world last a little bit longer.

Since I had not read any of the other books, though they now hold a special place on my TBR shelf, I had no prior knowledge about the mythology of this world or who any of the characters were. I didn’t find myself fangirling over special cameos because I  completely missed out on the books leading up to this, but it in no way changed how I felt about this book. Descent can be read entirely as a standalone and you will be perfectly fine. I did figure out what was going on, what some connections were, and how this world we are thrust into works – Fuller doesn’t lay it all out in a pretty spreadsheet, but you learn the lay of the land pretty darn quickly because of how well she develops everything throughout the book.  I am sort of distraught over the fact that I hadn’t read any of the other books, I completely missed out on the excitement that came with the main male protagonist of this story. I wish I had known more about him before I started reading, it would have made it that much more special than it already was.

 Easton, our main man candy, is what they call a reaper. He takes souls to their final resting place, and instead of working for Heaven, he works for Hell. He has been involved in the other two books, but I don’t know the extent of that so I couldn’t really get down and dirty with analyzing his character development. But, even in this novel alone, I could still see the way his character shifted. I did love him, it was sort of hard not to if I were to be completely honest. I really loved how the book was told through his point of view along with that of Gwen’s, our female protagonist. The contrast between the two of them and they way the thought about the world was very intriguing and it only made me want more of what was going on.  Being able to peak into his head was a real treat, it gave us some wonderful insight to the reasons behind his actions and why he chose to work for Hell instead of Heaven. Gwen, our other main character, is an angel of joy. She brings hope to those in the midst of their darkest moments. She takes their pain and suffering away by making it her own and giving them some of her happiness. I also thought reading from her point of view was sort of special. A lot of the time in Young Adult books, we have a female heroine who is inherently a “Mary Sue”, but Gwen was different. She had to be good, pure, and kind simply because of what she was. She was an angel for crying out loud, how could she be anything but? But, she also had her own dark moments, impure thoughts, and destructive tendencies. Fuller took a character that should have been perfect and untouchable by any human standards of emotion and she made that character as real as you or I. 

Now, as for the plot. Based off the general make up of an angel meeting someone that works for Hell and falls in love – it ended up being that same overdone trope of “good girl meets bad boy and wants to heal him” blah blah blah. But, it fit with the mythology behind the story – so it wasn’t a problem. Gwen wanting to heal Easton was a main component of her character arc, and it makes a more sense when you read it than the way I am describing it. I guess I can just put it this way. Hell is horribly graphic. The place is horrific, it isn’t cozy, it isn’t comfortable, and it made me on hundred percent positive that I never want to end up there. Gwen’s angelic nature is the antithesis of this mess. She is a welcome change, the light and the end of the tunnel. She made suffering through the chapters in Hell and reading through the graphic torture descriptions worth it.

 All in all, Descent is a delightful book full of redemption, love, loss, and the meaning of justice. How far would you go for revenge if someone hurt the people you loved? Gwen and Easton are wonderfully multidimensional. They prove that being the bad boy doesn’t necessarily guarantee that he is bad or incapable of being good and that being a good girl can want to experience the bad just to want to have a greater understanding of the world – no love needed. I recommend this book for any fans of Hush Hush, Fallen, or The Mortal Instruments books. If you love angels, demons, and everything in between, then go and find yourself a copy of this book and devour it as soon as possible.