Audiobook Review: Grace and Glory (The Harbinger #3)

Author: Jennifer Armentrout

Narrator: Lauren Fortgang

Audiobook Length: 16 hours 38 minutes

When angels fall

Trinity Marrow has lost the battle and her beloved Protector. Even with both demons and Wardens on her side, Trin may not win the war against the Harbinger.

Bringing Lucifer back to the world to fight the Harbinger is probably a really, really bad idea, but they’re out of options–and the world’s ultimate fallen angel is the only being powerful enough to impact the outcome.

As Trin and Zayne form a new and more dangerous bond and Lucifer unleashes Hell on earth, the apocalypse looms and the world teeters on the end of forever. Win or lose, one thing is certain–nothing will ever be the same.

[Storm and Fury #1 / Rage and Ruin #2 Reviews]

Grace and Glory is the final novel in The Harbinger trilogy. I hope that the author write more in this universe as it will seem weird to have it all end after two separate series with these characters. While the main storylines all wrap-up by the end, there are a few open-ended subplots. These would easily be enough to create new stories and I hope that the author decides to write more. This series is continuous so details in this novel and review will spoil some parts from the first two novels.

At the end of Rage and Ruin, Zayne makes an appearance after being thought to be gone. However, the Zayne in front of Trinity might not be her Zayne. Not only is there something different about his “Warden-ness,” but his personality is darker. Considering Zayne is originally presented as an witty golden retriever that embodies “good,” it was interesting to see him with some “Roth-like” qualities. I always enjoyed his character, but I am also a fan of Roth, so bringing the two together in a single character was entertaining. This change in Zayne is one of the subplots that this story hopes to explore as Trinity wants to figure out what happened to Zayne and how to make everything okay between them.

The main series plot continues as Layla and Roth have gone to Hell to try to recruit Lucifer in the battle against Gabriel. Trinity continues to train and works together with others, including Cayman, to try to figure out how to finally put an end to this battle. There are many battles and tension throughout the novel and it was a roller coaster of who was winning at any given time. I loved that there were smaller fights interspersed, so it was not epic battle after epic battle, which made the final climax be a little more meaningful. A lot of the characters from the other novels and even a few from the Dark Elements that have not shown up in the previous two, all made an appearance. It was a nice continuity, as the events from the first series were not forgotten. Since I have terrible memory sometimes, it was nice that there were small recaps included, so it was easy to recall everything without spending time trying to figure out what was happening at any given time.

Cayman has a slightly larger role in this novel, while Roth and Layla take a small step back and I loved his character. Lucifer was a very fun addition and I love him watching Supernatural. Generally, I continued to love Trinity’s character, as she seemed balance between some irrational moments and rational ones. She is very sassy, but also caring and I loved her character. There is a lot of character growth with her from the first novel to the conclusion as she has been through a lot. In this novel, there are many emotions for her to work through with her rocky relationship with her father, her relationship with Zayne, her general being, and, of course, trying to deal with stopping Gabriel. Zayne and Trinity had a nice balance as a couple and I loved that Zayne finally has a chance for happiness. There are many difficulties with their relationship, but it is nice that at least the potential for them to have a happy ever after exists.

Overall, this series was excellent. The world of Wardens/Gargoyles, demons, and angels all existing in the mortal world created by the author was amazing. While there is still some world building that I would have liked, they are smaller details that did not matter in the overall scheme of the series. Peanut’s story was a nice reveal as I did not know if this would be a storyline wrapped up or not as it was only hinted at along the way. I do wish that there were more clues leading up to his reveal, but it did make sense in the story. Even though I was not a huge fan of The Dark Elements series, I am glad that I continued, as The Harbinger series was a lot better, to me. Again, I hope that the author adds more to this universe as there is a lot of potential and it would be great to read about these characters again!