I believe in God, but really I am not a very religious person. When I hear the word "Apocalypse", I can only think that it means resurrection of the dead and final judgment for everyone who is already dead and everyone who is still alive. 
 If you are a nice, good at heart person I suppose Apocalypse is not a bad thing. You will be expecting to receive the final, best, perfect gift of the God himself. 
 Hmm, have you noticed the paintings, the religious painting, the comics, the books, the films about this subject? Apocalypse is dark, scary, full of demons, persons with open wounds and dead with desperate faces. 
 Nobody thinks of it as the nicest thing that can happen to him, either because he/she is certain that deep down they are not nice persons or because nobody wants to die. 
 There is a kind of Apocalypse going on in this book. Maybe partly Apocalypse, because there is not God present - at least as we have imagined him. I honestly tried to distance myself from anything deep and I tried to see the book as pure entertainment, but I failed. 
 There are so many questions in the book about 
 what is the point of life when it is finite and not very pleasant 
 what is the point of death when you are not remembered 
 what is the point of immortality if everyday that passes is another day of same old same old 
 what is the point of being a God and give life and take it back whenever suits you 
 The conclusion is that nothing really matters if you do not evolve, grow up, learn, change and have strong feelings (hate and love). No matter if you dead, alive, immortal or God. 
 The book is not a religious text. It is a plain and simple love story. Simple in its feelings. There is nothing simple in the way it is developed. Love and hate are after all the most basic feelings and the feelings that I am sure they existed in the Universe even before humans were created. 
 So there is a female and a male in the story. 
 No one knows who Azrael is or even what. Is he a Demon? A sorcerer, Satan, alien, or mutated man? He is definitely NOT THE GOD. Because he may have made all the dead people, alive again but now they are called Eaters and they can never die until they are burned. Nobody dies anymore. Everyone transforms into Eaters and they attack anything living until they kill it and he/she becomes one of them. This is the scenario of the best zombie books/films. 
 Azrael is not alone, besides the brainless Eaters, he has his companion. He has his children and thousands of dead that he made them to rise in order to serve him and his children. His city is Haven, the land of the beautiful dead. Beautiful dead, because he can change the features of the dead people who surround him and they are all beautiful. Unlikely Azrael who is a walking nightmare. He cannot heal himself from attacks, although he cannot die. So, he is full of open wounds, scars and a face that he needs to hide behind masks in order not to make everyone run away screaming. 
 He has his own morals: a) He does not rape, he makes deals with his mistresses. A lot of women want to be with him mostly for protection, for the good life or simply for food. And they loath his face and his touch; b) He kills children, but he does not abuse children; c) He punishes only when his safety and the safety of his people are compromised. His punishment is 1000 times crueler than the danger his enemies posses; d) He always keeps his word. 
 And he is bored. 
 Everyone in Norwood knows plain and simple Lan. She is an outsider in her village, a peach farmer, not really pretty, not really clever. She has recently lost her mother who transformed into an Eater and they had to burn her to keep her dead. She truly is an extraordinary girl who does not realize her value. So, one day she decides to go to Haven and talk to Azrael and beg, ask, demand one thing: 
 END THE EATERS 
 Obviously Azrael will laugh at her, but he likes her spirit. 
 And she will become his courtesan very soon. 
 If I could break down this very lengthy book, I would more or less identify four distinct parts: 
 1.	Getting to know each other 
 2.	Compromises 
 3.	True love and sacrifices 
 4.	Epilogue 
 Getting to know each other: When Azrael and Lan first meet, I thought of the movie Labyrinth, the one with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. There is a scene in the movie in which there is a ball and Bowie is wearing a grotesque mask dancing around with beautiful people who are all wearing strange masks and you can hear the song "As The World Falls Down": 
 There's such a sad love deep in your eyes. 
 A kind of pale jewel open and closed within your eyes. 
 I'll place the sky within your eyes. 
 Well after I thought about this movie, this image stuck in my head. I was always picturing Azrael as Bowie and the song was keep playing in my head. 
 Compromises:I am sure you know/watched the movies "My fair lady" and "Pretty woman". Imagine plain, uneducated Lan trying to become a lady, because Azrael does not want rough, village women as mistresses. She will have tutors, dresses, hats. She will learn how to read, write, behave, talk, eat. Until one day she will look at herself and she will not recognize herself. 
 "For now, we are agreed your home is here. And you do not wish to leave it. You've grown accustomed to my bed." 
 "So, what? You're just going to keep me in it the rest of my life?" 
 "How curious. You say that like I would then have to stop." 
 And later Azrael and Lan will have their first major fight, where Lan almost dies. 
 "This is death and you do fear it, don't you? You fear it and you are right to fear it, for where it ends, I begin!" 
 True love and sacrifices:Lan learns 
 "You traded a day of your life for a little food, a few hours' sleep, and the view from that window. You will never have that day back. You have no guarantee you will ever have another. You would have returned to him if he'd sent for you, but he didn't, so you did nothing and now that day is over. That day is gone. So. Was it worth it?" 
 Lan will run after Azrael. Lan will fight for Azrael with his other mistresses. Lan will beg for him, not the Eaters. 
 "Because if I can't be your only dolly, I have to be the one you want most." 
 Azrael will run after Lan. 
 "We're oil and water, me and you. You can shake us and shake us, but we'll never mix." 
 "Oil and water?" he echoed with a tired sort of humor. "No. We're flint and steel." 
 "Yeah?" 
 "Oh yes. And when we strike together, there are sparks." 
 Azrael will change the world for Lan. 
 Epilogue: Lan will give hope back to Azrael. Azrael decides that he cannot live without her, even if she hates him one day. 
 "Forgive me. I have been alone too long to be noble now." 
 I feel that I am not the same person every time I finish one of R.Lee Smith's books. I cannot stop writing lengthy reviews about her books. 
 And now I have book hangover... Damn!