I do love being back reading Michael J Sullivans books and there is a certain amount of familiarity in reading this, like putting on an old pair of slippers. The writing is wonderful and the characters have great dialogue, but, and it is a big but, the familiarity is also its downside. 
 I want to love this story and tell you that there is a new exciting series out and it's fresh and exciting and and oh joys! But I cant. The best I can offer is; if you loved Hadrian and Royce as a partnership, you'll probably like this. Which I do and did. I like it. That's it. 
 The characters whilst are well written, feel re-hashes of old characters, so I often flet I was pigeon holing them into who I thought they were like, so this is the new Royce etc. The story has potential with the magic aspect, but it needs to clarified, at the moment it is just a super God power with no side affects. Making just about everyone else irrelevant when it comes to meeting or fighting the gifted ones. In most of the books I have read with hugely powerful mages, there is always a side affect or a downside to having so much power, but this is just godmaking, and I understand that is a key part of the story and hopefully, we get more understanding of the magic and ways it can be combated in future books. 
 Which leads me to my last complaint. The book was short. I don't know how many pages, but I read it in two sittings and was surprised at how quickly I got through it. Maybe it was because I was absorbed and read quickly, but at $15 a book for a short read, it is going to feel like an expensive series. I hope it isn't one of those, could be 4 or 5 books, but lets make it 9 or 10 to make more money. 
 I'll definitely read the next book, but am hoping for more words, more depth and something new.