This is no YA book, that's for darn sure! When I first saw this book I was receiving books for our library and the cover stood out to me. The single sword, the blue shimmering color, the dark surrounding, the power, all of which embodied the cover. I started reading this book, after it went through the library process, and glanced at the call number we gave to the book. We gave it a YA label. I was really shocked by this, until I realized that nearly all of what Michael Scott wrote was YA fiction (most widely known for his Immortal Nicholas Flamel series) and so the catalogers probably just assumed that it was YA. 
 However, and I'm not one for sheltering our youth, I'll just say that this book would be better marketed in adult fiction. For you don't see brutal killings (and many at that), detailed sex scenes and even mentioning of bondage in the YA section of your local library. Again I likely read or saw all of these things in books/movies in my YA years but I'm just saying that if kept in the YA section parents will likely bring forth a challenge(s) to the library. 
 It is very dark. It seems like almost every chapter someone dies. That appeared to be why some people did give it a negative review. The killings and descriptions of them were just to dark for them, to detailed. This book is not for the faint hearted but I'll say that the death and sex scenes (though there was more death than sex) were very well written. They didn't bother me in the slightest but made me that much more interested in the story. 
 The pacing of the book was quick. It was constantly on the go, but that makes sense because the characters were constantly on the go. I really loved the beginning and where the characters were learning about the Hallows, particularly Sarah. The book started to lose me in the very end. (view spoiler)[One reason was how Ahriman was killed. I thought, really, after all that that's it?! Another point in which I was lost was that I didn't mind the sex scenes but they never made clear the purpose how those visions were coming about from sex. So it was a bit too ambiguous for me. If the sex were out of love then that would be the purpose but that was not the case. Also, the mentioning and linking to Jesus was when I was ready to close the book. (hide spoiler)] Even then, I enjoyed it as a whole, but didn't really love it is all. I did like the final chapters after the chaos was over and it was clear where it was headed. The ending made it obvious that there will be a next book and I have a feeling, that the next book, looking at the setup alone, could be better than this one. However, even though I enjoyed it (with the exception of parts) I will likely not read the next one.