I yelled at this book so many times. But let me not jump ahead and go back to the beginning first.

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with the DND aspects of this book. When the little party is doing little party things in town, I ate it up. The finer details that showed the author actually knew how the DND thing worked and didn't just throw that label in there, very much appreciated. The banter and flow between the party characters was awesome as well, it wasn't all smooth sailing but you could see the connections there. And once they got to Hell, the Dantes Inferno and Orpheus influences were there in a very notable way that didn't come off as just straight up copying. Overall the flow of the plot vs character development I found was done really really well and it was extremely easy to get lost in this story.

But the yelling?

Yes I know Xaraan/Suneelon was a devil and devils have their own motivations, desires, and emotions.

Yes I know Kyarlin was stupidly in love and love makes you do things.

But damn it all boys, the decisions made?! If I wasn't yelling at one for being dumb or blind I was yelling at the other for pulling dumb crap.

And that's what you want in a book, to have the characters so, 'alive,' that you find yourself shouting at them for things they are currently doing that they shouldn't be doing.

Hell itself was nicely fleshed out into an actual place. Very often in books it's almost let a set, where it's there but not really an actual place. In this case, which makes sense because so much of the book takes place in Hell, it was a real place. Political systems, weather, landscapes, society and culture. It had it all going on.

I am thankful for the gifted ARC and look forward to where the story goes in book two.

Wow, just wow! We Were Men Once by Candice Morris is raw, haunting, and unforgettable. This book grips you with its intensity and emotional depth—it’s about survival, loss, and the fragile lines between strength and vulnerability. Every page hits like a punch, and you’ll feel it long after the last line.

I quickly devoured this in one sitting. While I enjoyed the premise and idea of the story, the ending felt way to rushed and would like to have seen it fleshed out a bit more.