Folks, so much has happened in this series that it’s downright hard to keep track of. Thankfully, S.M. Reine will give you funny little reminders, like how Isobel is a bit stony-hearted because everyone she loves will die before she does. Because she’s a zombie. But not a George Romero zombie. And I forgot that. I love authors that help out their series readers.

The big thing with The Road to Helltown is that we come in on page one after the apocalypse. A fracture to Hell split open the U.S., and Cèsar is trying to help the few remaining humans escape the demons that were released. This introduction to the book is odd because Cèsar’s lifebonded partner, Fritz, isn’t around, nor are Isobel or Suzy, which makes up our four main characters. Suddenly, it dawned on me that the chapter was in first-person point of view, per usual, but then other chapters flipped to third person. What gives? Reine doesn’t do that. Eventually, I realized that the Cèsar from the opening chapter doesn’t remember Fritz, Isobel, or Suzy, meaning something happened that led to his employer to wipe his memory. The chapters in third person are Cèsar’s three friends telling him they need his help locating a “guy they know” because he’s very special. Cèsar, of course, is that guy.

Reine’s humor shines when Cèsar stops his “new” friends during their storytelling to blurt what a piece of crap this missing guy sounds like. And he makes a lot of stupid decisions, too. Although both Isobel and Suzy are super attractive and talented, they’re a bit juvenile in a way that makes them relatable to “non-compliant” women:

She swung into the RV just as Zettel stepped out onto the grass.

“Fuck you!” she roared at him, shaking her middle finger on one hand and the Focus in the other. Suzy also shook her boobs for good measure. “Fuuuck yooou!”

Lastly, I enjoyed how Reine write about polyamory without making the book about that. Cèsar and Fritz are lifebonded because they are kopis (the sword) and aspis (the shield), a magic bond that makes them work together better, share emotions, and become physically ill when apart too long. Also, Cèsar is in love with both Isobel and Suzy, but it’s not a love triangle; Reine explores consenting adult relationships that are not heteronormative — instead, it just seems normal in the story, like the characters agree that they have enough love for more than one human.