#CBR12 Book 38: "House of Earth and Blood" by Sarah J. Maas

Page count: 816 pages
Rating: 4 stars

#CBR12 Bingo: Red

Official book description:
Half-Fae, half-human Bryce Quinlan loves her life. By day, she works for an antiquities dealer, selling barely legal magical artifacts, and by night, she parties with her friends, savoring every pleasure Lunathion—otherwise known as Crescent City— has to offer. But it all comes crumbling down when a ruthless murder shakes the very foundations of the city—and Bryce’s world.

Two years later, her job has become a dead end, and she now seeks only blissful oblivion in the city’s most notorious nightclubs. But when the murderer attacks again, Bryce finds herself dragged into the investigation and paired with an infamous Fallen angel whose own brutal past haunts his every step.

Hunt Athalar, personal assassin for the Archangels, wants nothing to do with Bryce Quinlan, despite being ordered to protect her. She stands for everything he once rebelled against and seems more interested in partying than solving the murder, no matter how close to home it might hit. But Hunt soon realizes there’s far more to Bryce than meets the eye—and that he’s going to have to find a way to work with her if they want to solve this case.

As Bryce and Hunt race to untangle the mystery, they have no way of knowing the threads they tug ripple through the underbelly of the city, across warring continents, and down to the darkest levels of Hel, where things that have been sleeping for millennia are beginning to stir…

House of Earth and Blood is the first volume in Sarah J. Maas' new series, Crescent City, and surprisingly, her first book fully aimed at adults. Considering the really very graphic descriptions of both sex and violence in the Court of Thorns and Roses series, I puzzled at that, but it turns out that when Ms. Maas writes for adults, she writes pretty much exactly the same way, but the characters swear a whole lot more. I guess that's how you know it's aimed at grown-ups instead?

There's a lot to like about this book, and I stand by the 4-star rating I gave it back in April, when I finished reading it. It does, however, have quite a few flaws as well, such as the constant swearing to indicate the change in its intended audience.

Secondly, NO way the book needed to be over 800 pages long. Just absolutely no need for it. The first third of the book or so is super slow and Maas pretty much does the opposite of info-dumping, she portions out little bits of relevant plot information so slowly it's infuriating. It isn't until the final 150 pages or so that the reader actually starts getting a clearer picture of everything that is going on and is able to fully engage with the characters and the story. Spending as long as Maas does introducing a bunch of characters that will then not be appearing in the rest of the story, except in flashbacks, seems a little redundant, even if she wants to show just how important they are to Bryce.

Thirdly, I don't want to speculate on whether it's patriarchal expectations or the author's own preferences that make her basically write descriptions of every female character as an exaggerated parody of the male gaze. We get it, Bryce and her various female friends are all super hot, while all looking completely different, they're clearly sexual fantasy fodder for anyone who fancies women. To be fair, most of the dudes seem to be pretty heavily objectified too, but the descriptions of them didn't seem to go into so much detail.

Finally, I understand that in books like this, there is by now an expectation of a central romance. I didn't really see that Bryce and Hunt needed to get together and found their romance a lot less interesting than pretty much all the other inter-personal relationships of the book.

So, what did I like? The world-building is excellent and I found both the ancient history and the details of the way Crescent City is built up really interesting. The various supernatural creatures and the Houses that belonged to was very cool and I'm sure we'll discover more about this in later stories. The failed rebellion and the harsh way the former rebels were punished was also intriguing, and once she actually got the plot underway, and didn't just establish background info, so to speak, the mystery that Bryce and Hunt have to unravel was rather fiendish.

I liked Bryce and her relationship with her brother, for all that it's fraught, shows a lot of promise. Friendship and loyalty is a very prominent theme throughout the book, and Bryce and Danika's friendship, in particular, was incredibly strong and important. The way Bryce eventually reconnect with her other friends after processing her grief was also very encouraging to me.

Once the plot really kicked into gear, I had trouble putting the book down and blazed through the final parts. Not entirely sure that the ending played by the rules as previously established in the story, there seemed to be some "deus ex" involved, but it was nevertheless very moving, and just like I will forgive rather a lot from big dumb action movies that entertain me, I can forgive quite a bit from books like this too (this is TOTALLY the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster, at least if you ignore the too long, super slow start).

In conclusion, as the start of a new series, I liked it more than I liked Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses. Now, Maas completely blew me away with book 2 of ACoToR, so I have high hopes that this series may improve exponentially now that the parameters of this new fantasy world have been established.

Judging a book by its cover: I know Maas herself loves this cover, and it's certainly elaborate. I just think that there may have been too much red used, and honestly have trouble making out all the details. I can see why the intention to make it look as if the cover image is pretty much saturated with blood is there, there's some pretty bloody and gruesome murders to be solved over the course of this book, but it seems like the various intricacies of the cover image might have been easier to distinguish if there wasn't quite so much red.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR12 Book 1: "Archangel's Viper" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 367 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This is book 10 in an ongoing series, so really not the place to start. The first book in the series is Angels' Blood. This review will contain some spoilers for that book.

Holly Chang, who for a while renamed herself Sorrow, was the only survivor of the terrible carnage perpetrated when the archangel Uram went crazy and kidnapped her and all her friends and proceeded to torture and kill most of them. He forced Holly not only to drink his blood, but to watch the atrocities he visited on her friends. The archangel of New York, Raphael, challenge and defeated Uram in a battle above New York, his consort Elena becoming an angel in the process. Elena, a former Guild Hunter, also found and rescued Holly, who was forever changed by her ordeal, not just emotionally, but physically.

Not really a vampire, but certainly not entirely human either, Holly now has lightning reflexes, small fangs, can paralyse her victims with extremely potent venom and while she enjoys and still consumes human food, she also has to drink blood to not lose control. While she's worked to process her traumas, reconnected with her family and is working with the Tower to help the less fortunate in society (so she can feel useful, and the Tower can make sure she doesn't lose control, Holly still feels like she's being kept on too tight a leash, while also being terrified of the changes she's still experiencing inside. She doesn't dare tell anyone of the strange voice that seems to be speaking to her, for fear that she will be deemed crazy and put down for the safety of everyone.

The only other individual working for the Tower with any understanding of venomous toxins and bloodlust is Venom, one of Raphael's Seven, the ones closest to him and most trusted. Turned into a vampire in India by the archangel Neha after she discovered he seemed to be immune to snake venom, Venom is a wholly unique creature, a vampire with snake eyes, whose saliva is also highly venomous. Interestingly, the Tower scientists have concluded that Holly and Venom's toxins cancel each other out. While they are both extremely dangerous to most others, they are immune to one another. Hence Venom has been given special responsibility in Holly's training, and adores frustrating and teasing her every chance he gets. For the past few years, their weekly lessons have been by phone, but now Venom is back in New York.

While Holly finds Venom extremely annoying, she cannot deny that he, like all of Raphael's Seven, is also gorgeous and very attractive. If she's being totally honest with herself, he also seems like the only one who doesn't treat her like a victim or some volatile thing about to explode and that he does seem to have useful things to teach her. Venom and Holly have to spend a lot more time in each others' company once it becomes clear that someone has put a five million dollar bounty on Holly's head. She's to be taken alive, and it seems very likely that the reason she's to be abducted is because someone wants to to figure out exactly what surviving Uram did to change her physically. Venom is assigned as her bodyguard, and the two work together to find out who's hunting her.

During their search, it's clear that whatever alien thing is within Holly is trying to manifest in some way. She starts having acid green lines glowing on her chest, and the voice inside her is becoming more insistent. Holly has no choice but to confide in Venom and Dimitri, the head of Raphael's Seven, and they need to figure out if she's going to be overtaken by whatever bloodlust drove Uram crazy.

I finished this at around 2.30 am on January 1st 2020, meaning I can count it both as my last book of 2019 (anything finished before sleep belongs to the day before - them's the rules), but also don't feel too bad about reviewing it as my first entry in Cannonball 12. Based on what a scramble it was for me to reach the double in the final days of December, I'm not going to have the luxury to skip reviewing anything I read this year (I'm aiming for a single Cannonball, but hoping for a double).

The Guild Hunter books started out focusing on Elena Devereaux, a smart and fierce warrior who through extremely unusual circumstances became an angel (believed to be impossible) and fell in love with the archangel Raphael. Some of the books in the series focus on her and Raphael and the wider changes going on in the world and the complicated politics between the archangels. Other books in the series, such as Archangel's Blade, Archangel's Storm and Archangel's Enigma focus more one particular member of Raphael's Seven, and how they end up with the love of their life. There is also Archangel's Shadows, about Elena's fellow hunter Ashwini and how she gets her man. The quality of the various instalment vary, and how interested you are in the protagonists in question absolutely play into how effective the books end up being.

In the case of Holly and Venom, the romance very much takes the backseat to the twin mysteries of what exactly is happening to Holly and what the changes she's going through will mean, and figuring out who wants to kidnap her and why. Venom always seemed overly arrogant and smug to me, and as I find snakes kind of unnerving, he wasn't exactly one of the supporting characters that appealed to me all that much. Holly has appeared as a supporting characters in a few of the books, as she works through her horrible trauma and tires to reclaim her life.

Venom insists on calling her "Kitty", "Kitten" or "Hollyberry", all to get a rise out of her. Even when Holly repeatedly asks him not to, he keeps up this "fun" game, which got really tiresome to me. Good-natured ribbing is one thing, but continuing with patronising nicknames despite the express wishes of the other person in question is akin to bullying and a d*ck move. I seriously think he calls her by her actual name exactly once in the entire book. Another frustrated book reviewer on Goodreads claims that he calls her variations on kitty/kitten over ninety times over the course of the book. The really bad thing is that a few of the other supporting characters do it too, and he has the gall to be annoyed, because that's HIS thing. Urgh

For enemies to lovers to work, I need to be convinced that the initial antagonism and dislike stems in part from repressed feelings, which I really didn't get here. Venom seems to consider Holly more as a child than a grown woman in the early chapters, although he keeps having to re-check his assumptions. Holly finds Venom a pain in the ass, and considering the way he keeps patronising her and ignoring her wishes, that's not really surprising. Once Venom notices that Holly seems terrified of really using her new abilities, he starts pushing her and showing her that repressing will probably be more harmful in the long run than exploring her them in a controlled environment.

One of the things I really did like with the book was Holly's interactions with her family, who love her profusely no matter how different she is now, as well as with her new found family at the Tower. Venom's flashbacks back to his own family and how he ended up being turned into a vampire were also interesting, and I would have liked him a lot more if Singh hadn't insisted on him keeping up the "kitty"-thing throughout.

The next two books in the series (I'm really quite a ways behind, I used to read one of these a year) both seem to focus more on the bigger picture and Raphael and Elena again. I should probably get round to reading those at some point.

Judging a book by a cover: Oh heavens, does the cover model they've gotten to portray Venom look smug and self-satisfied and douchy on this. Which to be fair, seems pretty in character. I think the only think they should possibly have changed is the style of sunglasses, these don't really look like the wrap-around ones that Venom keeps being described as wearing.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR11 Book 86: "Midnight Crossroad" by Charlaine Harris

Page count: 320 pages
Audio book length: 9 hrs 26 mins

Official book description:
Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...

I really have read a LOT of Charlaine Harris' books. For my sins, I managed to force myself through the entirety of her Sookie Stackhouse series, just to see how it would end, long after I derived any enjoyment from them anymore. I've read her Lily Bard books, where apparently the character Bobo Whinthrop originates (I don't remember him, or much of the plot of the books at all). I have also read all of her Harper Connolly books, where Manfred Bernardo first appears (I vaguely remember him, but nothing of consequence). Generally, I find Harris' books perfectly entertaining while I'm reading them (except some of the later Sookie books, that pretty much just annoyed me), but shortly after reading them, I remember little to nothing of the plots.

Midnight Crossroad, which was adapted into the TV series Midnight, Texas on NBC (cancelled after two seasons) features a bunch of peculiar individuals living in the little town of Midnight in, you guessed it, Texas. Manfred Bernardo, a genuine psychic who makes his living telling fortunes over the phone and internet, moves there after the death of his grandmother. His new landlord is Bobo Winthrop, owner of the local pawnshop. One of Bobo's other tenants is a vampire, who lives with a gorgeous, but apparently very dangerous woman who travels a lot. There's Fiji Kavanaugh, who is a very powerful witch, but hides her actual powers by running a magic shop full of nick knacks. She has a talking cat. There's a nice gay couple, the rather strange reverend who gives non-denominational services at the local chapel (and conducts a lot of pet funerals), and Manfred falls pretty hard for Creek Lovell, the beautiful young woman whose overprotective father runs the gas station.

Harris' books always have a mystery element to them, as well. In this book, there's a group of neo nazis trying to harass Bobo, because they believe he knows the location of his crazy grandfather's legendary weapons arsenal. There's also a dead body found about a third of the way through the story, which turns out to belong to Bobo's ex-girlfriend, who he believed got sick of him and just up and left him one day. No one really believes that Bobo is guilty of murdering her, but it still takes quite a lot of time to figure out the guilty party.

As well as having been on my TBR list for years and years, this book fit into my Monthly Keyword Challenge in October. I listened to it on audiobook and it was perfectly fine, but really nothing more than that. Now, a month and a half later, I am hard pressed to remember any particular details - although I really did like Fiji's cat a lot - and the lisping way the narrator voiced him. My records show that over the years, I've acquired the entire series in various e-book sales, so I will most likely read the second two books eventually, as well, but I'm in no particular hurry to do so.

Judging a book by its cover: As with a lot of books, this one comes with several different versions of cover art. I think I like this one, with it's weird, crooked bird's eye view (which gives me a headache if I look at it for too long) of parts of the little town is my least favourite. Still, I own it in e-book, so it's not like I'll actually look at the cover a lot. I suspect Harris could sell books no matter what the cover art actually looks like.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR10 Book 64: "Outcast" by Adrienne Kress

Page count: 322 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

#CBR10 Bingo: Backlog (on my TBR list since June 2013)

Riley Carver lives in a little town somewhere in the Southern USA. For the past six years, on a particular day, angels come from the heavens and take away some of the townspeople. One year ago, the angels took Riley's best friend, almost boyfriend, Chris. So she's refusing to to leave the house (even though the whole town is supposed to the public celebration - or face strong censure), and when she sees an angel in the backyard, she shoots it in the face. Imagine her surprise when she finds a hot naked guy in place of the angel. Riley locks the unconscious guy in her father's tool shed, determined to question him when he wakes up.

Turns out, the hot naked guy has absolutely no memory of being an angel, and can't tell Riley a thing about where they go or why they're abducting townspeople every year. In fact, Gabe McClure thinks it's still the 1950s, which is apparently when he was snatched by the angels. Obviously, Riley can't keep him locked up in the shed for ever, so she gets him some clothes and soon he's used his charm to convince her mother he's been hired as a handyman and promised room and board, and he enrols in Riley's school and becomes super popular with his good looks and general James Dean vibe.

Gabe doesn't seem to take all that long to adjust to modern times, and while he and Riley don't spend a lot of time together in school, they work together to try to figure out the mystery of the angels and the kidnappings in their spare time. Why did the angels snatch a group of people in 1956 and then no one for another fifty years or so? Why are they returning annually now? Is the creepy Pastor Warren in league with the angels somehow? How can Riley and her motley band of allies (because of course she recruits some) get the missing townspeople back?

Ah, the joys of reviewing something about a month and a half after I actually finished it. Luckily, the plot of Outcast is quite memorable, even though I can't give you the names of specific supporting characters or an exact time frame without looking stuff up (and I really can't be bothered).

The "outcast" of the title can refer to Riley just as easily as Gabe. Riley isn't exactly one of the popular people at school and really only had one friend, Chris, who gave her a kiss about a week before he was taken by the angels, and Riley doesn't even know if she could have loved him, because he's just gone and she's had to mourn and miss him for a whole year, growing steadily angrier. Initially, she's a little bit too convinced of her own superiority and seems to almost look down on her fellow high schoolers, but she warms up and makes some new friends as the story progresses.

Gabe (for those keeping count, I think this is the third book this year that I've read where the hero is a Gabe or a Gabriel) was a bit of a bad boy, who lived on the "wrong side" of town and mainly spent his time with the poor, black people who lived nearby before he was taken. He suspects one of the reasons nobody knew about the angel abduction in the 50s was because he was the only white person to disappear, nobody much cared about the people who went missing.

While I enjoyed this book and the angels turned out to be both mysterious and a bit creepy, my biggest problem is that the story doesn't feel finished. This very much has the feel of the first book in a series. There's a lot of stuff we discover about Riley that's never adequately explained, the romance in the latter third with Gabe is very rushed, and the conclusion just screams the need for at least one sequel. According to comments online, it seems this was always supposed to be a duology, and  the story certainly ends on a cliff hanger. Sadly, five years later, Ms Kress still hasn't produced a sequel, and so this book frustratingly stand alone and the story is unfinished.


Judging a book by its cover: This cover actually does a pretty good job of evoking some of the elements of the story. The silhouette of Gabe and Riley on his lovingly restored motorcycle against the romantic sky (possibly after their date) with angel wings outlined in the sky above them. It's not bad at all, in fact.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR9 Book 11: "Archangel's Heart" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 396 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

This is book 9 in a series. It's really not the place to start. If you want to join in at the beginning, start with Angels' Blood.

Two years have passed since the last book in the series, and Elena is slowly growing stronger, even though she's virtually a baby in angel terms. The Cascade seems to be on hold, and all the archangels are trying to investigate what exactly is going on in China in the murderous Lijuan's territory. Has she gone to ground, into (hopefully) centuries long sleep? Her generals claim she's still very much in power, but the amount of uncontrolled vampire activity in her lands seems to suggest otherwise.

Raphael and the other archangels are summoned to Morocco, to the legendary compound of Lumia, where an ancient and independent order of angels called the Luminata rule. When such a summons comes, no archangel can refuse. As his consort, Elena naturally comes as well, and they also bring the still emotionally vulnerable Aodhan with them as security. While the Cadre of archangels meet to discuss what to do about Lijuan and her territory, Elena and Aodhan investigate Lumia, and come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong there. Strangely, it may have something to do with Elena's past, and truths she never suspected about her family.

I've been reading this series for a long time now. Unlike some fans, who seem to adore the Raphael and Elena-focused books, I tend to much prefer the ones that focus on other couples. Raphael and Elena have already found their HEA and while it's nice to check in with them and see that they're still incredibly devoted to one another, this book especially felt a bit insubstantial. It's a bridging book while Singh gets around to figuring out what's going to happen with the upcoming Cascade and its repercussions.

If you're looking for some sort of analysis of character development or the like, look elsewhere. There really isn't much. Raphael is still very protective. Elena is fierce. They adore each other. Everyone is still worried about Aodhan, without actually revealing what sort of horrors he lived through that traumatised him so. Oh yeah, and he of all the freakishly beautiful angels he is especially stunning, since he looks like he's covered in crushed diamonds (I'm pretty sure that would be more distracting to look at than pretty, but what do I know?) Raphael's mother has a voice that can spellbind mortals and angels if she feels like it. Hannah the angel consort is nice, Michaela is still a total beyotch. No one knows if she's been pregnant or not. 

Possibly because this book felt more filler than some others, I was once again struck by how incredibly, inhumanly attractive absolutely everyone in this world is. With so many freakishly attractive supernaturals existing around them, ordinary humans must have to wear extra strength sunglasses just to not be blinded by the gorgeousness of every angel, vampire or other supernatural creature they see. Seriously, no one appears to be ugly in this world, at least not appearance-wise. I'd love it for Singh to write a book about a plain-looking or slightly chubby supernatural soon. But no, it appears it's going to be the snake guy and the traumatised vampire attack victim.

Judging a book by its cover: As all of these books that feature Raphael and Elena, the cover has an illustration of Elena, with her distinctive multi-coloured wings, her long pale hair and her arsenal of weapons. This time, she's wearing a sparkly formal gown and looking murderous (which considering her discoveries in the book is not all that surprising. There's certainly no doubt to anyone seeing this cover that it's an urban/paranormal fantasy novel.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 98: "Archangel's Enigma" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is book 8 in a series, not the place to start. There is far too much stuff in this book furthering the ongoing story arc for this to be an especially satisfying book to start the series with. Start at the beginning with Angels' Blood.

There are dark rumours that Lijuan, the Archangel of Death, is about to murder one of the sleeping Ancients (powerful archangels who have gone to ground to sleep for millennia so as to stave off insanity). As this goes against everything angelkind considers holy, Raphael sends one of his trusted Seven, the mysterious Naasir, his most skilled tracker, to find the sleeping place of Alexander. Naasir has decided that so many others in his family have found happiness with their mates, he too wants one. He's been searching for seven months, with no luck, but will postpone his quest for his mate to aid his archangel.

Andromeda is a young angelic scholar, fifteen days away from coming of age (when she turns 400). The granddaughter of the archangel Charismemnon, dealer of poisons, disease, pain and debauchery, Andromeda fled his court and has been working to prove herself at the Refuge, devoted to learning, record keeping and all manner of other scholarly arts so despised by the kin at her grandfather's court. She knows that on her birthday, she has to return, bound to serve there for five hundred years, a service she dreads with every fibre of her being. Because her specialised field of study is the burial places of the Ancients, Andromeda is asked to help Naasir locate Alexander. At first she is startled by his strange manner and mysterious origins, but it doesn't take long before they form a bond - making the thought of five hundred years away from him seem even more unbearable to Andromeda.

 It's clear that while working on furthering the plot of the ongoing arc of these books, the building war between Raphael and Lijuan, the dangers of the ongoing Cascade, the changes and threats to angel-, vampire- and humankind, Nalini Singh is also determined to have fun, playing around with different sub-genres. Archangel's Shadows was mostly a police procedural, this is an adventure novel, with a quest and a chase against time at its centre. Andromeda and Naasir are the unlikely pair who have to join forces, solve the puzzles and finish the quest before their rivals catch up to them. Yet there is also the complication of Andromeda's family obligations and the service she's expected to offer at her grandfather's court. The book doesn't end when the quest is complete, there is more to solve before the two lovers can have their HEA.

Naasir's origins have always been a mystery. He is clearly unique, in that he appears to be both a vampire, yet not. He has silver eyes and hair and an unparallelled ability to track. He can sprout claws, seems to occasionally purr and in previous books, there have been hints that he may sport stripes in the right light. He is both a ferociously efficient hunter and almost childlike in his manner. His found family means everything to him, and those close to him hold him in great affection. In this book, his brutal and heart-breaking origins are revealed, and it's clear why there is only one of him. I have always liked Naasir as a supporting character in the previous books, and he was a wonderful hero in this.

Born into the court of the Archangel of plague and pestilence, with parents who went out of their way to break any sexual, physical or moral taboo, Andromeda had enough and fled while she was still considered too young to take care of herself. Lying about her obligations to her family, she found a new home in the archives of the Refuge, immersing herself in ancient texts and languages, doing her very best to forget the day when she has to return. Yet knowing she can't be weak, she's been training herself in martial arts and swordplay, so she can defend herself when she finally has to return. Because of the debauched surroundings she grew up in, Andromeda has sworn a vow of celibacy, only to be broken if she is presented with an ancient Grimoire, believed to have been lost forever. Before she meets Naasir, Andromeda never had cause to regret her vow for a second.

Naasir initially doubts that Andi, as he calls her, can be his mate. She appears soft and bookish and no mate of his would swear a vow of celibacy. He quickly discovers that the angel has secrets, however, and that there is much more to her than he first expected. As the two grow closer, and their attraction to each other increases, Andromeda declares herself willing to break her vow for Naasir. He refuses to let her, because he's learned that it is imperative to keep one's promises, especially to oneself and swears he will track down her stupid Grimoire, and afterwards, she will let him do whatever he pleases. She willingly agrees, hoping that he can fulfil his promise before she has to start her forced servitude in her grandfather's court and give him up for centuries.


For all the darkness that is spreading in the the universe of these books, and for all the pain in both Naasir and Andromeda's past, their courtship is a playful one and this book was so much fun. It's by far my favourite of the Guild Hunter books since probably the second book in the series. I hope that some of the lightness can continue in future books, even as the overall story takes a more serious turn.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 96: "Archangel's Shadows" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is book 7 in an ongoing series, and as such, not the place to start reading. This review will contain some spoilers for the previous books in the series, because it's impossible not to mention some of the things that have happened before this book began. The first book in the series is Angels' Blood and I highly recommend it.

After the devestating attacks on New York, archangel Raphael and his consort Elena are trying to re-group, rebuild and calm the population. When a dessicated body is found, it looks like it was killed in a way reminiscent of how Lijuan, the insane archangel who tried to destroy New York, Raphael and his people, would drain her victims completely of life force to gain strength. Releasing the news of the body would only cause panic, so the death needs to be investigated with subtlety and stealth. Ashwini, one of Elena's old Guild Hunter colleagues is recovering from a near-fatal cut she sustained during the battle and is eager and willing to do some investigating. Like all Guild Hunters, Ashwini is a skilled tracker and can handle herself in a fight. She's also gifted and sometimes haunted with the ability to sense the secrets, memories and experiences of those she touches, often suffering terrible nightmares after just brushing against someone by accident. With older immortals, like some of the angels or vampires in the city, she doesn't even need to touch, their mere presence is enough to trigger her visions.

One of the few people who doesn't affect her in such a way is Janvier, the centuries old Cajun vampire who has sometimes been her target, but more often her ally. He has wanted Ashwini since the first time he saw her, and as the years have passed and they have sparred, flirted and co-operated more frequently, his feelings for her have only grown. She keeps him at a distance, but after she nearly died in the battle for New York, Janvier is determined to never leave her side. He knows that there are secrets in her past that make her reluctant to take their relationship to the next level, but having lived for centuries, he's not averse to waiting a while for her to make up her mind. Now they need to track down the monster who slowly tortured and murdered a young woman, making sure her killer doesn't hurt anyone else.

Unlike in most of the books in this series, Ashwini and Janvier already know each other well by the start of the book. Their first encounter involved Ashwini having to hunt down the vampire, who had gone rogue from his angel master and him leading her on a merry chase through the bayou of Louisiana. Over the course of the series, Janvier has gone to work for Raphael, the archangel of New York and he and Ashwini are allies rather than antagonists. There has always been strong attraction and sexual tension between them, but due to her abilities, Ashwini keeps herself from getting too close to anyone. While Janvier is one of the individuals she can be around, and who seems to actually keep her grounded, she can't bring herself to actually initiate a relationship with him, as there are secrets in her past that make it impossible for her to commit to anyone.

Janvier loves Ashwini and is none too happy that she nearly died recently. He wants to spend the rest of his immortal life with her, but due to the effect of older immortals on her abilities, Ashwini hates the idea of being turned into a vampire. She's worried it will amplify her powers, causing her to go insane from the sensory input. So she keeps flirting with Janvier, but taking it no further. Her near-death experience and the tender care that her Cajun took of her while she was recovering makes her want to tell him the full truth about why they can't be toghether. She's just terrified that the truth will drive him away forever.

While a lot of the previous books in the series (especially the ones focused primarily on Raphael and Elena) have driven the story arc forward, this is a quieter book, with a murder investigation in its centre. While trying to negotiate the new status of their relationship, Janvier and Ashwini try to identify the withered husk of a woman they found in a dumpster, so they can narrow down the suspects and discover who murdered her. Because the way she was killed is so similar to Lijuan's power, the Tower is very determined to track the guilty party quickly. As they keep investigating, it seems the murder of the young woman might be connected to a strange new drug that causes uncontrollable blood lust among the vampires in the city. All signs point to someone further trying to destabilize Raphael's territory, making his subjects feel unsafe.

There have been some hit and miss books in the series, but the last few, this included, I have very much enjoyed. I liked that Ash and her Cajun already knew each other well and that they just needed to figure out a way to really be together, without any of the drama of falling in love and acknowledging their new feelings. There is a big, established supporting cast in these books, including Raphael and Elena, and the vampires and angels that make up Raphael's most loyal followers, the Seven. Now several of them have spouses of their own, and it's clear that Naasir, the most feral and mysterious of all of them is ready to find a special someone of his own. I like that Elena is so determined to discover what he is, which seems to be some sort of cat shapeshifter/vamprire hybrid. I'm very much looking forward to discovering the truth behind his origins and who his intended turns out to be.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 37: "Dreams of Gods and Monsters" by Laini Taylor

Page count: 624 pages
Rating: 4.5 stars

This is the third and concluding volume in a trilogy. I'm not sure I can actually review it without spoiling some of the previous books, so if you haven't read them, skip this for now. Do check out the previous two books, though, as they are YA fantasy at its best. Book 1, Daughter of Smoke and Bone is reviewed here, and book 2, Days of Blood and Starlight is here. I can also heartily recommend the companion novella Night of Cake and Puppets for those who have read the first two books, but possibly not discovered this delightful interlude giving us the first date of Zuzanna and her Violin Boy.

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil pressed their hands to their hearts and started the apocalypse."

The last book, which was surprisingly dark and grim all the way through, considering how whimsical, mysterious and quite light the first book was. It certainly ended in a pretty dark and foreboding place, and the beginning of book three doesn't exactly promise puppies, kittens, sweetness and rainbows. Karou and Akiva have proposed an alliance between the remaining chimaera and the Misbegotten seraphs against Jael and his Dominion, and now they need to get both sides, enemies for millennia, to agree and accept. The fate of humanity and probably both their races is at stake. How can such an alliance be achieved, without bloodshed on either side? Even if they do succeed in forging a tentative detente, they are badly outnumbered against Jael's forces.

On Earth, the world is in uproar upon the arrival of angels. How is Eliza, a young grad student, plagued by horrible nightmares, connected with the visitors? Is it all an elaborate hoax? Who are the angels and what do they want? Why does their spokesman have such a strangely disfigured shadow?

Karou and Akiva are not aware that there are other challenges facing them as well. There is a mysterious and deadly young seraph queen hunting for Akiva, and the sky itself is starting to bruise. Will they ever live to see the fulfilment of their long ago dream, and is there any hope that with the fragile stalemate they are attempting to forge, they might also find a way to forgive each other?

I had massive expectations for this book, not helped in the slightest by Jen K's Cannonball review of the book. It was originally due for publication in 2013, but I'm glad the publishers gave Laini Taylor more time to complete the book, as concluding her trilogy was a monumental task. I'm so glad and relieved to say that it surpassed even my hopes. The book starts in a dark place, with the characters facing nearly impossible odds. Taylor alternates the story between Earth, our beloved protagonists in Eretz and other places in Eretz where its clear that seriously bad things are afoot. What in the world is powerful enough to bruise the sky? The sense of doom is so overpowering. I kept reading while nearly holding my breath, putting the book down every so often and reading something else, because if I didn't keep reading, bad things couldn't happen to the characters I loved. Of course, I wasn't able to stay away for long, reading on desperate to see what would happen next, and what incredible twists and turns Taylor would take the story in next.

There are new characters introduced here, and while it can seem frustrating to read about them at first, all the pieces fall into place in the end, in a beautiful jigsaw puzzle. The readers are finally allowed to discover how the portals between worlds occurred in the first place, and it makes the whole trilogy if possible even more tragic and poignant. I'm in awe of Taylor's writing, how she manages to keep the reader on edge, balancing the light and the dark, the funny with the sad, interspersing the heavy sense of doom with glimpses of hope and promises of redemption. There are no simple answers here. The characters feel real, with feelings, motivations and emotions. I cared deeply for them, and can't wait to go back and re-read the trilogy as a whole, seeing Taylor's ambitious fantasy vision played out in full.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 5: "Archangel's Legion" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 384 pages
Rating: 3 stars

This is book 6 in the series, and as such, not the best place to start reading. If you're really interested in the series, start at the beginning with Angels' Blood.

During a terrifying five minute time period, birds and angels start plummeting from the sky, leaving almost half of the archangel Raphael's forces incapacitated. Shortly after, his consort, the Guild Hunter Elena, discovers a mysterious and highly infectious disease that impossibly enough only targets vampires. All over the world, other archangels are developing new and terrifying powers that could be used for further warfare, while Raphael so far seems only to be developing healing abilities. Is it his relationship with Elena that's keeping him from becoming more powerful?

Elena and Raphael have to discover which of the other archangel or angels are causing the attacks, and figure out a way to stop them before New York is lost.

As well as dealing with the external threats to her and Raphael's home city, Elena is trying to force her father to accept that her younger half-sister Eve is also hunter born (basically driven by an urge to fight supernatural creatures and track down vampires), and let her have the proper training. Her father is threatening to have the girl sent away to Europe to keep her safe, and in their heated arguments, Elena discovers secrets about her family she never suspected. She's also trying to figure out how to properly be the consort to an archangel, while many of the archangels consider her a mere plaything for Raphael.

I very much enjoyed the early books in this series, while some of the later ones, which have focused on members of Raphael's Seven, his core advisers and lieutenants. In this, the focus is wholly back on Elena, the vampire hunter turned angel and her immortal and immensely powerful archangel. There are a lot of tensions, and war seems inevitable. There are various interesting developments over the course of the book, suggesting changes to come. I'll probably keep reading the series, but I'm no longer waiting impatiently for each new release.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR4 Book 98: "Days of Blood and Starlight" by Laini Taylor

Page count: 528 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: November 6th, 2012
Date finished: November 8th, 2012

This is the second book in a trilogy, and it will contain spoilers for The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. So if you haven't read that book, skip this review, and come back when you've read both books. The review will be here when you're done, I promise.

Everyone still here, any spoilers are your own responsibility. In the previous book, Karou, teenage blue-haired artist of mysterious origins and raised by monstrous creatures, met a strikingly beautiful angel who tried to kill her on their first encounter, and then they fell in love. Akiva, the angel in question, had a history with Karou, although neither of them realised it at first. Once Akiva discovered Karou's true identity, and revealed it to her, their future together was pretty much doomed.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a mystery story of star-crossed lovers, and ended on a hell of a cliffhanger. Days of Blood and Starlight can be summed up as: What if Juliet woke up in the crypt after   her days asleep, and discovered that Romeo had not killed himself when he believed her dead, but instead gone on a revenge rampage, killing her closest family, destroyed her city, and aided in the attempted genocide and enslavement of her entire people? Because that's pretty much where Karou is now. How do you forgive the man you love after something like that? How do you, if you're Akiva, ever make amends?

This book is not a love story, it's a story about defiance, and rebellion, warfare, heartbreak, disillusionment and angst. There are some brighter episodes, mainly provided by Mik and Suzanna, Karou's human friends who are adorable and hopeful and optimistic to the point of silliness, really. Even when confronted with the dangerous and painful reality of Karou's new life, Suzanna stays so perky I wanted to shake her.

Karou's existence is one of loneliness, pain and regret, working herself to near exhaustion to help what is left of the Chimera rebel against the tyrannous Seraphim. Akiva, reunited with his siblings in an elite Seraphim army unit, believes Karou to be dead (again) and knows that the things he was brought up to believe are all lies. Both races have endured a millennium of hate and warfare, and there is no end in sight. With Karou, he once dared to dream of something different, and better, but their dreams are all ashes, partially because of his own actions.

It's a huge departure from the tone and feel of the first book, and a brave thing to do with a young adult book. The vast amount of dystopian young adult fiction out there shows that Taylor isn't the only one to see that teens can take their fair share of bleakness, death and angst. While this book was bleak, I was pretty much as gripped by the story as I was by the first book, and I'm deeply impressed that Taylor explores the very real consequences of Akiva's seemingly unforgivable actions. With the trend of former villainous characters turned heroes begun with Buffy the Vampire Slayer (exactly how many people did Angelus  and Spike really kill in their years as evil vampires, and how quick was Buffy to forgive and forget all that), it's nice to see someone taking a different approach. He may have been the love of her life, but can (and should) Karou forgive the horrific things that Akiva did out of grief and rage, believing her dead forever?

It's understandable that Karou has been changed by the revelations in the previous book, but I was still sad to see her literally a cowed shadow of her former self. She is a little bit to quick to take things on surface value, and not question the situation around her, just because she feels guilty and partially responsible for the attack on the attack on the Chimera capital. Karou in Daughter of Smoke and Bone was strong, independent, brave and defiant, not so much in this book. I did like the introduction of new characters, both on the chimera and angel side of things. Akiva's siblings were an especially good addition.

Something completely different than I was expecting, but still very well written, and very engrossing, I'm now very curious to see what Taylor is planning for the final volume of her trilogy. Having written two such very different books in the series so far, and with the events set up towards the end of this story, no matter what happens, it's going to be interesting. I'm honestly not sure if she intends for all this to have a happy ending, and I have trouble seeing exactly how she'd achieve it, but I'm certain that come next year, I'll be eagerly anticipating the next book.

CBR4 Book 82: "Archangel's Storm" by Nalini Singh

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: September 7th, 2012
Date finished: September 10th, 2012

This book is the fifth in a series, and will most likely contain spoilers for previous books the Guild Hunter series. So avoid if you dislike that sort of thing. Also, this book refers back to a lot of characters and events in the previous four books, so it's probably not the best one to start with. The first one in the series is Angel's Blood.

Jason is one of the archangel Raphael's Seven, the angels and vampires who work for him and that he trusts implicitly with his business and security. Jason is his spymaster, and can literally fade into the shadows and move unnoticed in the places he visits, should he wish to do so. Jason also has a type of psychic power where he can hear whispers on the wind. He's quiet, deadly, and extremely aloof, unable to fully engage with the world around him, due to some seriously horrific experiences as a child. A lot of Nalini Singh's characters have troubled pasts, Jason's is worse than most.

At the wedding of another member of the Seven, hears a whisper on the wind alerting him that the archangel of India, Neha (who has the power over snakes and poisons), has lost her consort Eris, and it appears to be murder. Neha hates Raphael after her murderous daughter was caught breaking the laws of angelkind and executed - but she'd love to steal Jason away to her court, so when Raphael offers to send his spymaster to India to investigate the murder, Neha accepts. She wants Jason to swear a blood oath, ensuring he can't reveal any secrets of her household without forswearing herself. Being bound to Raphael, Jason refuses at first, but a compromise is made. Jason is to swear to princess Mahiya, Neha's niece, thus making it safe for him to explore Neha's palaces and grounds to find the killer, without betraying any of her business to Raphael.

Mahiya seems like a timid and weak angel, but Jason soon discovers that she has a quiet strength that has helped her endure centuries of her aunt's displeasure. The daughter of Neha's consort Eris and her twin sister Nivriti, Mahiya is a constant reminder to Neha of the betrayal of her most loved ones, and she's put the princess through all manner of torture, both physical and emotional. Mahiya has endured, silently, plotting quietly and planning to get away. She's afraid that the blood bond with the deadly spymaster will jeopardise her plans, but discovers that she may instead have found an ally. As the two work together to discover the identity of the murderer, who is not content to stop at one victim, Mahiya and Jason are drawn towards each other. But Jason has had all capacity for tender emotion burned out of him by the horrors in his past - is there any possibility of a shared future for them? And will Neha ever let Mahiya leave her court?

While I much preferred this book to the previous one, Archangel's Blade, I wish that Singh had focused entirely on Jason and Mahiya's story, rather than interrupting the main plot every so often with subplots having to do with Raphael or Dimitri (hero of the previous novel) and his preparations for turning his wife into a vampire. It added absolutely nothing to the story, instead it kept distracting me from the flow of the main plot, and I don't entirely understand why, if this was vital to the plot of the next book, the readers couldn't be let in on it in flashback then. Singh does really good flashbacks. From the prologue of the book, continued in little glimpses throughout, revealing a little bit more every time, we are shown why Jason has become the man he is, until he finally reveals it in the last third of the book. Both he and Mahiya have experienced terrible things, which makes it even more remarkable that Mahiya has retained hope and a stubborn insistence on forgiveness and softness, refusing to give in to hate and bitterness.

I liked the couple a lot, and their romance was slow to build. The murder mystery, however, I figured out a little bit too soon for my liking. I like when mysteries actually take a bit of figuring out, because if I can solve them so easily, why would it take the characters so much longer? If Jason's as capable and brilliant as he's said to be, it shouldn't have taken him so long to come to the same conclusion I did.

While I really liked the first two books in the series, I've had complaints with the last three, and if it wasn't for the excellent world building, and the fact that I really did enjoy this one quite a lot, I would be considering stopping. At this rate, I will give Singh one more chance to win her way back into my good graces (after all, I'm still reading Charlaine Harris), and hope that the next one is back to the form of the early ones.

CBR4 Book 77: "Thirteen" by Kelley Armstrong

Page count: 409 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: August 19th, 2012
Date finished: August 21st, 2012

This is the final book (at least so far) in Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series, and anyone who hasn't read Kelley Armstrong before, would be better off starting with Bitten, Dime Store Magic, Haunted, Personal Demon or Spell Bound.

Thirteen starts pretty much immediately after the cliffhanger ending of Waking the Witch. Savannah Levine has rescued her half-brother from a renegade group of supernaturals determined to reveal their existence to the world. They've injected Savannah's half-brother with some something containing the DNA of several supernatural races, and it's making him really sick. Savannah and her friends need to make sure that the Supernatural Liberation Movement don't succeed in their plan, but with powerful forces involved, both on the demonic and angelic sides, the struggle could turn into an all-out war, and that would be very bad for humans and supernaturals alike.

As a fan of Kelley Armstrong since 2004, it was both nice and a bit strange to read Thirteen, the culmination of all her Women of the Otherworld books. Like the previous book in the series, this book features pretty much every major character in the series, both protagonists of previous books and a large cast of supporting characters. As such, I doubt it'll be very satisfying to anyone for whom this is their first foray into Armstrong's supernatural universe. Armstrong writes good heroines, and no one can say that she has cookie cutter characters. While the quality of the series has been a bit varied (I went off it for a bit, only to go back and rediscover why I loved it a few years back), this is a solid ending, and it was great to see all the former heroines and heroes working together towards a common goal.

Savannah, who started out as a supporting character in Stolen and Dime Store Magic wasn't always a very likable character, and even annoyed me quite a bit in the previous two books in Armstrong's final trilogy. Yet it was obviously carefully calculated by the author, to show just how much growing and development the character had left to do. I'd rather a character had too many flaws, rather than none and it's always nice when they develop and mature into someone better after a series of trial and tribulations.

If you've read some or all of Armstrong's other books in this series, then you'll probably enjoy this one a lot. If you haven't, do yourself a favour and check out one of the earlier ones I mentioned, they're some of the finest paranormal fantasy out there.

CBR3 Book 86: "Daugther of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor (Read-a-thon 2011)

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Page count: 422 pages
Rating: 5 stars
Date begun: October 23rd, 2011
Date finished: October 23rd, 2011

"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well."

These are the opening words of A Daughter of Smoke and Bone and from the various rave reviews I'd read from the book, I thought I had some idea what to expect from the book. I didn't. Yes, this book is paranormal fantasy, and it's certainly partly geared towards a young adult audience, but it absolutely isn't Twilight or The Vampire Diaries or Vampire Academy or Wicked Lovely or any number of other successful romantic fantasy novels for teens. It's so much more, and I'm not even sure I can do it justice in a review - but I'll try.

17-year-old Karou is an orphan, living in Prague and attending an art college. Her friends know that she's secretive, and exotic, with her bright blue hair and tattoos, and they enjoy the wonderful creatures she draws on her ever-present sketchpad and the fanciful stories she tells about the places she supposedly visits in her spare time. They don't know that all her stories are true. When not being an art student, Karou runs errands for Brimstone, the seemingly monstrous creature who raised her, together with a host of other chimaera, half humanoid, half beast beings who have always been there for her, but refuse to tell her where she's actually from. Brimstone trades teeth from humans and every sort of animal known to man for wishes that can grant pretty much anything if they're big enough, and Karou has been all over the globe (the magic door in Brimstone's shop can take her anywhere) fetching everything from elephant tusks to snake fangs for him.

Lately, when she's off on her errands, she's noticed burned handprints over the doorways she uses to get back to Brimstone. She also has an encounter with a beautiful, but terrible angel, who tries to kill her when he realizes that she works for Brimstone. Desperate to figure out what is going on, Karou tries to spy on Brimstone when he walks through another door in his chambers, and she discovers a whole other world, but before she really gets a chance to explore, Brimstone catches her and throws her out. Before she has time to go back and beg his forgiveness, one of the tiny creatures who works for him, ends up at her window, dying of burns. The doorway to Brimstone's is on fire, and Karou is cut off from the only family she has ever known. When she encounters Akiva, the vengeful angel again, she no longer knows what to think, but it seems he might hold the answers to who she really is, and what has happened to her loved ones.

There is a love story in A Daughter of Smoke and Bone, where mortal enemies are inexplicably drawn to one another, and the romance was enough to take my breath away. There is also masterful storytelling and Laini Taylor does an amazing job with the world building. It helps that Prague, the initial location for the book, is a magical place even before you introduce paranormal elements. This was the last book I read during my Read-a-thon, and you'd think I'd be tired after reading for most of a weekend, but I couldn't put the book down.

Karou is a wonderful protagonist, mysterious, independent, inquisitive, strong and brave, yet also clearly a 17-year-old, who's not always nice, but can use the small wishes she gets in Brimstone's shop for petty things, like giving a girl she's jealous of a constant mono-brow, or giving her ex-boyfriend an itch in a really inconvenient place while he's nude modelling. She also uses her wishes for silly, frivolous things like turning her hair permanently blue, or removing tattoos she got on impulse. She's searching for the truth about her origins, not really happy when Brimstone and his associates keep them from her. However, when she finally does discover the truth about who she is, and where she came from, she understands why they kept the truth from her.

I don't want to say much more about the plot, because there are several twists and turns that should be not be spoiled. Readers should be aware that the story is by no means complete, and it ends on a big and emotionally gutting cliff hanger, which when I first put the book down made me like parts of it less. However, nearly a month after finishing the book, I'm still thinking about it all the time, and wanting desperately to find out what happens next. So I'm just going to recommend the book to as many people as I know, making sure they also read the book, and can share the painful wait for the next installment with me.

CBR3 Book 75: "Archangel's Blade" by Nalini Singh

Publisher: Berkley
Page count: 336 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: September 12th, 2011
Date finished: September 14th, 2011

This is the fourth novel in the Guild Hunter series, but can actually be read fairly independently from the other three. Still, for a more comprehensive understanding of the backstory of some of the characters, and a richer understanding of the world the story is set in, you may want to check out the three previous books, as well.

Dmitri is a vampire, and has been for nearly a thousand years. He's the archangel Raphael's right hand man, and controls the group of seven who guard and assist him. When the severed head of a newly turned vampire shows up with a mysterious, but distinctive tattoo, Dmitri knows that there is more to the case than just a simple scuffle. He needs help from the Guild of Vampire Hunters to decipher the symbols of the tattoo, however, and is intrigued at who they send to help him.

While a rogue archangel went crazy in New York, Honor St. Nicholas was kidnapped by a bunch of vampires and kept captive for months while they fed on her, tortured her and sexually assaulted her. She nearly died, but was saved by her colleagues in the Hunter's Guild, and has slowly been trying to build herself up again. Still scarred, both physically and mentally, she's not sure she's ready for an active assignment, but as one of the Guild's foremost experts on ancient texts and languages, she is the person Dmitri needs to identify the mysterious tattoo. Before her accident, Honor had a strange obsession with the powerful vampire, trying to find out as much as she could about him. Now she has to work closely with him, while trying to get over her fear of vampires.

Romances where the heroine is getting over a trauma are difficult. It's clear that at some point, the heroine needs to heal and get stronger, better and confident again, or there is no real chance of a Happy Ever After. Yet, hurry that recovery along too fast, and the story becomes unbelievable. Now, I'm not saying that I'm not willing to suspend my disbelief a bit when it comes to romance, far too many stories the couple fall madly and passionately in love and decide they want to spend the rest of their lives together in less time many would take to choose a room mate or select a new home, and because I'm entertained, and the story is well written, I'm willing to take that with a grain of salt. Here, however, quite a lot is made of the horrors that Honor experienced. She really did go through hell. She has trouble trusting anyone, even her closest friends. Yet a couple of meetings with Dmitri, and she's pretty much good as new, if not better than before. The main problem is that the story is set over too short a period of time. Had the story spanned several months, preferably longer, then yes, I might have been convinced that Dmitri could draw Honor out of her traumatized shell, and made her heal and realize that she was still strong and capable and that not all vampires and/or men were untrustworthy. This just went too fast.

There is also a subplot concerning Dmitri's long dead wife and family, and how remembering them is creating difficulties with regards to his attraction for Honor. I think the way Singh resolved this was a bit too "having your cake and eating it too", which felt like a bit of a cop out. I would have liked to see her be braver about the resolution of the romance, which would have made the ending feel stronger and more satisfying. All in all, this was an entertaining book, but clearly the weakest of the four Guild Hunter novels so far. I hope the next one is better.

CBR3 Book 50: "Something Deadly This Way Comes" by Kim Harrison

Publisher: HarperCollins
Page count: 256 pages
Rating. 3 stars
Date begun: June 18th, 2011
Date finished: June 19th, 2011

WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS IN THE SERIES!

This is the third book in a series. To get an impression of the general plot of the books, go read my review of book 2 in the series here, or start at the beginning with Once Dead, Twice Shy.


Madison is still struggling to get to grips with her role as the dark Timekeeper, and trying to prove that people's lives can be changed, and that the Dark Reapers don't have to kill a person to save their soul just as soon as their lives take a wrong turn. She has a vision that a teenage girl, Tammy, will lose her will to live and doom her soul once her brother dies in a fire, and goes to California with Nakita and Barnabas, her two Reapers, to convince her to stay home, but just appears to make things worse, at least to begin with. If she doesn't convince Tammy that her life is worth living quickly, she may be dooming her to die at the hands of another Dark Reaper.

Madison is also trying to learn how to control her amulet, and deal with her visions of the future of potentially cursed souls. She discovers that there may be a way of having her actual body back, but will also have to make the decision of whether she wants to continue as the Dark Timekeeper and keep trying to make a difference, or go back to being a normal teenage girl, with a normal life.

As Kim Harrison has now pretty much established the world of the Madison Avery books in her previous novels, she can focus on the main plot in this one. There's not that much added character development for Madison in the book, but we find out more about Barnabas and Nakita, and come to understand why they're not entirely thrilled with the idea of Madison finding her body and possibly giving up her duties as Timekeeper. It's a short and breezy read, if you've read and enjoyed the previous two books. There are some changes made towards the end of the book, that promises interesting developments in future installments.

CBR3 Book 7: "Archangel's Consort" by Nalini Singh

Publisher: Berkley
Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: January 28th, 2011
Date finished: January 29th, 2011

First of all, there are almost certainly what some people would call spoilers for the first two books in the Guild Hunter series in this review, so don't read it if you're sensitive about that sort of thing and haven't read either of the two first ones already. Secondly, for the slow kids at the back - this is the THIRD book in a series, and it wouldn't make much sense to someone who hasn't read the other two - so if you're curious, go start with Angels' Blood, it's dead good, I promise.

There are natural disasters occurring all over the world - earth quakes, flash floods, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, monsoons, freak cold spells, you name it. There are also incidents of vampires breaking free of the control of their angel masters and going on murderous rampages, sometimes even teaming up in large groups. Angels and Guild organized vampire hunters have their hands full trying to stop the murderous vamps and contain the damages, while trying to prevent further bloodshed and carnage. All of these things are portents that one of the most powerful supernatural beings in the world is waking from its millennia-long slumber.

Elena Deveraux, Guild Hunter turned angel, is returning to New York for the first time since her remarkable transformation. She and Raphael (Archangel of New York and her lover) are aware that despite the many other things going on, there will be a media frenzy, as Elena is the only created angel in history. Elena worries most of all about the reaction of her father, who coldly threw her out of his home when he found out she was a Hunter. In addition, she's plagued by the recurring nightmares of her two older sisters' brutal murder and her mother's subsequent suicide. Only her growing feelings and increasingly stronger bond with Raphael keeps her from breaking down.

Elena is called to the prestigious boarding school upstate where her two younger half-sisters attend. One of the out of control vampires has broken in and killed two girls, one of them the best friend of Elena's sister Evelyn. Shortly after, Elena's summoned to her father's home and discovers that her father's callous treatment of her years earlier was massively hypocritical, as vampire hunting clearly runs in the Deveraux bloodline, and unlike Elena, her half-sisters have a mother around to stand up for them and protect them.

Several of the Archangels around the world are behaving in erratic and unexpected ways, influenced by the awakening of the sleeping Ancient. Raphael starts having visions which suggest that the Ancient is his own mother, the oldest known Archangel, who was completely insane when she went into her hibernation, but who also left Raphael with every bone in his body and wings broken on a field in the middle of nowhere the last time he tried to stop her from causing massive destruction. The damages she's causing unconsciously when still rousing suggests that her power still vastly surpasses that on any other living Archangel, and if she's still insane when she fully wakes up, Raphael may have no other choice but to try to kill her again, to prevent her from destroying the world...

Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series is very enjoyable, and the growing closeness and bond between Elena and Raphael makes the core romance of the series interesting rather than sappy. Because they are both strong personalities, not used to compromising, they rarely agree even though they love each other passionately. Raphael is overprotective of his fragile, newly immortal consort, and Elena is pissed off that he won't let her go anywhere without a bodyguard. The reaction of her chosen family in the Guild to her miraculous change is nice, and Singh has created a very colourful (literally - I don't think I've come across anyone in this world whose not at least bi-racial, with a wide range of skin, hair and eye colours) cast of supporting characters, both in the Guild and among Raphael's most trusted advisers, a mix of angels and very strong vampires.

There is a build-up of tension all throughout the story, with not just one, but two necessary confrontations needing to be resolved towards the end. I'm not sure I'm entirely satisfied at the conclusion Singh gave this book, she leaves a few too many plot strands dangling in thin air for my taste, and there are some things that just don't get a satisfactory explanation. There are also seeds planted for future stories, with Raphael suggesting that Elena's mother was more than just a normal human woman, and as the book was a quick and enjoyable read, I will absolutely be continuing with the series.

CBR2 Book 67: "Early to Death, Early to Rise" by Kim Harrison

Publisher: Harper Collins
Page count: 240 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: July 14th, 2010
Date finished: July 15th, 2010

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY, THE FIRST MADISON AVERY NOVEL!

Madison Avery may seem like a normal teenager going to high school, with her purple-tipped hair and her sneakers with skulls and crossbones on them. However, Madison is actually dead, and an important supernatural entity at that. Madison is the dark timekeeper, and her job is to control Reapers, dark angels sent to Earth to kill people who will turn out to do horrible things that will damn their souls, before said people are able to commit said actions. There is also a light timekeeper, who tries to protect the same people. Madison was killed by the previous dark timekeeper, who wanted to prevent her from succeeding him - even though she had no idea this was intended for her.

Now she has a fancy amulet she doesn't really know how to use, but means she has a human body. She also has a small entourage consisting of a dark Reaper meant to protect her, a former light Reaper who disagrees with the light timekeeper and is now neutral, both of whom are supposed to pass for foreign exchange students, a tiny former guardian angel who speaks mostly in limericks, and her best friend, who she seems to be developing feelings for.

Madison disagrees with her stated job description, and doesn't just want to send Reapers to kill people who are destined to commit horrible acts before giving said person a chance to change their mind. She doesn't believe in predestination, and when she finds out that Nakita, the Dark Reaper with her is supposed to kill a high school kid set to release a computer virus that ends up killing people, she insists that they go find him and try to talk him out of things before he needs to be killed. Since her new timekeeper powers aren't exactly under her control yet, she and her Reaper posse don't actually know precisely who the guy is - they have two suspects, and not very much time to figure out which of the boys is set to become a hacker with multiple deaths on his conscience, and which one is just the innocent friend.

I actually liked Early to Death, Early to Rise better than Kim Harrison's first young adult novel, Once Dead, Twice Shy, as the first novel was a bit confusing and mostly served as setup. Now that Madison and the supporting characters of the series, as well as most of the world-building has been established, the story flows better and is a much more entertaining read. I would not recommend picking up book 2 without first having read book 1, though.

CBR2 Book 58: "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Page count: 400 pages
Rating: 2 stars
Date begun: June 10, 2010
Date finished: June 11, 2010

Hush, Hush has an absolutely gorgeous cover. It drew me in, it intrigued me, it convinced me that I had to read the book. Sadly, it is a poor imitation of another book with a gorgeous cover that enticed me a few years ago, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. I will freely admit that I'm still not entirely sure what made me read and re-read the first three Twilight-novels like an addict in frantic need of a crack-fix (I suspect there may be something soaked into the pages that makes your judgement weaken), but nonetheless, my inner fourteen-year-old took control, and I was hooked. So very hooked. Until Breaking Dawn came out, and I was cured. There are limits to how much I will suspend my critical faculties.

Hush, Hush is the story of Nora Grey, whose father was mysteriously killed a year or so back, and whose mother is mostly absent as she has to work lots to support them. Nora is sensible and studious, and has a bitchy friend who seems not to actually like her very much. I was never entirely sure why Nora and Vee were friends, but judging from her other actions in this book, Nora is just a sucker for punishment. One day, Nora is unexpectedly partnered with the new and mysterious kid in school, Patch Cipriano, in biology. He is in turns enigmatic, rude and downright threatening, and while Nora tries to get her biology teacher to let her switch places, she has no such luck. Nora is both attracted to and slightly scared by Patch, and things start getting weird and dangerous, and Nora is not entirely sure she isn't losing her mind. It suddenly seems like she's being stalked, she keeps having what appear to be strange hallucinations and near death experiences, new slightly-ominous dudes transfer to her school, and everything seems to circle back to the mysteries surrounding Patch.

Nora was an annoying, inconsistently written character. She is calm and sensible one moment, and TSTL (too stupid to live) the next. While supposedly smart and independent, she kept making some idiotic choices. Time and time again. Patch was actually a genuinely intriguing anti-hero, once more was revealed about him. Nora is a complete twit for continuing to seek him out, especially after it's been revealed to her by more than one person, Patch included, that he is really dangerous for her to be around. That's not his fault though, and in another story, he could probably have been quite cool.

As well as the obvious likenesses to Twilight, this book reminded me of another angel love triangle book I read and reviewed some months ago, Fallen. Both books are derivative of Meyer's book, and while I will freely admit that I understand why so many people hate and are disturbed by the Twilight-saga, I found the books very entertaining ( the fourth one is hugely entertaining in an entirely different way), and they continue to be a guilty pleasure of mine. Sadly, this also leads to a lot of inferior attempts by other writers to become the next Stephenie Meyer, of which this, and Fallen, are examples. They are not awful, I finished both books, but neither delivered what their lovely covers promised.

CBR2 Book 34: "Succubi Like It Hot" by Jill Myles

Publisher: Pocket Star
Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: March 14th, 2010
Date finished: March 15th, 2010

Jackie Brighton has a promising new job as an archeologist, and has come to terms with the Itch (the desperate need all succubi get to have sex every other day or so) because she has two gorgeous men with which to soothe said sex cravings. Then things start getting messy. Noah refuses to share her with Zane, and claims he wants them to not see each other until she makes up her mind. Someone has put a curse on her, meaning that the Itch comes every day instead of every other, and she can put a human in a coma by just touching them. She needs to get to New Orleans to talk to Delilah, a succubus who is also a voodoo priestess.

Remy has a new porn movie to promote, so suggests they take a road trip. Jackie is upset that Noah won't speak to her, but persuades Zane to come along, as she still refuses to have sex with anyone she doesn't have feelings for (unlike Remy, who will grab any guy who is conveniently nearby). Then Zane discovers that she's cursed and leaves her stranded at a rest stop. Remy keeps being intermittently possessed and craving blood (due to events at the end of the last book) and then people start turning up dead around them.

Jackie is a lot less annoying in this book, possibly because she isn't quite as painfully gullible this time around. Towards the end of the book, she even gets of of a fairly nasty situation all by herself, showing quick thinking and ingenuity. There is more development of the secondary characters, especially Noah, who becomes a lot more interested in helping Jackie once Zane has vanished. Of course, Zane is not as callous and selfish as it first seems (as he'd make a rubbish third in a love triangle if he was). I generally liked Succubi Like It Hot a lot more than the first book, and am now looking forward to checking out the third book in the series.