Romantic Fantasy published by Berkley 24 Nov 20
Nalini Singh has a singular way with words such that they fire a reader’s imagination and sweep them into her stories so that they live, eat, and breathe with her characters. Reading an excellent book by this author is a given, but some books transcend excellence and really make an impact such as this book did for me. The Hummingbird has been an ethereal character who has drifted her way across the pages of some of the earlier books in the series, but she really comes into her own in this story.
In the author’s words – ” Shedding of the skin, remaking, resurrection, they were all just words. What mattered was that she was becoming someone new, a woman she’d always had the potential to be—an angel of whom her son could be proud . . . and an angel who could look herself in the mirror and smile.”
From the moment the Hummingbird took over as the Angelic leader of the team guarding the Luminata stronghold, she’s been changing and evolving. It’s almost as though an electrical current ignited her when Elena armed her with a knife and trained her in protecting herself with knife throwing. Now the angel who has been volunteered as an ambassador to Titus’s court is very different from the artist lost in her own world that she’s going to surprise quite a few people, including the archangel Titus.
Africa is reeling from the aftermath of war and the infestation of an intelligent strain of reborn. As Lady Sharine travels on the wing, she takes note of happenings on the ground and evaluates the people in leadership at various points. Her intelligence gathering is superb and definitely a surprise for Titus, who is expecting a delicate flower, as is her swift action on the ground near his stronghold while he is busy destroying a nest with his soldiers. It is so much fun to see the bombastic and loud Titus taken by surprise.
Seeing these two come together is a delight. Poor Titus is attracted to Sharine from the get-go but Is also afraid to pursue his attraction in fear of what the other archangels might say or do, since the Hummingbird is considered a national treasure. Between Titus’s sisters and the letters from his mother, his compassion and his endearing adoption of technology so he can stay in touch with Sharine, Titus emerges into a very likable archangel who just might be good enough for the Hummingbird.
The world is slowly recovering and, most importantly thanks to Sharine and Titus, there is hope for a better, healthier tomorrow. Can’t wait to see where the series will go next. The blue pulse on Raphael’s forehead definitely bears watching…
Grade: A+
Summary:
The Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease may be gone but their legacy of evil lives on—especially in Africa, where the shambling, rotting creatures called the reborn have gained a glimmer of vicious intelligence.
It is up to Titus, archangel of this vast continent, to stop the reborn from spreading across the world. Titus can’t do it alone, but of the surviving powerful angels and archangels, large numbers are wounded, while the rest are fighting a surge of murderous vampires.
There is no one left . . . but the Hummingbird. Old, powerful, her mind long a broken kaleidoscope. Now, she must stand at Titus’s side against a tide of death upon a discovery more chilling than any other. For the Archangel of Disease has left them one last terrible gift . . . .
Other books in this series:
