REVIEW: Archangel’s Ascension by Nalini Singh

Veena’s review of Archangel’s Ascension (Guild Hunter, Book 17) by Nalini Singh
Urban Fantasy published by Berkley 06 May 25

Ilium and Aodhan! Blue and Adi, Bluebell and Sparkle, their friendship is legendary, even if they’ve had a few small hiccups along the way. It only took for them to acknowledge their love for the scales to fall off my eyes and acknowledge that the author has always had that thread simmering through the series. It is a bit disappointing that they acknowledged their love and then it seemed like other characters and other stories got center stage. Finally, we get their love story, and what a love story it is.

Aodhan, the beautiful angel who sparkles in the sunlight, we’ve only heard about the mischief that he once got into with his partner in crime, but we finally get to see the real Adhi, who Ilium coaxes back out into the sunshine.  The book hits so many emotional chords – Aodhan’s conversation with Raphael, his realization of his place in the world on his own, and partnered with Ilium, the Amber Revel, what a beautiful ceremony, and the mischievous Aodhan who knocks Ilium off his perch. Thank you, Ms. Singh, for this beautiful romance.

As inevitable as their love story is and Ilium’s ascension to archangel, what an ascension and heartbreak as the two leave the seven after centuries of being together, as well as leave New York, which has been their home for a long time. As Ilium meets all the people he knows and loves for the first time as Archangel, it’s reassuring to know that he retains his sense of mischief and the slight touch of humanity that has made him so popular.  His first meeting with the cadre and the unexpected alliances in the room that he had never foreseen. His father is a prick and that will not change. We’ll see what that contentious relationship will bring in the future.

This book takes the timeline from the previous book in the series and advances it centuries, even as it stops and starts, giving us glimpses in the happenings of the characters we know and love. The only certainty is that the series will continue, since the author has stated so, but I am totally unable to see in which direction the story line will advance.

Grade: A

Summary:

Aodhan and Ilium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.

Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.

The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy…and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…