Gwen’s review of Archangel’s Consort (Guild Hunters, Book 3) by Nalini Singh
Urban Fantasy released by Berkley 25 Jan 11

Let me just start by saying that Nalini Singh is a goddess. I adore her writing and am always entertained by her books.  Her heroes are hot, tender, and yummy. Her heroines women I can see myself befriending. However, whomever designed this cover knows NOTHING about the heroine Singh created in Elena – she’d never care about wearing this much make-up.  Just sayin’…  But I’m here to talk about the inside of the book, so let’s carry on, shall we?

I’m a huge fan of this series. LOVE the otherworldly-ness of Raphael. Love that he loves and can’t imagine his existence without Elena. Their relationship gets bigger and better with each book.

Elena’s safe place with Raphael is helping her slowly heal from the brutal loss of her sisters and her mother’s suicide.  Elena is even beginning to feel more about, and acknowledge those feelings, her severely dysfunctional relationship with her bastard of a father (and can I just say that I wish Raphael would just end that useless dad already?).  Her character development is by turns joyful, cathartic, and utterly devastating. I cried a few times for her.

I’m not entirely sure what the overall series’ story arc is building to, but it’s going somewhere – you can feel an underlying thread of some impending “big bad”. The characters’ abilities are developing and evolving for some greater purpose.

This entry deals with old enemies and a new threat. It is this part of the plot is a little slow moving in Archangel’s Consort.  It seemed to take forever for things to happen, and yet there’s lots of action. A conundrum for me that I couldn’t identify fully.

The Archangel world is full of profoundly interesting characters – possible heroes, heroines, wonderfully evil villains, and funny sidekicks. I wouldn’t mind seeing a whole host of 0ther characters getting their own books.  Fill out this world so that we can see it from more than just Raphael and Elena’s point of view.

This series is for anyone looking for an “alternate Earth” story full of supremely powerful beings and their enemies. The romance is there but we get lots of deeper character development that is often missing from more traditional romances.  If you’re new to the world, I think you’ll enjoy this entry, but I’d read the previous books to get the full impact of all Singh’s imaginative prose.

If you’re a fan of these books already, I get the feeling that this book is setting up some future actions, so don’t miss it.

Grade: A

Read more reviews for this series by following its tag here.

Summary:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful archangel Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil…

A vampire has attacked a girls’ school—the assault one of sheer, vicious madness—and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders.

The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear.

An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Gwen’s review of Archangel’s Kiss (Guild Hunters, Book 2) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal/fantasy romance released by Berkley 2 Feb 10

This is the second book in the Guild Hunters saga and the third story.  (Singh released a standalone novella in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology.) This entry deals with Elena’s new condition, her relationship with the archangel, Raphael, and the politics of his (now her) world.  It’s a ripsnorting story that is passionate and action-packed, and a helluva good tale.

There are spoilers in this review, so if you haven’t read the first book and care about that sort of thing, you don’t want to read further.

If you read the first book, you know that to save Elena’s life Raphael Made her an angel near the end.  In Kiss, Elena begins learning what that means – how to fly, what can still kill her, how to fit into her new society, and what her role is as Raphael’s mate.  This is all pretty fascinating stuff and, like Singh’s Psy-Changeling novels, is an incredibly well thought out world.  You are actually living it with the characters.  Singh is second to none in her complex and believable world building.

Kiss has a very nice pace to it.  You’re never left yawning, wondering when something was going to happen.  We’re given a mystery, some romance and passion, friendships, and loads of very cool action.  We’re carried along the story like a kayaker down a Class 5 rapids.

I just adore Singh’s characters.  Her heroines are terrific – strong, smart, and vulnerable.  I never have an eye-rolling “OMG she’s too stupid to live” moment.   Elena is all woman and all warrior.  She’s still a Guild Hunter at heart and it shows – I love the descriptions of the clothes and weapons she wears in Beijing.

Singh’s heroes are in a class of their own – masculine, alpha, and tender to their loved ones.  they’re always men I sigh over.  In this book, Raphael is enough “other” to be a fascinating character.  I think the first book showcased his personality better than this entry, but we get excellent insight into Elena in Kiss.

The villains in Kiss are suitably villain-like.  There is also some ambiguity in some of the evil.  In Singh’s world, as an angel ages, they develop more powers and the abilities they have become stronger.  Since some of the angel’s are thousands of years old, this leads to interesting ethical questions – how much power is too much, what can be done with power without morality, and how do you control amoral beings so powerful they can destroy whole cities or even planets?  All of this comes up in this book and we’re led to the conclusion that relationships like what is between Elena and Raphael are one of the very few things that can help such powerful beings retain some of their humanity – which is normally a good thing.

If you’re a fan of Singh, or simply of “angel books” you do not want to miss this one.   If you’re not sure about whether you’ll like this series, don’t start with this one.  The first book, Angel’s Blood, will take you by surprise and bring you to love the series as much as I do.  This book just takes the story to the next level.

I can’t wait for the next entry.

Grade: A

Read other reviews and information on this series here.

Summary:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

This just in…

Nalini Singh has a lot of terrific news to share with fans. So listen up!

~ First her Psy/Changeling series. Nalini has just signed a contract to write four more books in the series!

~ Slave to Sensation, the first book in the series, is now out in ebook in several different formats.

~ There is a new short story, A Conversation, which takes place some time after Mine to Possess, that is now available on Nalini’s site.

~ Also added in the most recent site update is a blurb for Blaze of Memory, Book 7 in the series, due out in November.

~ There will also be a novella about Ria, Lucas’ administrative assistant, sometime in 2010.

~ And don’t forget, Branded by Fire, Mercy’s story, is due out July 1!

~ Now for Nalini’s new Guild Hunter series. She’s also just been contracted to write two more books in this series.

~ Archangel’s Kiss is the new title for the second book in the series, which should be out sometime early 2010.

Consider yourself flashed.

Shannon C.’s review of Angels’ Blood (Guild Hunters, Book 1) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal romance/urban fantasy released by Berkley 3 Mar 09

Nalini Singh is easily one of the best writers writing romance these days. She manages to create vivid and compelling worlds, as well as love stories with enough sexual tension and smoldering sensuality to require ice buckets while reading. So I’ve only read two of her Psy-Changeling books, but I was curious about her new series, and eagerly read it as soon as I got the ARC. Sadly, this book was a victim of too much hype. 

Elena is a Guild Hunter who works with angels to track down rogue vampires. The angels are the only ones who can create vampires, and the process is undertaken with the understanding that a new vampire will be in service to his creator for a century because they’re a menace to society otherwise. Anyway, Elena’s really good at her job, which brings her to the attention of Raphael, the archangel of New York City, who has an offer she can’t refuse. This time it’s not a rogue vampire she must track, but a rogue archangel. She can’t turn down the job, and she knows her chances of surviving it are slim.

Overall, I liked this book and would keep reading the series. Elena was a strong character, which is good because most of the book is told from her POV. She’s had a difficult life, a life that’s not going to get much easier after she meets Raphael. Raphael was fascinating, too, though it took me a bit longer to warm up to him. I’m used to arrogant heroes. I’m not so much used to ones who feel completely alien. But after a while he did grow on me, and I found the romance to be quite satisfying.

The plot is interesting, but I felt it took a bit too long to get going. Only toward the end of the book, when Elena was able to do her job did it take off. Prior to that, there were a lot of seriously draggy sections which slowed me down considerably.

This book got so much hype before it came out from the blogosphere that I was expecting it to be brilliant. The fact that the plot took a while to get moving and that it took me a while to warm up to Raphael disappointed me. I really wanted to love this book, and had expected that I would, but I didn’t.

Still, if you like Singh and you like darker settings, this is a strong book. I just wish I’d loved it more.

Grade: B

Summmary:
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Nalini Singh introduces readers to a world of beauty and bloodlust, where angels hold sway over vampires.
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Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.
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The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other—and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break.
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Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

and Book 2, “Angels’ Judgment” in Must Love Hellhounds anthology, Sep 2009