Veena’s review of Archangel’s Enigma (Guild Hunter, Book Eight) by Nalini Singh
Urban Fantasy published by Jove 01 Sep 15
This is a fascinating story which answers questions for readers who have long wondered, along with Elena, about what manner of creature Nasir really is. The angelic world is rapidly evolving with the onset of a phenomena called the cascade. Lijuan, the evil bogey woman of this series, continues to survive, despite all of Raphael’s attempts to destroy her evil breaking the angelic moral code by attempting to seize the power of an awakening ancient. Nasir leads readers through a series of spine-tingling adventures as he tries to court his newly identified mate while trying to keep the world as safe as possible.
Andromeda is a young angel who studies the ancient archangels. She is the best qualified to determine the resting place of an ancient who’s on the cusp of awakening, thus painting a bulls-eye on her back. Little does Nasir expect that she would smell as though she might be his mate, when’s he’s dispatched to keep her safe. I love how he forgets himself as he smells her and almost oversteps and frightens her with his intensity when he first meets her. Almost before he has a chance to really get to know her well and court her, she’s kidnapped by the evil faction. Nasir will court death to rescue her and bring her back to safety.
Knowing the Lijuan is hot to trot to capture Alexander before he fully arises, Andromeda and Nasir go to his possible resting location and try to awaken him. I find their adventures in awakening Alexander akin to the swashbuckling adventures of Indiana Jones as they survive multiple traps and battles to keep Alexander safe. Andromeda has taken a vow of celibacy to keep herself safe in her parents’ home and gives Nasir an almost impossible quest to fulfill before they can “rut,” in Nasir’s crude terminology. It’s so cute how hard she tries to get Nasir to forget his quest when her awakened sexuality demands that he consummate their relationship.
A second thread through the story is the beloved bluebell Elena’s favorite of Raphael’s seven, who seems to be getting more and more powerful in this cascade to the point of ascending. It looks like the alliances are being forged and sides are being taken in the war that is looming on the horizon. This story is building toward a crescendo and I can hardly wait to see what comes next.
Grade: A
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh returns to her world of dark passion and immortal power – and to one of the most seductive and impenetrable heroes ever to stalk the Guild Hunter landscape…
“Oh, Naasir. So weird, so bloodthirsty, so unique and wonderful…I have fallen for him…” – Fiction Vixen
Naasir is the most feral of the powerful group of vampires and angels known as the Seven, his loyalty pledged to the Archangel Raphael. When rumors surface of a plot to murder the former Archangel of Persia, now lost in the Sleep of the Ancients, Naasir is dispatched to find him. For only he possesses the tracking skills required – those more common to predatory animals than to man.
Enlisted to accompany Naasir, Andromeda, a young angelic scholar with dangerous secrets is fascinated by his nature – at once playful and brilliant, sensual and brutal. As they race to find the Sleeping archangel before it’s too late, Naasir will force her to question all she knows…and tempt her to walk into the magnificent, feral darkness of his world. But first they must survive an enemy vicious enough to shatter the greatest taboo of the angelic race and plunge the world into a screaming nightmare…
Read an excerpt.
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