Remy Chandler by T. Sniegoski

A Kiss Before the ApocalypseA Kiss Before the Apocalypse & Dancing on the Head of a Pin by Thomas Sniegoski are like nothing I have ever read before.  Angels wanting to be human, the Angel of Death, Lazarus, Lucifer and the Apocalypse – what’s not to love? A Kiss Before the Apocalypse is insanely entertaining and saying it was an emotional roller-coaster would be an understatement. Then I got to Dancing on the Head of a Pin and with the trouble Remy gets into with Lucifer and his former brethren – it was a fantastic second novel for this series!

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse: Boston PI Remy Chandler has a life any man would envy, with friendship, a job he’s good at—and love. But Remy is no ordinary man. He’s an angel who chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. So he’s able to will himself invisible, hear thoughts, and speak and understand any language—of man or beast. Talents that will become invaluable to him when his angelic past returns to haunt him…

The Angel of Death has gone missing, and Remy’s former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more—a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race.

And only Remy Chandler can stop it….

Dancing on the Head of a Pin: Once he was known as the angel Remiel, but generations ago Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce Heaven and live on Earth, where he found a secure place among us ordinary humans. But now, having lost the love of his life, Remy finds himself turning more and more away from his human friends and his everyday existence. He’s begun to seek out dangerous jobs – those that involve the supernatural, those that bring him into contact with his past.” “Like his latest case: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged aeons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. If they fall into the wrong hands, they could be uses to destroy not only Heaven but also Earth.” And to prevent that, Remy Chandler must decide whether he is willing to lose the last of his own humanity.

Dancing on the Head of a PinThe  character building in the Remy Chandler novels are outstanding. I usually have to wait until book two or three (and sometimes four) to really get invested in the characters and truly love them – but with A Kiss Before the Apocalypse I was hooked right away!  Sniegoski’s characters are fun and engaging, and they never disappoint.

Added to that, the world Sniegoski has created is a perfect mesh of good and evil (with a slight bit of humor in the mix), and with the book market drowning in vampires – I think its great that we see more angel stories  *grin*

Being an angel, Remy has the ability to understand (and be understood in) any language – that includes languages of the animal kingdom. This fantastic ability allows Remy to have a real relationship with his Labrador Retriever, Marlowe, and helps to bring out a powerful emotional response from the reader.
It was very hard for me to read the interactions between Remy and Marlowe.  While I thought the interactions were sweet and heartfelt, they made me very uncomfortable because of the emotional strain it put on me as a lover of animals (because, you know, animals don’t live forever! lol) That said, Sniegoski “hits the nail on the head” when it comes to portraying the inside voice of what animals may be thinking (or saying).

Sniegoski’s world building is absolutely outstanding. From the very second you start reading this series you are hooked and you want to know more about everything he has created.

The plot is pretty fast paced in both books and starts up right away in the first couple pages,  which is something I really love in a book. The Remy Chandler series, thus far, has a perfect blend of action, suspense and engaging characters. It’s a classic good verses evil with a ton of added elements in the mix. Sniegoski does not disappoint!

I even lent out A Kiss Before the Apocalypse and Dancing on the Head of a Pin to a friend who isn’t really into Urban Fantasy and she loved it.  I think you will too :)

3 Comments

  1. Why have I never heard of this series before? It sounds great. I’m actually not that much of a fan of fallen angel stories, but for some reason this really appeals to me. Although your review didn’t make me immediately buy it (too many other books on the TBR pile right now), it did make me look it up and add it to my wishlist.

  2. Oh I must write better reviews then JenM! /grins

    This is definately one I would suggest dropping others to read hehe
    That is, of course, if your favorite genre is UF.

  3. The first sentence of you review had me interested. Especially since UF is one of my fav. genres.^^ Awesome job, I’ll definitely be looking these up. c:

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