Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh

NSingh-Archangels BladeYou know a novel is good when you can’t put it down.  You know a novel is more than fabulous when you spend more time crying while feverishly reading.  That is why I will always read anything Nalini Singh has to write because Archangel’s Blade was no less fabulous than I’ve come to expect.

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past…but Dmitri’s need to discover the truth is nothing to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel’s right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality…the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting…and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more…

Dimitri has always been a sort of mysterious vampire and I always knew there was something hidden in his past that really shaped the vampire he became. However, I have to say that I never expected the story that Singh told.  The utter pain and desolation that Dimitri went through in his early life is one that I severely hope never to experience and it always crushes me when I read/see a character who has.  To say I spent more time crying through Archangel’s Blade than anything else would be a massive understatement, but that just adds to the knowledge that Singh has such a way of developing her characters that you can’t help but cry right along with them.

I do have to admit to one thing though.  I kind of wish Singh hadn’t made Honor to be who she was.  I really don’t want to give anything away, but it seems liked it was an easy way out of getting Dimitri to heal from the heartbreak of that long ago pain.  Since that pain hasn’t been mentioned before (at least I’m 99.9% sure it hasn’t), I really don’t want to say what it is, but I’m wondering if their relationship will be a healthy one or overshadowed by Dimitri’s past.  I guess only time will tell, but I’ll be curious to see how Dimitri and Honor grow together.

You really do get to see a side of Dimitri that we haven’t seen yet and his and Honor’s development is weaved perfectly with the plot.  The pacing is just so beautifully done that you’re never given a moment to wonder what is going on, but are simply eager to see what is going to happen next.  There was two different conflicts going on, but both concerned painful memories for Dimitri and Honor and that combination helped them to get to know each other.  I’ve seen other authors attempt to combine two unconnected stories together for a romance and it doesn’t always work, but it does with Archangel’s Blade.  Maybe it was the fact that they may not have been connected, but they were similar in how vicious and brutal they were for Dimitri and Honor.  It made it so each knew what the other needed and had to do to get past the pain.  Seriously, the two stories mixed with Dimitri and Honor’s chemistry really made it hard to put Archangel’s Blade down.

Overall, everyone should be reading the Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh. I have yet to be disappointed with any of her stories and Archangel’s Blade just adds to how fabulous of an author she is.  Her characters are so perfectly developed, between their interactions and the conflicts going on, that it’s hard not to be so trapped in their story.  You share every emotion with Dimitri and Honor, whether it’s joy or sorry, and that’s not something I get from every novel.  There’s a fabulous mixture of action, dialog and chemistry that’s blended so well that there’s never a chance to catch one’s breathe.  I simply had to keep reading.

Read Order:
Archangels’ Blood
Archangel’s Kiss
Archangel’s Consort
Archangel’s Blade
Angel’s Flight (March 2012)

Also reviewed by: Smexy Books, Wicked Little Pixie, Dear Author, Fiction Vixen and Hanging with Bells

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

2 Comments

  1. Great review – you touched on every point I thought when I was reading it too. I almost didn’t pick it up because I was accidentally spoiled about Honor’s little..issue. It’s one of my least favorite tropes and I still am not happy about how it played out. But I just love Dmitri so much – the little memories he kept having were just heartbreaking.

  2. I just finished reading Angel’s Blood. Thank you for introducing me to Nalini’s books. Thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

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