Just when I thought I couldn’t find a better book out there, here comes Angels’ Blood and blows my previous favorite out of the water.
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she’s the best—but she doesn’t know if she’s good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, only one thing is clear—failure is not an option…even if the task is impossible.
Because this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.
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…
I had never read anything by Nalini Singh before, even though I have had numerous friends tell me she is awesome. And after reading Angels’ Blood I definitely agree!
OK, so I had never really read many books that had angels in them, at least not as a main focus and this was really a huge treat because all of the elements needed to make a book great are definitely here – and then some! The story was awesome! I found the twist Singh puts on the vampire myth to be very unique and very well written.
I found the world Singh created to be absolutely outstanding. She is extremely descriptive (but not overly so) and how she describes the wings of the various angels makes you really picture what they look like. The characters are solid, well rounded and VERY interesting. There is not one character in this book that I found to be lacking. They were all very well developed. Even the side characters in this book were awesome!
- Raphael: What can I say – This angel will blow you away. He is hot in every sense of the word. Arrogant, cunning and very strong – yet with a vulnerability that makes him lovable. I thought his progression throughout the book was very well written and the twister near the end was brilliant.
- Elena: She is the perfect heroine. She is sarcastic, funny, smart and very strong (compared to other humans). The interaction between the two characters was sweet and funny and even frustrating at times. I really liked how Elena was written to be a very strong character that stuck up for herself and her friends and didn’t stand down in the face of danger – yet she still knows when to back down and shut the hell up.
- Dimitri: This vamp is in a league of his own. We learn that he is Raphael’s right hand man and that he is very old and very powerful. Yet he is a mystery in a lot of ways, which leaves the possibilities endless for future books! (/squeals with excitement) I loved this vampire, and I guess this all depends on the reader but he is very lovable to me. He has some very cool powers and while he is mentioned a lot in the book we really don’t get to see too much of his (personal) world since he isn’t the main focus of the book.
- The Father: He is so worthless his name doesn’t deserve to be mentioned (lol) – But wow was he something. Doesn’t every book need a villain to absolutely hate? I mean sure, we had Urum to dislike but there was a REASON that Urum went bad and while he was the *true* villain story wise, I believe that Elena’s father is the one that will be hated the most. For family to treat their own the way Elena was treated just aggravates me to no end, and I felt that Singh wrote that pretty well and evoked the right feelings for us in this character.
- Urum: He is one badass villain. The story behind what happens to Urum isn’t very well explained in the beginning. You know he is hunted and that Elena is sought after (because she is the best) to hunt him but we don’t really know why or how bad it really is at the start – and neither does she for that matter! But as the story progresses, and Raphael begins to have feelings for Elena, he opens up to her more and we learn the secret about the Archangels. This was a highly interesting twist on vampires that I truly enjoyed reading.
All in all Angels’ Blood was outstanding. I loved every single character in the book. There were even ones I loved to hate. They were all written very well and each for their own purpose. There were elements in the book that I felt were not explained enough, for instance:
- Elena’s nightmares. What happened exactly? I really wanted this to be told the more I got into reading about Elena and how she kept having nightmares, but it was never really explained and I was a little saddened by that. Though this bothered me a bit I am sure it will be explained later, I just couldn’t help the feeling of wanting to know “now!” lol.
- Elena’s father. I would like to know more about why he did what he did with his daughter. Though if Singh had explained in detail about Elena’s nightmares this might have been answered as well.
- I would like to have known more about the other Archangels in the bunch, as there are only a very limited amount of them. We get to know a little about a couple of them, but it wasn’t enough!
Over all I loved Angels’ Blood and I am hooked on this author. I can’t wait for the next one to come out and I will definitely be picking up any other books she has out on the shelves! Definitely a series that I am screaming “MORE MORE MORE!” for :D
Read Order:
Angels’ Blood
Archangel’s Kiss
Also reviewed by:
Jackie’s review on Literary Escapism
The Book Smugglers
Fantasy Dreamer’s Ramblings
Urban Fantasy Land
Rex Robot Reviews
Medieval Bookworm
The second book, Archangel’s Kiss, is already out!
And a lot of the things you felt weren’t explained enough come out in the second book.
oooo!!!! this is one of my favs right up there with JR Ward and Jeanine Frost…
I enjoyed this book, too, although I wouldn’t call it a romance. :)
Yeah, I have actually read that one recently and haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet! lol