Author: Nalini Singh
Publication: Jove (October 29, 2013)
Description: Nalini Singh, the New York Times bestselling “alpha author of paranormal romance” (Booklist) returns to an immortal world of violent passion and lethal power…on the brink of a deadly archangelic war.
Angels are falling from the sky in New York, struck down by a vicious, unknown force.
Vampires are dying impossibly of disease.
Guild hunter Elena Deveraux and the Archangel Raphael must discover the source of the wave of death before it engulfs their city and their people, leaving New York a ruin and Raphael’s Tower under siege by enemy archangels.
Yet even as they fight desperately to save the city, an even darker force is stirring, its chill eyes trained on New York…and on Raphael. Rivers of crimson and nightmares given flesh, the world will never again be the same…
My Thoughts: It is the time of a Cascade. Archangels are gaining new powers. Lijuan has decided that it is time for her to unleash her undead armies on Raphael's New York. So war breaks out between Lijuan who has the power of death and Raphael who is gaining new powers of life.
The war starts with an attack that sends angels falling out of the sky leaving half on New York's forces injured and unable to fight. Then a disease is found to be killing vampires. Signs point to Lijuan but other archangels could be responsible too. Raphael and Elena need to find allies in the coming fight.
On the smaller, more personal side, Elena learns more about her father's past and perhaps some of the reasons that he rejected her so thoroughly after the death of her mother and older sisters. It looks like the past is repeating itself as he tries to keep Elena's young half-sister Eve from becoming the Hunter she was born to be. I like the relationship between Elena and her young sister. I also liked watching Elena grow into her role as Raphael's Consort.
I very much liked the relationship between Elena and Raphael. They are so well-matched. Elena is the only one who can stand up to Raphael and keep him from becoming the soulless monster that archangels sometimes become as they lose touch with the human lives under their commands. Elena's humanity is just what Raphael needs.
This was a very fierce story to read. Watching the forces build up for battle and then fight for survival was filled with many tense moments and some very human ones too. I liked the human bits as Elena spends time with Sara and her infant daughter, helps a vampire who is starting a business keep her business going when trouble comes, and takes a sick human child flying. I also like her relationship with Raphael's cadre and with the other angels in the tower.
This was a great addition to a compelling urban fantasy series.
Favorite Quote:
Regardless of all, she was angry at Raphael for being so much an archangel. That, too, was in no way logical or rational, simply a sign that she'd lost sight of the truth of him because he'd become someone else to her. It was a bone-jarring shock to be so bluntly reminded that the man who was her lover was that man only for her. To the rest of the world he was—must be—the lethal, dangerous, and sometimes cruel archangel of New York.I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.
Ooh nice review! Still need to read this one myself! Glad it was great!
ReplyDeleteI think the relationship between Raphael and Elena is getting better. The legion storyline felt....odd. Like it was jammed in their rather that fitting smoothly (if that make sense at all). Still liked it!
ReplyDeleteParanormal Haven