Book Review: Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh

Angels' Blood
by Nalini Singh

Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal / Romance

Ages: 17 and up

Description:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But 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.


My Thoughts:

I checked this book out from my local e-library on a whim, having seen many positive reviews on blogs, and was surprised by how much I loved it. The unique world and brilliantly written characters grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. Not that I fought very hard.

Elena is a very strong, inflexible human. Raphael is a very strong, inflexible immortal. Theirs is a romance destined to be difficult from the word go. The two of them circle warily; Raphael pushing, Elena refusing to bend. Watching the two of them get to know each other is comparable to watching a knife fight between the most skilled of opponents; strike and counterstrike delivered one after another with blinding speed.

There are layers upon layers of sensuality and seduction woven throughout the novel, yet there is less sex compared to other books in the paranormal romance genre. I really like that; it meant the focus was more on the emotional and verbal interactions between Raphael and Elena, both of which were frankly fascinating.

The storyline for Angels' Blood is fairly simple; a very powerful, utterly insane archangel is murdering people and the main characters must stop him. However, the nuances of the world and characters who make up the story are endlessly intricate. Every angel, vampire and human has a full-fledged, believable personality, even the minor ones. Ilium, the bright, laughing butterfly with very sharp teeth when he chooses to show them. Dmitri, the ever-loyal, ever-watching vampire with a dark past. Michaela; bright and brittle and capricious as the wind. I could go on, but you should really read the book and meet them all for yourselves.

The mythology of the world is beautifully developed, from the unique set up of a world ruled by angels who have the power to create vampires to the tiny details that make Ms. Singh's angels and vampires different from other authors' angels and vampires. The Guild Hunters' New York is completely familiar yet utterly foreign at the same time.

I highly recommend this book to all lovers of urban fantasy and dangerous romance.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it an 8.10 for several uses of the f-word as well as other mild to mid-level swearing.

Sexuality:
I give it an 8.10 for a couple of descriptive scenes as well as a great deal of innuendo and references.

Violence:
I rate it a 10.10 for multiple instances of torture, murder, fighting and general bloodiness.

                               Lieder Madchen

The Happy Booker's Vampire/Zombie Acrostic Challenge

The Happy Booker  has issued a poetry challenge to go with a giveaway and I just have to accept it. Mock my acrostic at your own peril!

The challenge is to take the title of one of your favorite vampire and/or zombie novels and write an acrostic poem about it. Here's mine for Warm Bodies.

Without breath or life
A lost soul
Roaming aimlessly
Moaning, groaning

Brains sustain him
Opening doors into memories
Dreams of the living
In them is a girl
Everything changes as
Still hearts learn to beat

               Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure
by Julie Kagawa

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Science Fiction / Dystopian / Post-apocalyptic / Romance

Ages: 14 and up

This is the second book in the Blood of Eden series, sequel to The Immortal Rules.

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Reviewer's Note: This is the third Julie Kagawa novel I have read and reviewed in the past 24 hours. I started in the very wee hours of the morning with The Lost Prince (reviewing it about 5 seconds after reading the last page) then picking up with The Immortal Rules in the afternoon (I was interrupted by a plumbing crisis so the review didn't get published until a couple hours after I finished reading) and, to top of my lovely marathon, I just finished reading The Eternity Cure.

P.S. I'm listening to Fall Out Boy as I write this, which is strangely fitting.

Description:

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left:

Blood calls to blood

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

My Thoughts:

It has been four months since Allie left Eden and Zeke. She is now fully adjusted to being a vampire and has become more comfortable in her skin. She's more dangerous, harder-edged, but her humanity is still intact. Well, as intact as possible. As much a survivor as ever, she teams up with her untrustworthy blood-brother in her quest to rescue Kanin..

The characters in this story are just so good. Even Jackal, murderous, untrustworthy bloodsucker that he is, is strangely entertaining. Sarren is the creepiest villain I have met in a long time and every word he says gives me shivers. If there is ever a movie, he should be played by Bill Nighy because he has the perfect voice for it. Zeke is so lovably loyal and self-sacrificing that I spent a lot of time cheering him on. My faint inclination for Kanin as a love interest faded the instant Allie was referred to as his 'daughter'. Oh well, I can still have a crush on him if I want. I'd read a whole book about Kanin.

Story-wise, I didn't like The Eternity Cure as much as The Immortal Rules until the end. Oh. My. Gosh. That ending...how will I survive waiting for the next one? It was brilliant, but completely evil. This is a great sequel, and I have a feeling Book 3 will be magnificent.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it a 5.10 for one use of the f-word and some mid-level swearing and name-calling.

Sexuality:
I give it a 2.10 for brief sexual innuendos and threats.

Violence:
I rate it a 7.10 for fighting, murder, torture and vast quantities of blood.

                            Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules
by Julie Kagawa

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Science Fiction / Post-apocalyptic / Dystopian

Ages: 14 and up

I received an e-galley of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what–and who–is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.

My Thoughts:

This book takes some old ideas and squishes them together in new ways to make a delightfully original story. It is a vampire/zombie apocalypse adventure with more than a few hints of samurai legends. I love it. It's dark and dramatic and powerfully written. Plus it has vampires fighting zombies. Beat that! Well, they're called 'rabids' in the book, but they're basically zombies.

Allie is one tough lady. Having spent her entire life hating vampires, she suddenly is one. Under the tutelage of Kanin, a mysterious, solitary vampire with many secrets, she starts to learn how to be a monster without becoming a monster. He teaches her how to use her new abilities to survive and defend herself and gifts her with a katana. (A vampire slaying zombies with a katana - like I said, beat that!) This interlude does not last long, however, and Allison is forced to set out into the world on her own. It is there that she discovers a wandering group of humans - and Zeke.

I really like Zeke (full name Ezekiel Crosse). He still has hope in a world that offers none. He's a born leader; protective, selfless and brave. He's also falling fast for Allie - or the human he thinks she is. Despite how much I like him as a love interest, I have this kind of half-hope that Kanin will turn out to be...but I doubt it. Maybe. We'll see. He's pretty entrenched in the mentor role for now.

All-in-all, I loved this book. Great characters, wonderful story, serious and fun at the same time...what's not to like? I would highly recommend The Immortal Rules.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it a 4.10 for some mid-level swearing and name-calling.

Sexuality:
I give it a 3.10 for some innuendos and brief threats.

Violence:
I rate it a 7.10 for fights, murder, gore, torture and vast quantities of blood.

                                          Lieder Madchen

Switching from Port to Starboad - A Guest Post from Claudia Gray

Hi! Today it is my great pleasure to have Claudia Gray visiting as part of a blog hop for her wonderful historical paranormal romance Fateful (Quite the mouthful of genres). She has an entertaining and informative post to share. :)

Switching from Port to Starboard - From Vampires to Werewolves

by Claudia Gray

When I first thought of writing something on the Titanic, I was still finishing up AFTERLIFE, and beginning to plot BALTHAZAR. So my natural first idea was, I’ll put a vampire on the Titanic!

Only later did I realize this was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea.

First of all – in the EVERNIGHT world, as in many traditional legends, vampires find it extremely tough to cross running water. They can do it, but it’s difficult, and it hurts them, and if they’re above (or in) water for too long, they become completely incapacitated.

The Atlantic Ocean = running water.

Would it have been possible for a vampire to board the Titanic? Well, sure. Back in those days, if you were going to travel from Europe to North America, you weren’t going to be able to do it any other way. But EVERNIGHT vampires would feel sick as soon as they got on board. They’d immediately go to their cabins, lie down and pretty much pass out. Someone would ultimately wake them when they got to port, at which time they could stagger off the ship, take a few deep breaths, and feel all better (and probably quite well rested.)

Vampires napping = not a fascinating, drama-packed adventure.

Also, as we know, the Titanic would not peacefully make port. She sank in the North Atlantic. Would the vampires even wake up during the sinking? Maybe not!

Napping through the sinking of the Titanic = just sad, really.

Instead, the vampires would probably wind up coming too when they were no longer above running water, but actually on the ocean floor. They’d still feel rotten (running water all around), but they’d probably at least come to. And man, would they be ticked off. Their cabin is wrecked. Their luggage is ruined. There are tons of dead humans around, but their blood is too cold to drink. And they’re still hundreds of miles from where they want to be.

And then there would be the thrilling conclusion, in which a vampire in a bad mood trudges through the silt on the ocean floor and walks to New York City, there to clamber up on the pier and mope while soaking wet.

Yeah, I wasn’t going there.

But then I thought – werewolves.

You see, a werewolf would have a serious problem aboard the Titanic. Whether you are the kind of werewolf who is trying not to eat people, or the kind of werewolf who is trying not to get caught eating people, you have one big priority: Privacy. You need to be alone to change. You need to be contained while you’re all wolfy. And you need your secret to never, ever come out.

But on the Titanic, privacy would be hard to come by. Those cabins were all right next to one another – and even in the finest accommodations, like the promenade suites taken by John Jacob Astor (in reality) and the Marlowes (in FATEFUL), neighbors would probably be able to hear. Yet, once again – it was the fastest way to make that trip, if it had to be made.

So now I not only had a great supernatural creature to work with, but I had plenty of suspense to sustain the story. And fun questions to answer as I looked at ship blueprints, like, “If I were a werewolf, what rooms on the Titanic would I try to lock myself into?”

Yes, it was time for the switch, and I never looked back!

******************************

Here are all of the Fateful Blog Hop Tour Guest Posts!

The Book Heist: Sinking Into Titanic Research 

Hippies, Beauty and Books Oh My!: Tip of the Iceberg: Climax Themes and Challenges 

Songs and Stories: Switching from Port to Starboard – From Vampires to Werewolves 

Live to Read: On Board with Tess Davies 

The Book Cellar: On Board with Alec Marlowe 

Bellas Novella: On Board with Secondary Characters 

Mundie Mom's Book Reviews: More on the Unexplained: Why Claudia Gray Always Loved the Titanic

**************************************

Fateful

A novel by Claudia Gray

Eighteen-year-old maid Tess Davies is determined to escape the wealthy, troubled family she serves. It’s 1912, and Tess has been trapped in the employ of the Lisles for years, amid painful memories and twisted secrets. But now the Lisle family is headed to America, with Tess in tow. Once the ship they’re sailing on—the RMS Titanic—reaches its destination, Tess plans to strike out and create a new life for herself.

Her single-minded focus shatters when she meets Alec, a handsome first-class passenger who captivates her instantly. But Alec has secrets of his own. He’s in a hurry to leave Europe, and whispers aboard the ship say it’s because of the tragic end of his last affair with the French actress who died so gruesomely and so mysteriously. . . .

Soon Tess will learn just how dark Alec’s past truly is. The danger they face is no ordinary enemy: werewolves exist and are stalking him—and now her, too. Her growing love for Alec will put Tess in mortal peril, and fate will do the same before their journey on the Titanic is over.

In Fateful, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray delivers paranormal adventure, dark suspense, and alluring romance set against the opulent backdrop of the Titanic’s first—and last—voyage.

AUTHOR INFO 

Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter

If you would like to read my review of Fateful, go here.