Review: Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Back Cover Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author of Angels' Blood 

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena... 

For fans of: Angels’ Blood , the prequel to Archangel’s Kiss; Nalini Singh

In the Angel’s Blood, Elena is a Guild Hunter. What that means is she hunts down vampires who’ve run away and she returns them to their masters, the angels. See, in this world, angels aren’t really religious icons, but instead, basically rule the world. Angels create vampires to serve them by giving certain humans a toxin that they produce in their blood. In exchange for immortality, a human vampire-to-be signs away their freedom for a couple of centuries. Hunters are humans tasked with making sure the vampires stick to their contracts of servitude.  Elena is the best Hunter out there, which brings her to the attention of Raphael, the Archangel of New York. He’s one of seven of the most powerful angels in the world and he has a job for her. He needs her to hunt down another Archangel who has gone insane. In the process of doing this job, Elena and Raphael fall for each other, leading to massive complications and the next book, Archangel’s Kiss.

I’m a huge fan of Nalini Singh. I stalk her on her website and on an awesome urban fantasy author blog called Odd Shots. I’ve read just about everything she’s ever written.

That said, I was a little disappointed with this book. I enjoyed Archangel’s Kiss for the insight it gives us into Elena’s childhood traumas. In the first book, we were left wondering what had really happened to Elena and her family as a child. Nalini Singh finally answered that question in this, the second book in her Guild Hunter series. I enjoyed seeing Raphael and Elena’s relationship progress into more of an equal footing and watching them mature and deepen their love. I loved seeing Elena start to learn about being an angel and I loved how she dealt with all of the changes.

What I had problems with were the plot progression and climax. The plot seemed too jumpy to me. It was like it didn’t flow well when I read it. Ms. Singh had too many plot threads and she would alternate between main threads leaving me unattached to any of them. And unfortunately, the climax was completely anticlimactic. I was looking forward to the final confrontation with Lijuan and her army of the dead but it lasted for all of five pages and Elena played almost no part in it. And who destroys a city in one sentence? It was all, Beijing is no more. I just had problems with that.

I did have fun reading this. I love Elena because she’s so bad ass and refuses to take crap from anybody. I love that she’s independent and doesn’t rely on Raphael all the time, but doesn’t get into stupid situations because she’s too independent and won’t rely on others when she needs help. Raphael walks that fine line between arrogant jerk that no one likes and yummy alpha male that everyone wants. I probably will read this again, if only for the characters. I am still definitely looking forward to reading the next book in the series, which sounds like it will be set in Manhattan. I can’t wait to read about the reactions of her family and friends to her new angel wings. I hope it can come out sooner!

My Grade: B-