Tile: Archangel’s Shadows
Series: Guild Hunter bk 7
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal
In the wake of a brutal war, the archangel Raphael and his hunter consort, Elena, are dealing with the treacherously shifting tides of archangelic politics and the people of a battered but not broken city. The last thing their city needs is more death, especially a death that bears the eerie signature of an insane enemy archangel who cannot— should not—be walking the streets.
This hunt must be undertaken with stealth and without alerting their people. It must be handled by those who can become shadows themselves…
Ash is a gifted tracker and a woman cursed with the ability to sense the secrets of anyone she touches. But there’s one man she knows all too well without a single instant of skin contact: Janvier, the dangerously sexy Cajun vampire who has fascinated and infuriated her for years. Now, as they track down a merciless killer, their cat-and-mouse game of flirtation and provocation has turned into a profound one of the heart. And this time, it is Ash’s secret, dark and terrible, that threatens to destroy them both.
Thoughts: oh Nalini, Nalini, Nalini, once again you have managed to write a story that sucks me in with the first paragraph and keep there until the last sentence and then have me go back and read it again just to relive it all over again.
This book picks up weeks after the end of Legion and combines two story lines, that of Raphael and Elena and Ash and Janvier.
There is a lot happening in the world as they all deal with what Lijuan and her allies tried to do to New York City.
Ash and Janvier, we’ve been waiting for this book for YEARS it feels like, and what a story it is. Unlike the other characters in this world who have the whole meet and fall in love during the course of the book, Ash and Janvier have been doing a dance around their feelings for a couple of years – books – so we all ready know they love each other. What we’ve never understood was why they weren’t together. We find out, and it’s heartbreaking. I fell even more in love with Janvier in this story than I already was, and my heart broke for them and what they were going through.
Raphael and Elena are in a good place in their relationship. They’ve survived Lijuan’s attack, the arrival of the Legion and now are in the process of rebuilding New York City. There are some lighthearted moments, and some intense moments, like we’ve all come to expect from these two.
Nassir, oh how he stole the book. He snuck in and stole the book so much that the third time (are you really surprised I’ve already read this book more than once) I only read the parts with him. They way he is with Ash and Janvier you know he thinks of them like siblings. The relationship he has with Dimitri was a surprise to me, and I hope it’s one for the readers as well. Watching them interact and Dimitri remember him as a child, it made me wonder about him. Then there was the way he was with Honor. I wouldn’t be surprised if he viewed Dimitri and Honor as his parents, from the way he was with them. There were times he was very childlike, and others where he was a warrior. One of my favorite scenes is when all the Seven in New York City including Ash and Janvier go to dinner at Raphael and Elena’s. It’s really the first time you see just how the bonds of family are with them.
The mystery of who is committing atrocities in the city that resemble Lijuan leads the tower to make changes in how they deal with mortal’s and creates some interesting ties.
I didn’t think I could love any book in this series as much as I do Archangel’s Blade, but this one is up there with my favorites in the series.
Grade A+
