Archangel's Blade by Nalini SinghMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is my favourite book in the series. While I enjoyed Raphael and Elena's mating dance, Dmitri's chasing after Honor did it for me. This book is appropriately named. Dmitri is Raphael's blade, as his second command. This story almost feels like a spin off. There was less Angel politics which was nice. The Angel's ennui and their evolution has been a bit of a drag. I'm guessing the next book will deal with that conflict again. I'm glad for the break.
In this book, Honor is pulling herself together after her two month torture at the hands of vampires. Due to my reading selections, it is a guilty pleasure for me to read about the torture. I admire Honor and I think she's the perfect "damaged" person. She's strong and intelligent, but not flawless. This is appealing to me in a heroine. The twist in her was not unanticipated yet it was unfolded in a poignant manner which made my heart bleed a bit for her.
What it really did was generate sorrow for Dmitri. I've not really liked Dmitri, thinking him as a hard, calloused asshole. This story is really all about him, not Honor. We get to see what made him the way he is today. And let me tell you, it isn't pretty. It's brutal and heartbreaking. The actual plot of what happened to him has been done before in other books by other authors. What is different is Ms. Singh adds nuances which made it more personal for me. I felt pulled in, really seeing from Dmitri's perspective. Her way of describing scenes are in a way that makes it crystal clear for me to picture. My favourite scene she painted was Ash, Elena and Honor sitting together on the edge. I could see it so clearly in my mind. I hope someone with artist ability decides to draw this scene and give to Ms. Singh to share.
This was more than just a paranormal romance with hot sex. There were two other threads going on with Sorrow and hunting down Honor's torturers. It was woven together to make a complete picture. There were no tangents that fizzed anticlimactic or stopped in a dead end. Instead, every piece of information pulled together in the end for a very satisfying ending. I recommend this story to my paranormal friends who are hopeless romantics and love the bad boys. Because Dmitri is definitely naughty.
