Comments on: REVIEW: Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh

By: Angels’ Blood by N. Singh | Literary Escapism

Angels’ Blood by N. Singh | Literary Escapism — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:03:27 +0000

[...] reviewed by: Angieville Babbling About Books, and More Dear Author Musings of a Bibliophile Royal Reviews The Book Smugglers Tracy’s Place Urban Fantasy [...]

By: Janine

Janine — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:48:19 +0000

LauraJane and Amy,

Thanks so much for posting your thoughts!

LauraJane — Elena’s smartassery didn’t bother me so much because it seemed like bravado, like she was trying to muster her own courage. But I did feel that I needed to see more of what it was that made her so special.

Amy — I think I said something similar in this part of my review:

It was thrilling to see Raphael’s feelings for Elena humanize him, though I would have liked to understand better what it was about Elena specifically that gave her the ability to engage Raphael’s emotions more deeply than any of his other lovers (all warrior women) had done in his millennium of existence.

I loved the mixture of elements in the book, but this is where I feel that fitting in the Seven, the Guild, the Cadre of Ten, and the detective story didn’t leave as much room for the relationship development as I would have liked. I agree that Raphael’s age, which IMO was part of what made him such an interesting character, also made it harder to believe that Elena was the love of his life. I think I could have been convinced though, if the relationship development had been given more pages. But since I enjoyed the other parts of the book so much, I don’t know that I would want that to come at their expense. Maybe the book could have benefitted from being a bit longer.

I actually enjoyed this one more than Slave to Sensation — I liked that book but I had bigger problems with it such as for example not finding Sascha entirely believable as someone who had repressed her emotions her whole life.

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:59:39 +0000

I finished Angels’ Blood and I’m glad to have read it. I think NS did her readers a disservice issuing Angels’ Pawn first. As I stated above, I probably would have stopped following this series but for the good review here. I enjoyed Angels’ Blood enough that I plan to buy the next book and see how the series progresses. However, I didn’t love it the way I loved the first book in the Psy-Changeling series. I can’t put my finger on all the reasons. One factor may be the fact that I’m still not sure I *believe* in the Elena and Raphael pairing. I frequently have this difficulty in paranormal romances when one character — usually the male — is hundreds of years older than the other and that ancient one yielded super powers and had a gazillion lovers during all that time. With such a dramatic power and experience difference, the less powerful/more inexperienced character has to be super duper special with super duper great chemistry with the other character for me to buy into the — after all these years “you are it!” aspect of the romance. It is just hard for me to believe that Elena is so super duper special. Sure she is a kickass character with a smartass mouth, but Raphael most have enjoyed countless similar women over the years (as he said he prefers warrior women). Sure she has suffered, but in this world it is hard to believe that Raphael has not encountered countless kickass women over the years who also suffered terribly at the hands of either vampires or angels. And I’m not too certain their chemistry. I certainly saw the potential for them to be lovers, but THE LOVE of their lives??

By: LauraJane

LauraJane — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:39:30 +0000

Thanks for the review Janine! I finished Angels’ Blood last week, but I didn’t love it. There were aspects of the book that thrilled me – I really liked the Seven. I’m pretty sure I’d read a book about Dimitri. The other archangels didn’t interest me as much. My big problem was with Elena. She was just too much of a smartass for me to believe Raphael would be into her. Since my main interest in the book was the development of their relationship, Elena’s attitude kind of ruined it for me. I am curious to see how the series progresses.

By: Janine

Janine — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:06:16 +0000

Thanks, Anita. Glad you enjoyed the book!

By: Anita Chax

Anita Chax — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:31:17 +0000

I read the book and loved it! It is a rather wise book, if I may say so, in a genre where one doesn’t really expect much wisdom. I’d love to see how the relationship between Elena and Raphael would develop in the sequels, because there is still a way to go for both of them, they still have a lot to learn about each other and from each other. Both are very, very strong characters — I loved that about them. No doormat hs here, thank goodness. Plenty of sass and verve in Elena.

Astute review, Janine, particularly your comment on the clash of the young vs. the old.

By: Janine

Janine — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:03:24 +0000

Thanks, Helen.

By: Helen Burgess

Helen Burgess — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:02:26 +0000

Dear Janine, A Vampires Claim is by Joey W Hill, australian bushman takes up with a young (!) vampire. he is ultra yummy.

By: Janine

Janine — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:56:17 +0000

LauraJane - Let me know what you thought of the book when you finish. And of The Better to Hold You, too. Helen - Glad you loved it! What is A Vampire's Claim? Is that another Singh book or novella? Hilicia -- I did read Angels' Blood before Angels' Pawn. I did enjoy it somewhat, thought it was entertaining and agree that it is probably better to read them in that order (the worldbuilding stuff is probably a lot clearer that way). But even so, at the risk of giving away anything that wasn't in a review, I was disappointed that there was no HEA or HFN ending, and failing that, not even a single sex scene. Also, for its length, the novella seemed a bit overpriced. I did like Ashwini and Janvier, though.

By: Hilcia

Hilcia — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 18:44:50 +0000

Love the review. Angel’s Pawn is actually called a Companion novella to Angel’s Blood. As a “companion” novella, IMO it works. I also read Angel’s Blood first and loved it. However, I have wondered how it would have been to read Angel’s Pawn without reading Angel’s Blood first. In that case, I think, I also would have been disatisfiedl.