REVIEW: Archangel’s Enigma by Nalini Singh
Trigger warnings: cannibalism, ableist language
Dear Ms. Singh,
Archangel’s Enigma, the eighth novel in your Guild Hunter series, surprised me. I went into the book with low expectations because I hadn’t connected with its hero, the mystery-shrouded Naasir, in the earlier books he appeared in.
In those earlier books, Naasir’s talk of eating other characters was a big turnoff to me. Whatever else Naasir is, he is, as other characters state in Archangel’s Enigma, a person. For one person to eat another skates very close to cannibalism, even if their paranormal abilities are different ones, and one is an angel while the other part vampire and part something else.
Then again, you have a track record of writing books I enjoy even when their heroes have engaged in behaviors I find abhorrent. So perhaps I should not have been surprised that I enjoyed this novel as much as I did.
Archangel’s Enigma begins when Lijuan unearths a prophecy of her downfall and end at the hands of three beings. Two are unknown to her, but the third, she realizes, must be the sleeping ancient Alexander.
In New York, Archangel Raphael hears of Lijuan’s subsequent search for Alexander and fears that she intends to kill him in his sleep.
Naasir, also in New York, searches for his mate but doesn’t manage to find her before Raphael asks him to go to the Refuge to meet up with the scholar and angel Andromeda, who has agreed to accompany him on a search for Alexander. Andromeda has studied the sleeping ancients and might therefore have insight into the best places to search.
Andromeda is the granddaughter of the Archangel Charisemnon. Due to her parents’ lack of boundaries, Andromeda was exposed to a lot of sexual situations as a child, though luckily (and perhaps improbably, given the nature of Charisemnon’s court) she wasn’t molested.
As a young angel, Andromeda ran away to the Refuge and asked to be trained as a historian. She was asked if she had other obligations and because she wanted so badly to study, she lied and said she had none, though in fact her parents made a blood vow to her grandfather that someday Andromeda would begin five centuries of service in his court.
Soon after arriving at the Refuge Andromeda took a vow of celibacy. To make sure the vow stuck, she swore to stay celibate as long as the Star Grimoire, a one-of-a-kind document missing for a thousand years, remained lost.
Now Andromeda’s four hundredth birthday is approaching and her days at the Refuge are numbered. She’s been commanded to present herself in Charisemnon’s court when she turns four hundred. If she doesn’t appear she’ll be bounty hunted and killed; other archangels won’t offer her mercy. And when she serves in Charisemnon’s court, she’ll be expected to participate in torturing others.
The day she meets Naasir, Andromeda receives a letter from her grandfather’s court. She is angry and scared, but she hasn’t told anyone of her secret commitment to serve Charisemnon.
Upon meeting Andromeda Naasir suspects she is his mate but then she snaps at him to be civilized for a minute. Naasir is so offended that he chooses to be nothing but icily polite from that point on. The tension finally breaks when Andromeda challenges Naasir to spar with her later that night.
Naasir tells Andromeda he wants to rut with her (that’s the word he likes to use; I’m not in love with it myself) and Andromeda informs him of her vow. She explains she chose the Star Grimoire because it was impossible to locate, but Naasir promises her he’ll find the book.
The next morning Andromeda is kidnapped by Xi, Lijuan’s general. She is spirited to Lijuan’s citadel, and Naasir races after her but can’t get there as quickly as the angels who took her. Jason intercepts Naasir to ensure he refrains from giving in to the urge to kill her kidnappers, and urges Naasir to sneak Andromeda out instead.
While at the citadel, Andromeda does her best to stall Lijuan’s demands for Alexander’s location. When Naasir arrives to save her, their escape plan is complicated by the presence of another prisoner, Lijuan’s injured sister, Suyin, whom Andromeda has befriended and wants to free.
Eventually they escape, and Andromeda and Naasir begin to seek Alexander. But will they reach the sleeping ancient in time? And can Andromeda’s unwilling commitment to Charisemnon be undone?
Archangel’s Enigma is part rescue story, part road adventure, and part romance — and a lot of fun throughout.
My concerns about Naasir were only partially allayed and to explain how would involve revealing major spoilers. A partial explanation follows:
Spoiler: Show
All of this being the case, I enjoyed Naasir more than I expected, though I liked Andromeda even better. But the best thing about the book may have been the chemistry between the two — they just really click as a couple, make a good team, and have a playful way of relating to each other.
Part my feeling that Naasir and Andromeda make a good couple was due to Archangel’s Enigma having a lot of courtship — much more than the previous book in the series, Archangel’s Shadows.
Another aspect that makes this couple shine is the theme of acceptance which is woven into the romance. Naasir wants someone who will love him for who he is, not try to change him, and he finds that person in Andromeda. Because of that, I could really believe in their relationship.
There are also some big developments with Illium (I even wondered whether I was imagining an attraction between him and Aodhan). There’s some news on the Raphael front, too, as well as hints that Alexander, a good and honorable angel back in his day, had some connection to Caliane.
I have a few nitpicks. First, I find the Legion fascinating and I’m starting to get impatient with how little we know about them. I hope we find out a lot more in the next book because this one didn’t advance that story thread much.
My second nitpick is that early on in the book, Andromeda thought about how in four hundred years of life, she’d never been tempted to break her vow of celibacy. That was a bit of an eye roller. Naasir may be the first guy she’s fallen hard for, but when a character is a four hundred year old virgin, it’s a stretch to believe that she’s never even been presented with temptation.
Lastly, I felt the final sex scene was superfluous. Sex scenes are almost always more interesting before all the plot and character conflicts are resolved, when there is more at stake. In this case, the last sex scene (unlike the earlier one) came after that point and consequently felt shoehorned into the story. I felt that it didn’t add much.
Other than that, I liked the book a great deal, especially the road romance and adventure aspect of it. This novel among my favorites in the series, the others being Angels’ Blood, Archangel’s Blade, and Archangel’s Legion. Archangel’s Enigma gets a B/B+.
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I read this yesterday and now I am going to do a reread of the whole series and pay more attention to Naasir who I really take much notice of in the previous books. That’s how much I enjoyed his story. And, I also had a moment of wondering as to the future relationship between Illium and Aodhan. Can’t wait until the next book!
@Tamar: The Illium / Aodhan relationship is getting really interesting. I don’t think of Singh as an author of m/m romance, so I wonder if she’ll go there or if it’s unintentional or I’m reading too much in.
Well, I wondered about the Illium/Aodhan relationship too; it was that last scene where Illium is collapsed in the chair that made me go ‘oh yeah? that would be neat!’.
Just finished reading this book and I really enjoyed it, especially Naasir. He’s not an innocent, but I feel like he is. He has a basic honesty and joy of life that I find very attractive. I don’t blame Andromeda for falling for him. :-)
There was another scene earlier in the book where Illium thought (I think it was his thoughts…that’s what happens when one reads the book so fast ) that he had survived the loss of his mortal lover, but he wouldn’t survive the loss of Aodhan. But, then I thought J.R. Ward was leading Butch & V into a relationship and that didn’t happen. So, maybe it’s just my hopefulness :-)
@Carolyn: That’s a great point about Naasir’s honesty and joy of life. I loved Andromeda at least as much though! I thought she was a great match for him. They really were sweet together.
@Tamar: Here’s the quote:
I’m leaving out the rest because it’s not relevant to Illium’s feelings and it’s very spoilery.
Yup, it reads romantic to me too!
I’m not a fan of m/m so maybe I’m not the best person to talk about it but I think it’s a bummer that every time two guys are tight there is always a push for it to become romantic. If the roles were reversed and it was two females that had been close since childhood romance would not be on the radar. Men can and should be portrayed as having the same tight “kindred spirit” relationship as a women. I see Illium/Aodhan relationship as the same as Elena and Sarah. Honestly do you think Elena wold be any less devastated to lose Sarah over Raphel?
@JRB: I read M/M only very occasionally. When it came to the early BDB books, I was rooting for Butch/Marissa all the way, and wasn’t in the Butch / V camp. And I like close male friendships like Dmitri’s with Raphael. But. I think that particular snippet reads as romantic not only because Illium compares Aodhan to the woman he broke Raphael’s laws for, but also because he is “staggered” to realize the truth of his feelings and because of the way their wingtips touch. Quite possibly it’s not meant that way, but that’s how I read it.
@Janine: I read this to mean he realized that what he felt for his mortal lover wasn’t as strong as his love for a mere friend…therefore not a forever love. Perhaps now he could get past his grief.
@MikiS: That’s a good point, and could be the same for Aodhan also. They’ve both had life defining tragedies in their past, but maybe they are now realizing that with the strength and love in their friendship, they are coming to a point where they can move on
@MikiS and @Tamar: Yes, that’s entirely possible. The way it’s written, it can be read in more than one way.
I’m in the “I can hope but don’t expect it” only because I like seeing more LGBT+ folks get happy endings. I did notice that this was the first book that gay people are not just mentioned in passing, but exist on-page, and that’s not counting the one-line reference in one of the Psy/Changeling books. I just really, really like it when I get to see myself in a book, even a “mainstream” romance! Nalini Singh’s always been amazing with characters really clearly of different nationalities and colours, so I am even happy with the odd footnote of “yes of course gay people exist in this world” (unlike, oh, George Lucas and Star Wars).
I’m down with brotherhood, for sure, but I’m also really excited when an author pushes their boundaries, especially when I know they’ll do it with the care and love that Singh shows with all of her stories.
Either way I won’t be disappointed, but it’s definitely going to be a fun idea for the next year!
(As to the book itself, I enjoyed it, I am hoping some of the characters we saw are upcoming setups, I love the description of wing patterns, I’m excited to see the world change, but this wasn’t my favourite of the series — likely because Naasir didn’t do much for me. I REALLY enjoyed some of the romance-novel-formula-expectations being changed around, although I also really liked that with Ash’s book as well.)
@Lindsay:
That’s exactly where I’m at too.
Which ones? I really want a book about one of the Legion (Legionnaires?) I think Suyin will get a book, but not soon. Aodhan and Illium will of course get books, and I even think it might happen soon but a friend of mine theorizes that Singh is saving Illium for a later book in the series, like she did with Hawke / Sienna and with Kaleb in the Psy/Changeling series. That’s a good theory too.
@Janine: Ooh those are good theories! I 100% agree I’d love to see more about Legion and the Primary (I looooove Stranger in a Strange Land/Time tropes, so so much) and I was definitely hoping that Suyin was a setup as well. I kind of want to see Xi happy, but it’ll take some doing. I think Illium is my favourite character after Ashwini, and while I’d love his book sooner, I don’t mind seeing it later either (and again, if it’s with Aodhan, well now!). Venom’s due as well, and while I’m not necessarily that keen on his book, I know that it will surprise and delight me because… that’s what Nalini Singh does, really. :) I’m guessing Venom and Sorrow? To be honest I wasn’t keen on Naasir, but this book let me love him (although I agree that Andromeda totally stole the show).
Also I would love a Ransom short story, because I’d love to know how he and his librarian are holding up with the end of the world and all. And Keir, because healers are… awesome.
… so basically I want all the things? ;) I don’t care what order I get them in, either, just keep ’em coming. ALSO I loved the pre-order price on this book, I was wondering about book budgeting this month then realized I’d already ordered it the day it went up for pre-order, hee.
@Lindsay: Dunno about Xi. He’s got to know about a lot of Lijuan’s evil doings and he still supports her. I’m not that into Venom, but I really like Holly/Sorrow and hope to see her get a happy ending. A book about Ransom would be great too.
Yeah, Andromeda was terrific. I also wasn’t that into Naasir before this book, but thinking back, I remember that I actively disliked Dmitri before his book, and then that book ended up being one of my favorites in the series.
What was the pre-order price? I got an ARC, so I didn’t pay attention.
Oh, Xi! Just thinking about him as a MC/hero kind of gives me the willies. The thing I disliked about him most–and perhaps this was unintentional on the author’s part, maybe it was meant to signal “look, good guy” but I saw it the opposite: When he notes that he had intended to ask Lijuan’s permission to court Andi, though “of course” he wouldn’t proceed without Andi’s ‘full’ consent…
Was that supposed to signal “good guy at heart”? Hooray, he’s not a violent rapist? Still, how can he possibly think that Andi could give any meaningful consent while being held–with Xi’s active involvement!–against her will, under threat of torture? In the best possible interpretation, he’s delusional; given his statement to one of his men that “She [Andi] agrees with our goal [to kill Alexander],” the text seems support this.
I can understand feeling sympathetic to Xi, and I might be able to stretch to appreciate him as a loyal, enemy general who tries to act with honor… but that’s as far as I can go. I might also feel sorry for him, as Lijuan has certainly mind-f’d him (especially given the text where he notes he has doubts about Lijuan’s actions when he’s away from her physically). He’s also been portrayed as being trapped somewhat, because he can’t hold his power without Lijuan.
If he, somehow, helps bring Lijuan down in the end, and then dedicates himself to helping lost puppies and kittens and children for a few hundred years, then maybe I’d accept him as a MC/hero.
I’d try to keep an open mind because I do trust this author… but Xi… that’s a big, huge mountain to surmount.
Heh. It’s fun to think about, though.
@elf: Agree with you 100% about Xi. I don’t think Nalini Singh intends to make him into a main character, but I could be wrong!
@elf: I think Nalini Singh often starts expanding a character’s backstory and gives us more from their point of view when she’s getting ready to give them a story. I wondered with all the Xi POV – (and yikes, as an audiobook reader, all I’ve heard was “She” and wondered what kind of name that was!) – if it wasn’t a hint of things to come.
I also think in certain situations Nalini seems to over-explain things and I wonder if one of her beta-readers asked her about it. In this situation, maybe one of her beta readers said – “wow, Xi would just ask Lijuan regardless of Andromeda’s feelings?” So she added that extra “of course…”. I’m at work, so I can’t come up with other examples, but sometimes when I do a “re-listen” of the series, something will be explained or expanded that seems so obvious in the first place, and I wonder if it was added to avoid later questions.
Oh, I thought of an example – in Archangel’s Shadows, there’s a section from Ash’s point of view where she’s thinking about hugging Honor and how hard it was. Then there’s this who aside explaining that yes, she usually avoids touching people but Honor was her friend so of course she’d let her hug her. It made me wonder if a beta reader had asked – “why is Ashwini hugging her, given how much she avoids touching because of her gift?” I tend to notice that kind of thing in audiobooks more than in print because you can’t really skim over it, and it stops the forward motion of the story.
Suyin “was born of Lady Lijuan’s sister”, I took that to mean she was Lijuan’s niece. Though it was a bit odd to mention her, then place her in the story the way she did. Could have some insight into getting rid of Lijuan which would be nice.
@MikiS: That’s an interesting point about the POV. I believe the X is pronounced somewhat like (but not exactly the same as) the Sh in English. As for the explanations, I don’t know. They might be there for new readers who haven’t read the earlier books and aren’t as familiar with the characters, but really, the author’s motive is something we can only guess at.
@Variel: Thanks for the correction. Either the ARC I read used different wording or I missed that.
@Janine: The pre-order price was $5.99 back in April, which was a no-brainer for me! Not that I’d have the ability to wait on any of her books…
I agree that Xi would take tremendous amounts of rehabilitation to make a hero (in the Romance sense), but I do agree with MikiS that we usually get POVs for people who are getting set up for later, and a lot of the later backstory we get from Xi sets him up as a little more… if not likable, understandable for why he’s doing what he’s doing and why his loyalty is so strong. Plus, yeah, if he’s questioning his devotion while not near his archangel, there’s a little setup for mind-controlly-foggy stuff there too and I’d find that… fairly easy to forgive. Especially if he was horrified. Honestly, I just like bad guys who are understandable or likable or who have motivations that aren’t just moustache-twirling evil, and I think Singh can fall upon those tropes sometimes, so it’s nice to get some shades of grey now and then.
I did not read his intentions to ask permission to court Andie as squirm-worthy but ABSOLUTELY see folks doing so, and well, yeah. It would be squirm-worthy! I think I just assumed it wouldn’t happen so glossed over it. My take on it was that HE is happy with Lijuan’s court and feels she is totally reasonable, so why on earth wouldn’t anyone else feel the same way? ;)
Oh, and yes, it’d be pronounced “she”, which is how I read it, but that’s only because I work with our office in Shanghai, so pick up a little pronunciation now and then (and say xiexie a lot, heh).
@Lindsay & MikiS: The more I think about the POV thing, the more I think that Xi will not be transformed into a hero. Perhaps he’ll switch sides, perhaps he won’t, but his blind obedience to Lijuan convinces me he’s not hero material. Singh also gives us the POV of villains at times, as with Ming Le Bon in the Psy/Changeling series, so by itself the choice to use Xi’s POV isn’t a strong indicator of where his character is heading.
@Janine: You may very well be right. It’s not a hard-and-fast rule for me, but it is often true, at least in Nalini’s books. Xi isn’t considered very powerful without Lijuan. So yes, while we often get snippets from the true bad-guys, it still seems pretty common for her to start to expand a character once [it appears] she’s decided to start setting him/her up for a starring role later on. I also want to say she tends to not describe her bad-guys as being good looking – but that seems to be more true in the Psy/Changelings books. I’m not sure she ever described an angel as ugly or even plain.
@MikiS:
I can’t remember one that was plain, but I can’t swear there hasn’t been one. I’ll have to pay more attention to Xi in future books on the off chance you’re right.