Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh, UK edition cover.

Title: Archangel’s Balde (A Guild Hunter Novel)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Gollancz Fiction (8th September 2011)
Blurb:

The severed head with a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts hones over hundreds of years compelled the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past . . . but Dmitri’s need to discover the truth is nothing compared to his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with a seductive vampire who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality . . . the same vampire who had been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting, and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Archangel’s Blade is the fourth book in Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter Series. Unlike the previous three books in the series, this one does not focus on the relationship between Elena and Raphael – although they do both appear as minor characters. Instead, for the first time, we get to see Dmitri centre stage and boy is it a treat!

It is very interesting to see Dmitri for the first time not through someone else’s eyes. Archangel’s Blade allows Dmitri to become a real, fleshed out character for the first time. That’s not to say he wasn’t interesting and compelling in the previous Guild Hunter Series books, because he was. This book just added another layer to him.

This book in effect introduced two new voices into the series, and I’m hoping we’ll get to see more of them in later books in the Guild Hunters Series. I liked the fact that Nalini Singh showed both their voices by allowing them to narrate; however at times the narrative voices seemed to blend together. This meant there were occasions when Dmitri was narrating and then Honor’s voice appeared and vice versa. Whilst this didn’t take anything away from the storyline, I found it interrupted the flow for me.

Nalini Singh uses this book to explore an interesting idea – in a world where Angel’s create Vampires, what else is possible? It formed an interesting part of the plot. I also liked the way Singh used memories in the narrative, and how the past and present blurred into one another so as the reader you got to empathise with Dmitri.

I think Archangel’s Blade is a welcome addition to the Guild Hunter Series and I’m looking forward to seeing where Singh plans to take the series and her characters. One thing I am sure of though, it will be an interesting ride for characters and readers both.