Singh, Nalini - Angel's Blood
Sadly, this is one of the many books subject to extreme whitewashing; rachelmanija saw the cover and asked, "Is the heroine albino?" (The white hair and pale eyes are canonical, but the main character is half-Moroccan and should have "dark gold" skin. And yes, some of it is the lighting for the face, but it's still pretty extreme!)
In this world, angels rule the world and make... er, sorry, Make... vampires. I am not sure what it is with the current paranormal trend of mixing assorted paranormal elements, like angels and vampires (this series, Meljean Brook), psychics and shapeshifters (Singh's other series), mermaids and angels (Joey Hill), Atlanteans and shapeshifters (Alyssa Day), or psychics and shapeshifters and witches and gargoyles and mysterious green-eyed beings and faeries and dragons and mermaids and demons (Marjorie Liu, I love you). Oh well. Paranormal romances: getting almost as cracktastic as gothic shoujo!
Sadly, I wiish there were as much angst and DOOM and evil twins as gothic shoujo, as opposed to alpha males and supposedly quippy heroines, but oh well.
Anyway. Elena Deveraux is a Guild Hunter who goes out and grabs rogue vampires and returns them to their angelic owners; when vampires are Made, they are contracted to the angels who Made them for a certain period of time. Only this time, the archangel Raphael wants her to go after another archangel.
I didn't pay that much attention to the plot, save that it was very bloody, but I was actually really interested in the worldbuilding. I'm not entirely sure it's coherent, but it's ambitious and interesting and leaves a lot of room for later books. I like that the archangels are almost all POC (except possibly Raphael). I would normally be grumpy that the supporting characters were largely POC except for the hero of this book, but since this is a paranormal series, I am assuming most of the supporting characters are going to end up being main characters anyway.
I'm particularly hoping we get Ashwini's story (Guild Hunter), Vivex's story (quadraplegic Guild Oracle guy), and several of the female archangels' stories. Unfortunately, I think Singh may be setting up several of the female archangels as villains, but I think it would be much more interesting if they were the heroines, especially for the potential power dynamics (archangels are super-powerful). I am also almost entirely sure we're going to get the story of Dmitri, who literally exudes sexiness (apparently vampires put out a special scent or something), and Holly Chang, who we briefly see tortured by the villain in this book.
I was not very into either Elena or Raphael, particularly Raphael's super-powerful-ness, but I did like that Elena is very violent, generally not afraid of being violent, and that she has absolutely no problem telling Raphael "no." There are a few nearly skeevy moments, since Raphael can get into people's heads and Dmitri exudes Teh Sex, but instead of that wearing down Elena's consent, as it is in many romances, we instead get her pushing back. So when she finally does have sex with Raphael, it is because she very clearly wants it and states so and makes a move. I liked that a lot.
Again, I kind of wish that there were more non-half-white multiracial protagonists in the paranormals I read, but I am much happier to complain about that than to wish for more POC, period. I really liked that Singh very deliberately makes her world multi-cultural. Sometimes the language gets to me, especially with the skin descriptions (lots of "exotic," lots of bronze/gold or food imagery), and sometimes the cultures feel a bit random, like Lijuan the Chinese archangel, but it is so much better than the Celtic/Scottish/British Isles paranormals of the past. Plus, angels and vampires and sheer crack!
The book has many of the same flaws that her Psy-Changeling series does: the prose isn't great, the men are too alpha for me, and overall I could use less serial killers/vamps gone bad/supernatural beings gone bad in romances, but the worldbuliding is even crazier! This, by the way, is a feature, not a bug.
Anyway, will be keeping an eye out on these.
P.S. I keep reading "Lijuan" as "gift certificate" in Chinese, which I am pretty sure is wrong.
P.P.S. Highly approve of the romance trend of getting more physically active and ass-kicking women. Still disapprove of always partnering them up with even more powerful men.
P.P.P.S. Bonus points for mentioning that the vampire sex hormone thing works hetero- or homosexually.
In this world, angels rule the world and make... er, sorry, Make... vampires. I am not sure what it is with the current paranormal trend of mixing assorted paranormal elements, like angels and vampires (this series, Meljean Brook), psychics and shapeshifters (Singh's other series), mermaids and angels (Joey Hill), Atlanteans and shapeshifters (Alyssa Day), or psychics and shapeshifters and witches and gargoyles and mysterious green-eyed beings and faeries and dragons and mermaids and demons (Marjorie Liu, I love you). Oh well. Paranormal romances: getting almost as cracktastic as gothic shoujo!
Sadly, I wiish there were as much angst and DOOM and evil twins as gothic shoujo, as opposed to alpha males and supposedly quippy heroines, but oh well.
Anyway. Elena Deveraux is a Guild Hunter who goes out and grabs rogue vampires and returns them to their angelic owners; when vampires are Made, they are contracted to the angels who Made them for a certain period of time. Only this time, the archangel Raphael wants her to go after another archangel.
I didn't pay that much attention to the plot, save that it was very bloody, but I was actually really interested in the worldbuilding. I'm not entirely sure it's coherent, but it's ambitious and interesting and leaves a lot of room for later books. I like that the archangels are almost all POC (except possibly Raphael). I would normally be grumpy that the supporting characters were largely POC except for the hero of this book, but since this is a paranormal series, I am assuming most of the supporting characters are going to end up being main characters anyway.
I'm particularly hoping we get Ashwini's story (Guild Hunter), Vivex's story (quadraplegic Guild Oracle guy), and several of the female archangels' stories. Unfortunately, I think Singh may be setting up several of the female archangels as villains, but I think it would be much more interesting if they were the heroines, especially for the potential power dynamics (archangels are super-powerful). I am also almost entirely sure we're going to get the story of Dmitri, who literally exudes sexiness (apparently vampires put out a special scent or something), and Holly Chang, who we briefly see tortured by the villain in this book.
I was not very into either Elena or Raphael, particularly Raphael's super-powerful-ness, but I did like that Elena is very violent, generally not afraid of being violent, and that she has absolutely no problem telling Raphael "no." There are a few nearly skeevy moments, since Raphael can get into people's heads and Dmitri exudes Teh Sex, but instead of that wearing down Elena's consent, as it is in many romances, we instead get her pushing back. So when she finally does have sex with Raphael, it is because she very clearly wants it and states so and makes a move. I liked that a lot.
Again, I kind of wish that there were more non-half-white multiracial protagonists in the paranormals I read, but I am much happier to complain about that than to wish for more POC, period. I really liked that Singh very deliberately makes her world multi-cultural. Sometimes the language gets to me, especially with the skin descriptions (lots of "exotic," lots of bronze/gold or food imagery), and sometimes the cultures feel a bit random, like Lijuan the Chinese archangel, but it is so much better than the Celtic/Scottish/British Isles paranormals of the past. Plus, angels and vampires and sheer crack!
The book has many of the same flaws that her Psy-Changeling series does: the prose isn't great, the men are too alpha for me, and overall I could use less serial killers/vamps gone bad/supernatural beings gone bad in romances, but the worldbuliding is even crazier! This, by the way, is a feature, not a bug.
Anyway, will be keeping an eye out on these.
P.S. I keep reading "Lijuan" as "gift certificate" in Chinese, which I am pretty sure is wrong.
P.P.S. Highly approve of the romance trend of getting more physically active and ass-kicking women. Still disapprove of always partnering them up with even more powerful men.
P.P.P.S. Bonus points for mentioning that the vampire sex hormone thing works hetero- or homosexually.