#9 Angelic by Kelley Armstrong (+ notes about Subterranean Press)
Due to spoilers for Armstrong's Haunted, the review section will be under a cut. My notes about Subterranean Press do not have spoilers, 
so they're not under the cut.
Eve is a part time angel. She’s just finished her six-month stint as a celestial being, and is looking forward to spending the rest of the year with her boyfriend, Kris. Unfortunately, the fates have other plans for her, and are sending her on one last job. Eve is furious, ready to quit her position, or get herself fired. But when her last minute job turns out to be more complicated than expected, Eve has much bigger things to worry about than her employment.
Angelic is a short novella that takes place in the Otherworld universe, but is not a part of the main series. I was really happy to see ghost/angel/witch/half-demon (yikes, she has a lot of titles) Eve take back the role of narrator. Her novel, Haunted, was one of the most interesting books in the series. Once again, I enjoyed getting to see the Otherworld afterlife, which turns out to be not that different from regular life. I was happy to see that along with Kris, we get to revisit other inhabitants of the afterlife (such as angels Marius and Katsuo) as well as necromancer Jamie, and werewolf alpha Jeremy, who are thankfully still living. I also appreciated that fact that even though this book takes place outside of the series, that it’s far from filler. There’s plenty at stake in this novel, and we get to see some great character development from Eve as well as some surprising twists and turns. Perhaps its biggest drawback is the fact that it’s only a novella. I would have liked to see some of the scenes (especially near the end) expanded upon more. Also, since it’s been so long since we’ve seen the Otherworld afterlife, I couldn’t help but want to spend a little more time here. Regardless, the novella is quite solid, and I’m glad that I decided to pick it up.
Note on the publisher: Angelic is not published by Armstrong’s normal publisher, but by a small press called Subterranean Press. Being my first experience with SubPress, I was a little confused with the way they did business, and thought that I would share my experience with people interested in purchasing from them. The purpose of Subpress is not to create bestsellers but collector’s items. As a result, Angelic had a very limited press run of 2000 copies. The book itself if very short (98 pages), illustrated, and steeply priced at $20 (there were 200 additional copies that were signed and even more expensive). As a small press, Subpress does not have an official publishing date but instead gives a month and a year, and can often be late. For example, Angelic was supposed to be published Dec 2009, but copies were not shipped until Jan 8th 2010. When you preorder a book from their website, they charge your credit card on the day you order, not the day the book ships. I didn’t like this, but would still recommend buying from the Subpress website instead of from other sites like amazon.com. This is because sites like amazon cannot advertise “out of print” on an item that has not gone to press yet. As a result, many people (about 1000) pre-ordered copies of Angelic on amazon but were unable to get copies. If you pre-order from SubPress’s website, you will get a copy.
Despite a somewhat confusing way of doing business, I was happy with the product, so I will be buying from them again (Armstrong will be publishing another novella with them in 2010). Due to the high price, I will only be doing this with my favorite authors.
Rating: four stars
Length: 98 pages
Source: Subterranean Press
Challenge: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar Books: Looking for more books about genies? Check out Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden Series (which I'm not fond of, but other people are) and Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Raises Hell (my review). It is necessary to read Armstrong's Haunted before Angelic.
Other books I've read by this author: Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Personal Demon, Living with the Dead ( my review), Frostbitten ( my review), Men of the Otherworld ( my review), The Summoning ( my review), The Awakening ( my review), Exit Strategy ( my review), and Made to be Broken ( my review). I've also read the novella "Chaotic' from Dates from Hell, and the short story "Kat" from The Eternal Kiss ( my review)
and temporaryworlds
so they're not under the cut.
Eve is a part time angel. She’s just finished her six-month stint as a celestial being, and is looking forward to spending the rest of the year with her boyfriend, Kris. Unfortunately, the fates have other plans for her, and are sending her on one last job. Eve is furious, ready to quit her position, or get herself fired. But when her last minute job turns out to be more complicated than expected, Eve has much bigger things to worry about than her employment.
Angelic is a short novella that takes place in the Otherworld universe, but is not a part of the main series. I was really happy to see ghost/angel/witch/half-demon (yikes, she has a lot of titles) Eve take back the role of narrator. Her novel, Haunted, was one of the most interesting books in the series. Once again, I enjoyed getting to see the Otherworld afterlife, which turns out to be not that different from regular life. I was happy to see that along with Kris, we get to revisit other inhabitants of the afterlife (such as angels Marius and Katsuo) as well as necromancer Jamie, and werewolf alpha Jeremy, who are thankfully still living. I also appreciated that fact that even though this book takes place outside of the series, that it’s far from filler. There’s plenty at stake in this novel, and we get to see some great character development from Eve as well as some surprising twists and turns. Perhaps its biggest drawback is the fact that it’s only a novella. I would have liked to see some of the scenes (especially near the end) expanded upon more. Also, since it’s been so long since we’ve seen the Otherworld afterlife, I couldn’t help but want to spend a little more time here. Regardless, the novella is quite solid, and I’m glad that I decided to pick it up.
Note on the publisher: Angelic is not published by Armstrong’s normal publisher, but by a small press called Subterranean Press. Being my first experience with SubPress, I was a little confused with the way they did business, and thought that I would share my experience with people interested in purchasing from them. The purpose of Subpress is not to create bestsellers but collector’s items. As a result, Angelic had a very limited press run of 2000 copies. The book itself if very short (98 pages), illustrated, and steeply priced at $20 (there were 200 additional copies that were signed and even more expensive). As a small press, Subpress does not have an official publishing date but instead gives a month and a year, and can often be late. For example, Angelic was supposed to be published Dec 2009, but copies were not shipped until Jan 8th 2010. When you preorder a book from their website, they charge your credit card on the day you order, not the day the book ships. I didn’t like this, but would still recommend buying from the Subpress website instead of from other sites like amazon.com. This is because sites like amazon cannot advertise “out of print” on an item that has not gone to press yet. As a result, many people (about 1000) pre-ordered copies of Angelic on amazon but were unable to get copies. If you pre-order from SubPress’s website, you will get a copy.
Despite a somewhat confusing way of doing business, I was happy with the product, so I will be buying from them again (Armstrong will be publishing another novella with them in 2010). Due to the high price, I will only be doing this with my favorite authors.
Rating: four stars
Length: 98 pages
Source: Subterranean Press
Challenge: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar Books: Looking for more books about genies? Check out Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden Series (which I'm not fond of, but other people are) and Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Raises Hell (my review). It is necessary to read Armstrong's Haunted before Angelic.
Other books I've read by this author: Bitten, Stolen, Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Personal Demon, Living with the Dead ( my review), Frostbitten ( my review), Men of the Otherworld ( my review), The Summoning ( my review), The Awakening ( my review), Exit Strategy ( my review), and Made to be Broken ( my review). I've also read the novella "Chaotic' from Dates from Hell, and the short story "Kat" from The Eternal Kiss ( my review)
and temporaryworlds