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A review by amym84
Angels of Darkness by Meljean Brook, Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh
4.0
I'll admit that so far I've only read Nalini Singh and Ilona Abdrews' stories. But this is one of the rare anthologies where I really do want to read all of the authors. I have never read anything by Sharon Shinn but I have a bunch of her books on my TBR pile, and I've only read a few shorts by Meljean Brook and I look forward to reading more for her. For now, this review will be only for the first two stories.
Nalini Singh's story "Angel's Wolf" takes place in her Guild Hunters world. It's a nice little short story about the vampire Noel and the angel Nimra. Noel we've seen before in "Archangel's Kiss" (please forgive me if I'm wrong on that one) he was the vampire that was found badly beaten and tortured. This is the first time we've seen Nimra, the angel who is in charge of Louisiana. Noel is sent into Nimra's court, as he originally thinks, because after the tramatizing events of his beating, he is no longer able to do his job to Raphael's standards. We learn that this is not the case at all and we get to see Noel coming back to life as it were in Nimra's court. Of course it is Nimra and Noel that form the attraction in this short story. I thought that Singh did a wonderful job to tell a full story with a plot conflict and resolution in this limited amount. When I first started reading this series, I liked the focus being on Raphael and Elena. I wasn't sure about switching characters. But reading other short stories in her Guild Hunter world I realized that I do, in fact, enjoy learning about this group that Singh has introduced us to. So far, she's kept the world confined to characters surrounding Raphael and Elena (someone else in the Guild with Elena, one of Raphael's seven, and so forth). So we, in a way, continue to learn about Raphael and Elena based on the company they keep so to speak. I also think this approach keeps the series fresh, yet there's still this center point (Raphael and Elena). On that note, however, I really thought that this story did well not to alienate any new readers. There was enough background information given so people who are not familiar with the Guild Hunters series would still understand everything going on. I say this because I know that a lot of times I won't easily want to read a short story in an anthology if it is part of a larger series that I haven't read because I would feel uninvested in what's going on. Not understanding the characters. But this story doesn't suffer from that. You can read this story and like it and be done or on the off chance it might just make you want to go back and read the rest of the series. Either way it is one to enjoy.
The other story that I've read in this anthology is Ilona Andrews's "Alpha: Origins". I love pretty much everything by this author. They are one of, if not the, top authors that I read. Known for their Kate Daniels and The Edge series, Alphas is brand new. At first, I wasn't sure how they were going to encorporate the Angels theme into this story, but it all worked out. I liked the world building with this one. It was a little comlicated at first to understand what was going on, but this is intentional because we are going through the story at the same time at Karina. We are no more informed on what has happened to Karina than she is. Once everything is revealed and we understand the world it's very creative and plausible. This story really felt like the beginning for me. I really hope the the authors continue this into a series of more short stories or even a full length novel. I am very interested to see where Lucas and Karina are headed. The romance is light, but building. It's another of those things that feels like it's progressing and I want to read more. Since this book is a new story and not a part of any other series new readers should be comfortable reading it. If you haven't read anything by Ilona Andrews in the past, this is as good a place as any to start.
I fully intend to finish this anthology with Sharon Shinn and Meljean Brook. I will add reviews os their stories later. Until Then!
Nalini Singh's story "Angel's Wolf" takes place in her Guild Hunters world. It's a nice little short story about the vampire Noel and the angel Nimra. Noel we've seen before in "Archangel's Kiss" (please forgive me if I'm wrong on that one) he was the vampire that was found badly beaten and tortured. This is the first time we've seen Nimra, the angel who is in charge of Louisiana. Noel is sent into Nimra's court, as he originally thinks, because after the tramatizing events of his beating, he is no longer able to do his job to Raphael's standards. We learn that this is not the case at all and we get to see Noel coming back to life as it were in Nimra's court. Of course it is Nimra and Noel that form the attraction in this short story. I thought that Singh did a wonderful job to tell a full story with a plot conflict and resolution in this limited amount. When I first started reading this series, I liked the focus being on Raphael and Elena. I wasn't sure about switching characters. But reading other short stories in her Guild Hunter world I realized that I do, in fact, enjoy learning about this group that Singh has introduced us to. So far, she's kept the world confined to characters surrounding Raphael and Elena (someone else in the Guild with Elena, one of Raphael's seven, and so forth). So we, in a way, continue to learn about Raphael and Elena based on the company they keep so to speak. I also think this approach keeps the series fresh, yet there's still this center point (Raphael and Elena). On that note, however, I really thought that this story did well not to alienate any new readers. There was enough background information given so people who are not familiar with the Guild Hunters series would still understand everything going on. I say this because I know that a lot of times I won't easily want to read a short story in an anthology if it is part of a larger series that I haven't read because I would feel uninvested in what's going on. Not understanding the characters. But this story doesn't suffer from that. You can read this story and like it and be done or on the off chance it might just make you want to go back and read the rest of the series. Either way it is one to enjoy.
The other story that I've read in this anthology is Ilona Andrews's "Alpha: Origins". I love pretty much everything by this author. They are one of, if not the, top authors that I read. Known for their Kate Daniels and The Edge series, Alphas is brand new. At first, I wasn't sure how they were going to encorporate the Angels theme into this story, but it all worked out. I liked the world building with this one. It was a little comlicated at first to understand what was going on, but this is intentional because we are going through the story at the same time at Karina. We are no more informed on what has happened to Karina than she is. Once everything is revealed and we understand the world it's very creative and plausible. This story really felt like the beginning for me. I really hope the the authors continue this into a series of more short stories or even a full length novel. I am very interested to see where Lucas and Karina are headed. The romance is light, but building. It's another of those things that feels like it's progressing and I want to read more. Since this book is a new story and not a part of any other series new readers should be comfortable reading it. If you haven't read anything by Ilona Andrews in the past, this is as good a place as any to start.
I fully intend to finish this anthology with Sharon Shinn and Meljean Brook. I will add reviews os their stories later. Until Then!