Archangel’s Shadows by Nalini Singh

Narrated by Justine Eyre

Another Nalini Singh story! YAY! Not only is it a Guild Hunter tale, it’s also Ashwini and Janvier’s story! After five years, listeners finally get the happily ever after that was hinted at in Angel’s Pawn.

Archangel’s Shadows takes place not long after the battle against the archangel of China and her army of reborn after they invaded Manhattan. The opening scene has Ash and Janvier working from behind enemy lines to distract and dissemble Lijuan’s forces. It is in this skirmish that Ash is hurt and rescued with Janvier’s assistance.

Three weeks later, Manhattan is recovering slowly but Ash is not. Her convalescence has taxed her patience and she’s anxious to get back to active duty. Thankfully the Guild Director takes pity on Ashe and sends her out to investigate a mummified animal found on the edge of the Vampire Quarter just that morning.

What looks like a simple case of a dead dog leads into a mystery much more complex than Ash and Janvier suspected. One that has ties to a new drug for vampires on the street called Umber – a drug that pushes the Made into a bloodlust so bad, it could turn the recovering city into a river of blood.

Nalini Singh has yet to disappoint me with a romance. This book, like her others, is a beautifully written romance with realistic characters that seem to be based on real people. Each one is so well rounded with issues and concerns that strike at the heart of the reader.

Not only do Ms. Singh’s characters shine but her writing does as well. She has a very lyrical way of describing scenes, almost poetic in their execution – scenes where she describes the colors and textures of an angel’s wings as if they were works of art. She has a way of utilizing words to describe a scene like an artist paints a canvas.

Justine Eyre’s narration makes this book. The wealth of accents represented in this book was staggering yet she pulled all of them off excellently. And considering the number of men and women she had to bring to life, it was seriously impressive how well Eyre illuminated each character so well. Specific characters—British lllium, Russian Dmitri, Irish Aodhan, even hoods from Brooklyn—were distinctive and so flawlessly performed I had no problems visualizing every one of them. I could see each character so clearly in my mind long after a scene had finished that it was as if I had watched it on a screen. Her narration was so affecting an experience; even after finishing the book, I had visual memories of certain scenes.

Despite the excellence Eyre demonstrated, this book was not one of my favorites. Why? Because of the patois she gave to Janvier. Known as “the Cajun”, he was clearly described as being from deep bayou country. Cajun French phrases and endearments like cher and bebe were common in almost every conversation. However, instead of getting Remy McSwain and his mellow lilt, Janvier was more Elvis Presley and his choppy, rounded speech. I always felt Janiver had cotton in his cheeks when he spoke. I learned to ignore his voice but it was hard. I got kicked out of the story each time his character spoke one of these endearments. And the sexy words and phrases he murmured to Ashwini, they weren’t so sexy after all and instead made me cringe instead of swooning as they were no doubt intended to do.

Regardless of the fluke of Janvier’s character, this was a very enjoyable listen. Archangel’s Shadows may not have been my favorite but that’s like saying chocolate chip cookies are second to brownies. Both are equally awesome but one is tastier to one person than to the other.

The entire Guild Hunter series occupies a permanent place on my Keeper Shelf. The combination of Singh and Eyre is an amazing combination. Eyre’s failure to captivate me with Janvier’s character was a one-time miss and more of a personal issue. I highly recommend Archangel’s Shadows but not if you haven’t read any of the previous books. Too much of this book’s awesomeness, excluding the narrator’s performance, depends on past occurrences for a newbie to appreciate it.

Diana

Narration:  B-

Book Content:  B

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Escalated fighting

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Archangel’s Shadows was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.