Skip to main content

Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1)

 

By: Nalini Singh
Release Date: March 3rd 2009
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Series: Guild Hunter #1
Rating: 1 out 5

Elena Deveraux doesn’t consider herself a vampire hunter. Hired by a dangerous Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that she fears for her life. Only one thing is clear—failure is not an option… even if the task is impossible. Given the task of hunting, a rogue angel has gone bad. The job will put Elena in great danger. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break… This is some of the worst writing I’ve read in a long time. There was no depth, no finesse, and it was completely lacking in subtlety.
The plot revolves around a vampire hunter named Elena being hired by an angel because she is the very best there is, however she’s hired to hunt an angel who has lost it and not a vampire. The angel is on a violent spree that she, and somehow the archangel who hired her, has to stop.
The problem with this story is the main heroine. We are told repeatedly what a hardcore badass hunter she is, and not like the other girls. In reality, she’s weak, vulnerable all the time, and badly taken advantage of.
 
 The first half involves her either showing up or being summoned by Raphael that hired her. She is fleeing from him or his minions, desperate to prevent being harmed or violated. We don’t get much information about the job, more than a line or two.
Angel’s Blood is catering to a specific audience, with each scene involving her saying no and him crossing it. It’s just repeated over and over. The constant rape tendencies and asshole behavior are constantly overlooked.
Halfway point, Singh seems to have remembered there needs a plot. During the hunt, Elena ends up being a damsel in distress, and Raphael who hired her ends up saving her. Then she was drugged in an effort to coerce her to give in to him. So fearful of him that she armed herself.
When she starts intimacy in a compromising situation, the book acknowledges for us, so we all know that it’s compromised consent, completely overlooking their problematic power dynamic.
Anyway, the bottom line is I won’t be reading any Nalini Singh in the future.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1) By: Joanne Fluke Release Date: April 11th 2013 (first published April 1st 2000) Publisher: Kensington Books Rating: 3 out 5 Series: Hannah Swensen Summary: Discover the delicious mystery that started it all! No one cooks up a delectable, suspense-filled mystery quite like Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke s dessert-baking, red-haired heroine whose gingersnaps are as tart as her comebacks, and whose penchant for solving crimes one delicious clue at a time has made her a bestselling favorite. And it all began on these pages, with a bakery, a murder, and some suddenly scandalous chocolate-chip crunchies. Featuring a bonus short story and brand new, mouthwatering recipes, this limited edition of the very first Hannah Swensen mystery is sure to have readers coming back for seconds. Hannah Swenson already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother s attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden, Minneso...
Post a Comment
Read more

A is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone #1)

  By: Sue Grafton Release Date: April 15th 1982 Publisher: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Series: Kinsey Millhone Rating: 2 out 5 Summary: A IS FOR AVENGER A tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes. A IS FOR ACCUSED That's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy. A IS FOR ALIBI If there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on the edge. When her investigation turns up a second corpse, more suspects, and a new reason to kill, Kinsey discovers that the edge is clo...
Post a Comment
Read more