Warning: If you have not read “Archangel’s Consort” by Nalini Singh, don’t read this review if you don’t want spoilers!
I’m back with another book review, and this time it’s “Archangel’s Consort” by Nalini Singh! Before we get into the review or the summary of what it’s about, I must confess—I read this out of order like I did with “Killbox” a while back. “Archangel’s Consort” is the third book in a series that I haven’t read the first two books of yet. Because of this, I’ll be rating this a little lighter than usual and I may do a re-review of the book once I catch up on the first three books. Here’s the summary so we know what it’s about:
“Nalini Singh steps back into the shadows of her heartbreakingly original world where angels rule, vampires serve, and the innocent can pay the greatest price of all …Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful archangel Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil …A vampire has attacked a girls’ school – the assault one of sheer, vicious madness – and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders. The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear. An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed …”
In terms of worldbuilding, I understood the basic gist of what’s going on between the angels and the vampires. In terms of the more specific positions such as the Seven and so on, however, I think I probably would need to read the first three books to understand all of that so I can’t judge much here for now.
For the chemistry between Elena and Raphael, I understood that they were established right off the bat and were romantically involved, so I didn’t have to worry about insta-love/insta-lust situations happening. However, I do find the chemistry lacking. Their relationship seems to consist of, to me, fighting all day and having sex all night—almost literally. More on the excessive sex in a later paragraph, but despite the constant fighting and sex, I also understood that they fight because Elena is trying to be more independent, but Raphael’s just super-protective over her (almost too protective) because she’s getting used to her new abilities as a new angel. Hopefully their relationship improves next book, but I’ll make sure to read the first two books before going forwards.
In terms of individual development, I definitely liked what was going on with Elena and Raphael. Elena has her conflicts with her family (her father in particular) and this almost parallels the conflict Raphael has with his mother Caliane. There are issues of power and control going on between the daughter-father and mother-son pairs, and though complicated and messy, I can read and understand the gist of them pretty well.
One of the main things that irked me while reading the book were the massive amount of unnecessary sex scenes. I’m pretty sure there was one happening every two to three chapters in this book. Though they were tastefully-written overall, I also felt that it was gratuitous and added very little to the plot. It also, arguably, slowed down the plot a lot, and so I think book could have done without most of the sex scenes (especially in the middle of the book).
Another thing I didn’t understand was the lack of plotlines carrying through. The vampries going crazy and attacking people seemed to drop off the map by halfway through the book, and the whole tension over Caliane reappearing again felt a bit prolonged overall, with the ending feeling rushed. What happened with the kids at the school? Will they be okay after some of their own got killed by vampires? Will Elena’s siblings be okay? I wish they expanded more on that plotline in particular overall.
Overall, 3 out of 5 stars!
I’ll definitely read the first two books and I may come back to this one for a re-review in the future!