Demon Angel is the second story and first full-length novel in Meljean Brook’s The Guardians series. It is not essential to read the novella which precedes this story, but “Falling for Anthony” does provide a good background to Brook’s world. Alternatively, readers might wish to check out her website. She has an excellent primer for the series to help readers who are not starting with the first story.

Demon Angel is the story of Hugh, a Guardian, and his nemesis Lilith, a demon. The book is officially divided into two parts, but I would say there are three distinct phases of the story. The first part is set in England in 1217. The second is a sequence of scenes which take Hugh and Lilith from the 13^th Century up to 1991. The third part is set in 2007, sixteen years after the events in 1991.

The story begins in Essex in 1217. Hugh is a seventeen-year-old knight in the service of Robert D’Aulnoy, the Earl of Essex. Hugh has spent the last two years in Normandy, guarding his lord’s child bride, the Lady Isabel. Following the death of King John, the bitter civil war which wracked England is at an end, and Hugh accompanies Isabel and her party back from Normandy to join her husband at Fordham Castle in Essex. Hugh harbours a tendre for Isabel. Although his feelings are reciprocated, neither of them would dream of acting upon them out of piety to God and loyalty to the earl.

As they near Fordham Castle, they pass a site of ancient ruins. Hugh is dispatched to investigate the ruins and check for any loitering rebels who might seek to attack them. It is here that he first encounters Lilith. She toys with him, tricks him into bargaining with her, and steals the first of what will become many kisses. For his part, Hugh can scarcely believe his eyes when he sees Lilith in demon form. It defies all logic and years of Church teachings. As befits her demonic nature, Lilith is determined to make mischief for Hugh and his beloved Isabel. Her plan is to tempt him into sin so as to cause his death. That way, Lilith can claim his soul for Lucifer.

Lilith’s plans are put to the test by the presence of Michael, leader of the Guardians and the demons’ natural foe. Both demons and Guardians are bound to respect mankind’s free will and can neither openly save nor openly kill them. The best they can do is to persuade them to do good or evil. Lilith’s plans for Hugh backfire, and he ends up being claimed by Michael as a new recruit for the Guardians. This results in his ascension to Caelum, the realm of the Guardians, where he spends the next one hundred years training for his new role. Lilith returns to Hell and punishment for her weakness and failure to claim Hugh’s soul.

When Hugh and Lilith next meet, it is 1389. He is a fully-trained Guardian and she is his enemy. A series of scenes show their encounters through the centuries, how they toy with one another, but somehow never end up killing each other. This sequence ends in Seattle in 1991 where an event leads to Hugh’s Fall to earth and Lilith’s destruction.

The story picks up again in San Francisco in 2007. Due to his Fall, Hugh is no longer a Guardian and has lost his immortality. Regaining his humanity has meant he has physically aged from the frozen-in-time seventeen-year-old and now resembles a man in his early thirties. His humanity has also wrought certain changes in his personality as he can now feel things which he could not as a “pure” Guardian and is no longer capable of only being good.

A change in the balance of power in Hell has resulted in Lilith’s resurrection by Lucifer, although she has been stripped of some of her powers. She’s now working undercover as an FBI agent and one of her cases brings her back into contact with Hugh. With the fight between good and evil imminent, Hugh and Lilith must finally choose their destiny.

I loved this book. The prose is rich in detail, the plot is satisfyingly complex, and the characters are multifaceted. It’s a book to be savoured and I found myself deliberately slowing down my natural reading pace in order not to miss any nuances in the text.

Despite the length of my plot synopsis, I’ve barely touched on the intricacies of the worldbuilding, and the excellent cast of secondary characters. There’s a lot going on in this book and it’s longer than the average urban fantasy novel. Although there were a few scenes which dragged, the story engaged me from the outset and kept me turning the pages right until the very end.

Hugh and Lilith are wonderful characters. I loved their witty repartee and seeing their love grow over the course of the book. For most of the story, Lilith is true to her demonic nature, but often struggles with the part of her which is human and strives to act accordingly. For his part, Hugh starts out as an almost too-good-to-be-true teenager, is practically hardened by his purity as a Guardian, and shows genuine emotion when he regains his humanity.

Meljean Brook’s vision of heaven and hell echoes Dante’s Inferno and, consequently, John Milton’s Paradise Lost. It’s not a stretch to say that her worldbuilding is erudite and makes her readers think. When I finished Demon Angel, I had a few minor quibbles about pacing but given that I can’t stop thinking about it 48 hours later – and it has inspired me to write my longest review to date –  I can’t justify giving it anything less than an A-.

Also Reviewed:

“Falling for Anthony” (2005) by Meljean Brook – Book One in The Guardians series

“Falling for Anthony” is a novella by Meljean Brook in the HOT SPELL anthology. It’s a paranormal romance set in the Regency period. It’s the first story in Brook’s The Guardians series. While it’s not essential to read “Falling for Anthony” before Demon Angel, the first full-length novel in the series, I found it a helpful introduction to the world in which the stories take place.

Anthony Ramsdell is an impoverished nobleman seeking to better his fortunes by training to become a medical doctor. His family reject him for taking on a profession. They would prefer to live in shabby gentility rather than sully their hands by taking a trade. Anthony is helped in his endeavour by the Earl of Norbridge, the father of his childhood friend and blood-brother, Colin Ames-Beaumont. As with everything concerning the Earl of Norbridge, his help comes with a price. At the opening of the novella, the earl has just informed Anthony that he expects him to travel to the war-torn Peninsula to serve as personal physician to his friend, Major-General Cole, for as long as the campaign against Napoleon should last.

On his last night at the Ames-Beaumont residence, Anthony comes across Emily, Colin’s spoiled and impetuous twin sister. She has cut herself playing with an ancient sword, the same one which Anthony and Colin had used to make their blood pact many years before. While tending to Emily’s wound, Colin gives in to the yearning he has long felt for her and allows Emily to seduce him. Filled with regret, Anthony leaves for the Peninsula.

Two months later, Anthony is already war-weary and sickened by the death which surrounds him. One night, he spies a strange creature attacking the dead. In an effort to save a soldier, Anthony tackles the creature and is killed by it. As he lies dying, a mysterious man appears, offering him the chance to become a Guardian as a reward for making the ultimate sacrifice. Instead of ascending to heaven, Anthony finds himself in a realm known as Caelum where he will train for one hundred years before descending to earth to defend mankind against demons and other evil creatures. But Anthony’s training is cut short by unexpected events on earth concerning the Ames-Beaumont family…

Although I’m not usually a fan of novellas, I enjoyed this one. Brook’s prose is rich in detail and the world which she creates is both intelligent and complex. The novella provides excellent background information on Brook’s interpretation of angels, demons and Guardians. The rules which she imposes upon them are clearly defined and make for interesting plot twists. For example: neither demon nor Guardian is allowed to interfere with a human’s free will. They can kill each other, but are forbidden to take a human life. Demons try to gain souls for hell by enticing humans and persuading them to commit murder and suicide. Guardians try to thwart the demons’ efforts. Both demons and Guardians hunt and kill nosferatu, bloodsucking creatures who play by their own rules, and are beholden to neither Lucifer nor God.

I admit that I enjoyed the worldbuilding more than the romance. I liked Anthony a great deal but I couldn’t warm to Emily. She is spoiled and foolish and some of her actions defied logic. The highlight of the story for me was the introduction to the Guardian, Hugh, and his nemesis, the demon, Lilith. We’re also introduced to Colin Ames-Beaumont, who plays a pivotal role in Demon Angel and is the hero in Demon Moon.

All in all, I can recommend “Falling for Anthony”. I found it a fascinating read and an excellent introduction to Brook’s world of Guardians and demons. Grade: B

Lover Avenged is extremely difficult to review. It’s a book of parts: some good, some bad. I’m going to try to break it down into the individual plot threads, then look at the book as a whole. As this is the seventh volume in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, series spoilers abound. Read at your peril!

Lover Avenged is tentatively classified as Rhevenge’s book, although there’s a lot going on beyond his storyline. The book opens in the aftermath of the decimation of the glymera at the hands of Lash, former vampire, now resurrected as the son of the Omega and leader of the Lessers. Rehvenge is suffering under his addiction to dopamine and antivenom, the former to suppress his sympath side, and the latter to neutralize the poison he is subjected to by his blackmailer. Ehlena – a nurse at Havers’s clinic – is struggling to make ends meet and care for her schizophrenic father. Wrath is frustrated by his inability to fight with the Brotherhood. Xhex and John Matthew are fighting their mutual lust. Tohr is trying to overcome his grief and learn to live again. Lassiter is.

As I said, there’s a lot going on.

I’m listing the various plot threads in order of preference and providing a brief summary of my feelings on each.

Rhevenge & Ehlena: Rhev’s story was the most interesting part of LA, and ultimately the most satisfying. I wondered how Ward would manage to redeem a self-confessed drug lord and pimp. She had a rather clever solution to this dilemma: he didn’t receive total absolution. Far from it. While he achieved personal happiness with Ehlena as his mate, it was at great cost. At the close of the book, his life has taken an unexpected and wholly unwelcome turn.

The Sympath Colony: I loved the Sympaths. I only wish we could have exiled John Matthew there to be tortured by scorpions. Sadly, I suspect he’ll be back with his own book.

Xhex & John Matthew: I used to hate Xhex and liked J.M. Lover Avenged caused me to reverse my opinion. We got to see a new, more vulnerable side to Xhex. J.M., on the other hand, behaved like a sulky brat for the entire book. Xhex deserves much better than him, although I suspect Ward intends for them to end up together.

Lash & the Lessers: I’m probably one of the few readers who actually likes Lash and the Lessers.  Lash is twisted and evil. I would have preferred more scenes featuring him and the baby powder crew. This was the first book in which Lash is their leader and I wanted more time devoted to him establishing power.

Wrath & Beth: I wanted to bitch-slap Wrath into oblivion. First, he goes charging about risking his life – and the security of his people – trying to prove his manhood. Then he goes blind. Finally, he gets a dog called George.

Tohr: Boring. Guy needs to stop wallowing and get off his ass. It would also be nice if he would remember to mourn his wife’s cousin, Sarelle, as everyone in the BDB world (including Ward) seems to have forgotten her.

Lassiter: Even worse. The description of his flowing tresses reminds me of Cruella De Vil. Or a skunk.

One element which I absolutely loathed was all the product-placement. I’m hoping Ward and/or her publisher are getting financial remuneration for this because it was beyond ridiculous. Once I’d counted 20 brand names in the first 150 pages, I had to let it go or I would never have finished the book.

Although I have a list of criticisms, the parts that worked were excellent. I was looking forward to Rhev’s story and Ward more than delivered.

That said, I’m not sure if I’ll continue with this series beyond Lover Avenged. Rhev was my favourite character and his tale has been told, more or less.  Much depends on what Ward has planned for the eighth volume. I sincerely hope she has an end in sight for the Brothers as it shouldn’t go on much longer.

If you’re a fan of the BDB series, you’ll probably enjoy this book. If you’ve been underwhelmed by the last couple of offerings, you might want to pass. Grade: B-

I should have known better, I really should. This book is bad on so many levels that I don’t know where to start. Actually, “start” is a bit misleading, as I didn’t even manage to finish it.

Angels’ Blood is labeled an Urban Fantasy Romance, so a lot of world building goes on in the first couple of chapters. The basic premise is as follows: Elena Deveraux is a vampire hunter living in an alternate reality Manhattan. In this world, archangels rule, served by their vampire slaves. Humans are the lowest on the pecking order. Hunters are classified as human, although they have a special power which other humans do not: the ability to track vampires gone bad.

One day she’s called to a meeting with Archangel Raphael, the leader of North America, and receives an unusual assignment: to trace a renegade angel. (I’m not sure why angels can’t track each other given that they are supposed to be all-powerful, but whatever.)

Elena is a Buffy wannabe with a bad attitude. She spends the first few chapters stomping and sulking. She’s supposedly terrified of Raphael, yet she defies him at every opportunity. Her death-wish is the result of some childhood trauma, which will no doubt be explored as the story progresses.

Elena is described as having dark gold skin, white hair and silver eyes. Sounds a little odd, but nothing I can’t cope with.

Then we come to Raphael. The depiction of his piercing blue eyes reminded me of Elijah Wood, or the dude who played Boone in ‘Lost’. It’s not a compliment either way. The description of his hair left me with the distinct impression he was sporting a mullet. The wings skeeved me out and I tried to erase them from my mental image, especially the gold dust which they emit when shaken. So we have a bemulleted, bewinged hero with a funky dandruff problem. Oh, and he’s naked.

All the secondary characters are stunningly beautiful, etc., and in a permanent state of arousal. I think there was an orgy in Chapter 7, but I was already skimming at that stage, so I’m not one hundred percent sure.

My problem is not with the story itself. It’s totally ridiculous, of course, but I didn’t expect anything else from the description on the back cover. The main reason I can’t continue with the book is Raphael. Bearing in mind that this is supposed to be a romance, I’m assuming Raphael is our hero and Elena is our heroine. The idea of those two getting intimate revolts me and I really don’t need to read about it.

I’m not a huge fan of paranormal/urban fantasy, but Angels’Blood got great reviews elsewhere and I thought I’d give it a go. I was not expecting something bordering on interspecies porn.

I really hate not finishing books, especially ones I’ve spent money on. If anyone can convince me that the rest of the story is worth reading at a later point, please try. For now, I think I’m moving on to something better.      Grade: DNF