New review: Angels of Darkness

Angels of Darkness featuring stories by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Sharon Shinn and Meljean Brook

Overall I really enjoyed all 4 novellas. 1 is a standalone, 3 are part of a series. I'm not caught up on the ones that are part of a series, but I thought that the stories were good on their own, and I wasn't lost at all. There might have been some slightly spoilerish things that didn't bother me (I still plan on reading the series) but might bother some folks who must read things in order. I have read and enjoyed every one of these authors, although I haven't read as much of Shinn's work as I want - will have to fix that this year. There is a definite trend here of characters that have been broken and need mending. There is romance, and a little steam, but the focus was more on the building of the relationships.

Note: If you are a reader that dislikes novellas or romance, you probably shouldn't get this one as it has both.

Angel's Wolf (Guild Hunter 4.5) by Nalini Singh
Singh's seemed a little anticlimactic to me, mostly because we have 2 kickass leads who do very little kicking of the ass. Nimra has a pretty scary power, but also cares deeply for the few she allows to get close to her. Noel is recovering from a traumatic assault. He has been sent to Nimra after an attempt on her life. The story for me was more about 2 wounded people finding each other and recovering together, and the solution to the mystery made sense as well (I'd just expected more fighting). I still liked it, and I'm looking forward to reading more Guild Hunters. I've previously read book 1 and some novellas, so the world wasn't brand new to me.

Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews
Lots of action in the one by Andrews. It is not a Kate story, not an Edge story, it's its own thing. The world was cool (that is consistent with Andrews other works). Not as funny as the other series, though, so if you need the comedic asides you might find them missing here. I do hope there will be more stories set in this world. Darker, edgier, more than a little twisted, but I liked it. I think it was just twisted enough to stay on this side of the line where I was satisfied with the ending and still enjoyed reading about the characters. I really liked the resolution and final battle. I'd been wondering where the "angel" would come into play.

Nocturne (Samaria series) by Sharon Shinn
I had not even heard of this series before reading this novella, but I will be checking it out. Set in a world ruled by angels, the intermediaries for the god Jovah, the story takes place in an out of the way school as far from the rest of civilization as possible. Moriah is new to the school. Adventurous, this is the latest in a long string of places she has run from. I liked her a lot. She was sneaky, calculating, strong, resourceful - it was not hard to believe that she was a survivor. Corban is a blind angel in hiding at the foreboding house on the hill. The two strike up a strange relationship that is really beneficial to both. I enjoyed their verbal sparring and that each gave as good as they got. Not much action in this one.

Ascension (Guardians 7.5) by Meljean Brook:
Here we have 2 Guardians who are nursing old wounds they gave each other years (and years) before. The initial issue was a big miscommunication, but I'm glad that they didn't spend all of the story focused on the miscommunication. There is also a problem with someone killing vampires, a potential demon to sniff out, and teens getting in over their heads. I really liked Marc and Radha's powers, how they worked together. Even though it was a short, I got a good feeling for Marc's progression from naive, zealous young Guardian to the more cynical, withdrawn one we meet in the story. There was some action in the story, especially at the end. I haven't started this series yet, although I have read a novella set in this world, so it wasn't completely new to me. It does make me want to dig more into this world.