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Book Review of The Darkangel (Darkangel, Bk 1)

The Darkangel (Darkangel, Bk 1)
skywriter319 avatar reviewed on + 784 more book reviews


Unassuming slave Aeriels life changes forever when the feared vampiric darkangel takes her mistress to be his thirteenth bride. In an attempt to rescue her, Aeriel becomes the darkangels servant and finds herself drawn to his cruel yet vulnerable nature and his terrible history. When an opportunity arises for Aeriel to go on a quest that will stop the darkangels ascent to full power, she must choose between killing him or finding another way to save him.

THE DARKANGEL did YA vampire romance way before Twilight, and I have wanted to read it for a while. While it didnt blow me away (Im starting to suspect that classic YA paranormal romance is just never going to make it onto my favorites list), THE DARKANGEL was still a decent read that deserves to have an audience in todays YA paranormal scene.

Past the beginningin which I felt Aeriel was a bit too teary for me to likeTHE DARKANGEL quickly became an enjoyable read. There was always something going on, something new in Pierces world to discover, something new revealed about the darkangels past. Pierce does little obvious world-buildingas in, no paragraphs-long descriptions of what we need to know, no world-building heavy-handedly woven into dialogue or characterizations, as many world-building attempts are wont to gobut its not long before you get a lingering image of the unique world that Aeriel must navigate in order to defeat the darkangel: a place not of Earth yet tied to it, a place fraught with magical possibilities yet eerily hostile to them.

Some of the events that took place in the plot veered towards outrageousness, but then I compared this to other YA paranormal romances that have somehow achieved bestsellerdom and then I felt a lot better about Pierces authorial decisions. I dont have a strong urge to read about what the darkangel and Aeriel get up to nextthis series is a bit too paranormal romance-y to be my thing, despite its incorporation of mythology and magicbut then again, Im not averse to it. If I come back to that rare mood of mine where I want to read YA paranormal romance, I know where Im going.