Return to New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s darkly passionate Guild Hunter world, where human-turned-angel Elena Deveraux, consort to Archangel Raphael, faces a new challenge that threatens the balance of the world.Wings of silver. Wings of blue. Mortal heart. Broken dreams. Shatter. Shatter. Shatter. A sundering. A grave. I see the end. I see. . . .The world is in chaos as the … .
The world is in chaos as the power surge of the Cascade rises to a devastating crescendo. In furiously resisting its attempts to turn Elena into a vessel for Raphael’s power, Elena and her archangel are irrevocably changed. . .far beyond the prophecy of a cursed Ancient.
At the same time, violent and eerie events around the world threaten to wipe out entire populations. And in the Archangel Lijuan’s former territory, an unnatural fog weaves through the land, leaving only a bone-chilling silence in its wake. Soon it becomes clear that even the archangels are not immune to this deadly evil. This time, even the combined power of the Cadre may not be enough. . . .
This war could end them all.
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Have enjoyed all of the books in this series and this one didn’t disappoint. Hoping for more!
This book was so GOOD! I couldn’t read it fast enough. I laughed and cried and cheered!
It’s action packed, with fascinating world-building and characters you’d want to know, along with plenty of relationships, some established, some new. What more can you ask from a paranormal romance? This latest Guild Hunter entry wraps up a number of storylines, climaxing in an apocalyptic battle for the future of the world. I would not recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read at least the first few books in the series, but it’s a must-read for fans of Singh’s Archangels, Hunters, and Vampires.
Wow! I really don’t even know what to say. I know there’s going to be 3 more books, which is awesome! And hallelujah, the witch is dead! Action abounds in this one as well as Raphael and Elena’s epic love. Great read!
Although I really enjoy this entire series, this one became overtaken with descriptions of the archangel battles that have been part of so many of the archangel series. I’ve read enough of them that by now they have become repetitive and tiresome. As a result I skimmed about a quarter of he book. However, the characters and world building continue to be lots of fun.
I will admit, I am a sucker for most stories that calls for a team effort. I love the idea of bringing back favorite characters to reassemble to defeat the villain. That’s the gist of the story here. She-who-must-not-be-named is back and she is as insidious as ever. It’s only through the combined efforts of our Archangel team (the Seven plus E’s crew) can the good guys win. When I read through the battles scenes, I was amazed at how much choreography it takes to write each strategic move. It makes me appreciate Nalini Singh’s talent for storytelling that much more. I had problem with the previous book because it was bogged down by complicated prophesies. However, if you consider that book a prologue (albeit a long one) to this story, it makes perfect sense. I thought after Archangel’s Prophecy, I might be ready to wean myself off this series, but this book changed my mind. I am ready and eagerly awaiting the next book!
I would give Archangel’s War 10 stars if I could. The Guild Hunter series is one of my all time favorites, Elena and Raphael a gold star standard. The reason why all laid out in these pages. Archangel’s War, the conclusion of the ongoing story arc, was magnificent. While it was a conclusion, I hope it’s not the end to this series. The world is fascinating, and the characters beloved. And that little matter of Sparkle and Bluebell, their stories yet untold. I wish to return to this world soon.
This book had finality to it of a last book in the series. The great war against archangel Lijuan that has been brewing throughout the series was finally fought, and although there’s the aftermath, the overall feeling is that there isn’t another large plot in the works.
This was a large book, but with no side plots to distract from the final battle. Everything built towards it. Elena and Raphael emerge from their sleep with new powers they then spend most of the book learning about. There are new archangels waking up, complicating things and needing to be dealt with, and smaller battles that build towards the endgame. And then there’s the battle.
The greatest strength of this series has been from the start the characters and their friendships. This book didn’t really test the relationships, only strengthened them, but there were a couple of personal stories in the works that may get airtime if there are more books to come; Illium’s relationship with his father, for example. And Illium and Aodhan still haven’t found their happily ever after yet (together or separate, I’m still not sure how that’ll go), so I’m hoping for one more book at least. But if this was the last one, it was a satisfying ending.
Hands down, this is the best book I’ve read all year. If you’re considering starting this series, please do! Also, stay away from reviews of books later in this series because you’d be majorly spoiling yourself as this is a continuous series.
Okay now that all of that is out of the way…
After delving back into this world and falling in love with it this year, this is one of my most anticipated releases. This book lived up to the anticipation and more, which I can’t imagine was easy to do after the cliffhanger we’re left with at the end of Archangel’s Prophecy. Once I finally got my hands on this beauty, I had this tug-of-war going on with my brain. I had a strong need to read this book and know all the things that would happen, but I really didn’t want the book to end either. If I could have somehow still enjoyed the book and drug it out until the release of book 13, I 100% would have. Although War didn’t end on a cliffhanger, I can’t get enough of the world Singh has built and the characters.
Elena and Raphael’s relationship astonishes me with how it’s developed over the series, and I can’t wait to see all of the Seven *hint, hint* happy with significant others. As is suggested by the title of this one, there’s War and all that comes with it. Singh does a superb job writing battle scenes and the horrific events that take place during War.
I gasped, I chuckled, I never want this world to end.
Love this author. I read everything she has written. She never disappoints. I have read every book in this series and loved them all.
I think I’m in the minority of Nalini Singh readers who started with her Guild Hunter series over her Psy-Changeling series. I love both series so much, but the Guild Hunters series, and especially Elena and Raphael hold a special place in my heart.
Archangel’s War picks up shortly after Archangel’s Prophecy ended. I was so happy when Archangel’s War hit my kindle, as the cliffhanger at the end of Archangel’s Prophecy just about killed me! I needed to know that Elena and Raphael were both okay and even knowing I couldn’t start it right away, I did read to find out that yes they were both okay, yet Elena was changed to survive Cassandra’s prophecy. I won’t lie, I totally breathed a sigh of relief and knew I was about to have a very bumpy ride with this story.
I have to say while I liked Archangel’s War, I didn’t love it as I have others in the series. Yes I loved time with Elena and Raphael, and it can’t be said enough how much I loved time with my Bluebell. However, I felt like it moved really slowly up to the actual battle. I get there were many changes thanks to the Cascade, but I also almost felt like there was information overload at times. I started to have trouble keeping up with what changes were happening in which territory. I did love all the time we had with Elena and Raphael and had all the happy sighs each time they were together on the page.
We learned more about the Hummingbird and I loved seeing her in a way we had only heard about before. I will say I was pretty surprised by what broke her after seeing her in the present. She seems more like a warrior now, and I hope that warrior instinct stays with her going forward. Honestly by the time we made it to the actual battle, I really wanted Lijuan to die a fast and ugly death. I just felt like the battle lasted forever…and really thought Raphael should have figured things out a bit sooner.
Overall I enjoyed Archangel’s War despite my few issues. I’m so glad there will be more books in the Guild Hunter series, as I need more from all of my favorite characters. I felt like the ending was very satisfactory, and I look forward to where Nalini Singh takes the Guild Hunter world in the future.
Rating: 4 Stars (B)
Review copy provided by publisher
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Sarah –
This is the book where all the pieces of this epic series come together in a breathtaking finale. It’s a single sitting read and I’m not sure I remembered to breathe, let alone move as I devoured every last page. All the characters, all the plot threads of the past eleven books explode into an unforgettable immortal battle.
It’s almost impossible to review this without spoilers. I will say that the focus is once again on Raphael and Elena – but the scope of this story is huge and every character from every previous book is present. While there have been several contained paranormal romance (PNR) stories within this series, this one is definitely urban fantasy (UF). It’s a story about the power struggles between archangels and ancients that spiral out of control, bringing chaos and death to every part of the planet. And it is a story about the brave but unlikely warriors who step up to defend their world.
This might be the best book Nalini Singh has ever written and I love the mix of action, politics, romance, and friendship in this story. With eleven books building the background to this epic adventure, it manages to be genuinely epic in scope without losing any heart or humanity. We know all of the characters intimately and my heart bled with each injury, each death, and each setback. I love that this is darker UF than we’ve seen in the series before – though some PNR fans might need a bit less blood and a bit more of a happily ever after. It goes without saying that this story won’t stand alone but I promise that fans of the series will absolutely love every moment of this terrifying adventure.
Erica –
Spoiler-Free review, where I don’t discuss the plot itself, rather how it was delivered.
Archangel’s War is the 12th installment of the Guild Hunter series, and it goes without saying that it cannot be read as a standalone.
Archangel’s Prophesy ended with one doozy of a cliffhanger, where readers were eager with trepidation to discover the fate of Elena and Raphael.
The beginning portion of Archangel’s War had me on the edge of my seat, pages turning at a rapid rate, evoking true emotions within me, as I watched Elena emerge from her chrysalis and transform into who she would become. Dmitri, Illium, and Raphael’s emotions as Elena was revealed. The deep connection between Raphael and his Seven, as well as Elena to her friends and family. I was beyond pleased with how the story was unfolding, and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into the meat of the story.
That meat of the story took me nearly ten days to read, when ordinarily I read a book by Singh in half a day at most, because I always need to know what happened next. In the case of Archangel’s War, it was just too much, too soon, with no development or time to process what was occurring on the pages, to the point I lost interest with what I was reading.
After this amazing beginning, the novel turned into a Travel Guide of Destruction, devoid of emotion or humanity. From a half page to two pages at most, each chapter break jarred me from the story itself, the scenes not truly developed as the beginning was.
A sentence here or there to explain away why there was no humanity written on the pages, no emotional connection between the characters. A page and a half to traverse the whole of China. A blink later, they’re back in New York. Half a page, we’re visiting Raphael’s mother, with the turn of the page, we’re at a destroyed village or helping another archangel’s vampire, then a passage later, back to Raphael’s mother. A heartbeat later, one of them is on another continent.
The scenes did not flow together, without even a prompt to explain how they got from point A to B. Yes, I am a reader who never wants over-description, where I don’t need to know what happened in the journey from the bathroom to the kitchen, but we’re talking about going from New York to China here, where the last dialogue read was “we need to go to China and check it out” and suddenly the reader is teleported to China. It was the in between that creates a fluid, cohesive story and it was missing.
A page and a half to describe what happened to entire villages of human beings, siphoned into empty husks, left as nothing but dust, or left to walk the earth as blank zombies. They deserved more than being a footnote, as did the rest of what occurred. A half page, maybe only a sentence or paragraph to describe how the landscape froze over, the ocean was nothing but glowing light, or some other unnatural act of destruction of the cascade continued to wreak havoc. Followed by a paragraph or two of Elena taking a bath or a fade-to-black smexy scene with zero steam.
No aftermath, no humanity, no showing how everyone in those areas picked up the pieces. It was meaningless in the large scheme of things, since it left a meh/shoulder shrug, because we were on to the next event and the next and the next and the next. Three to five events could have been a book, any more than that, it’s overkill, where the reader is desensitized and the characters’ voices cease to matter.
I felt apathetic as page after page of events happened, because I could have easily skipped twenty-page sections and not been lost as to what was currently happening, then another twenty-page section, and another.
It was jarring, fractured, chaotic, and not a smooth, organic read, devoid of emotional connection and destructive to character development. It read as a detailed plot outline, scenes not developed, just a truncated few lines to describe an entire chapter, and onto the next and next.
There was so much going on that there was no way to digest it, not without a break of everyday events that connected the reader to the characters. It was literally something new every few pages, before anyone was able to come to terms with the previous twenty events.
There is fast pacing, but then there is paragraph chapters, where even the act of clicking to the next chapter tugs the reader out of the story, and several of these chapter breaks were in the middle of scenes, attempting to leave a chapter on a dun-dun note of tension, only it wasn’t as if it was a cliffhanger, since what happened next was literally on the next page. Instead of amping up my excitement, it left me feeling disinterested, as it was a manipulation tactic that backfired.
Simply adoring this series and the world and characters Nalini Singh has created, I needed to feel the hope, joy, fear, anger, sadness, grief, and the love and intimacy of friendship and connection between mates. Singh delivered all this and more in the beginning, everything that I’ve come to expect from the author… I only wish that would have transferred to the rest of the novel.
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
Nalini Singh
Oh, Nalini…how do I love thee…let me count the ways. Such a gorgeous world. I loves it so.
Oh, Nalini…how do I hate thee…let me count the ways. Why are you making me wait like this? When do I get my Bluebell?
This book…whoa. Brilliant, beautiful, haunting. The Legion. Elijah. Astaad. Even Michaela.
Loved the Hummingbird in this.
Then there’s Aegaeon…hoo, boy.
Also, I have suspicions about Aodhan & Suyin. Hmmm…
Love this series…
absolutely riveting
I don’t want to mention any spoilers, I found the ending satisfying.
There is a reason some authors rise to the top and stay there, maybe not quickly, but definitely like a force of nature. This book is the culmination of a series of books, Guild Hunter, that gives truth to that. With comet like velocity, Nalini Singh has risen to the top, and this book most assuredly reminds me why. With a hard-hitting punch, straight through the emotional cortex, this tale of the inevitable war that Lijuan was bound to bring about cut through me like a dagger through butter. I am still recovering from the emotional rollercoaster she put me through.
Some authors get a great storyline going, but have trouble with character building, or have great characters but the world building needs work. Nalini Singh has it all, and then some. With a constant flow that took us from book one in the series to Archangel’s War, book 12, she has created a world where Archangels rule, Angels help guard, and Vampires are warriors in each Archangel’s army. She has Guild Hunters who hunt down rogue Vampires who have gone off contract to give in to bloodlust, which is where we found our beloved Elena. The day she met her Archangel, Raphael, was the day her life changed forever. As did mine. From that day forward to this inevitable war, we have been shown the story of all our Archangels and their people. We’ve been shown the friendships, the animosities, the love and the hate. We’ve been given every aspect of their lives to absorb and enjoy right along with these wondrous characters. We feel the world as she built it around the actual world we know. And the storyline never breaks form, never deviates. There is continuity throughout, which is so important since a story like this one combines them all, so if she hadn’t kept up with the consistency of the story, we would have been lost.
But I was never lost. I was happy, I was laughing, I was heartbroken and crying. But never once was I lost.
In the midst of mind-numbing fear for Raphael and Elena, the cold control of the Cadre and the unchecked chaos the Cascade has brought to the world, there is one constant. Love. The love that flows through this entire series is so deep and abiding, it is like no love I’ve ever known (and yes I love my husband, kids and grandkids with all my being, but somehow it’s still not the same). To have love go so soul deep as to know if one died the other would die since there would be no world worth living in without that love, be so pervasive that you can’t help but feel it wrap around you and steal you away, if only for a time while you read. She is a master at emotion. Particularly since they are consistent throughout the entire series, so that once it has grabbed you, there’s just no letting go.
In Archangel’s War, we are given reason to give way to those emotions, regardless of which one it is. So much happens in this book. So much that is unexpected. So much that just breaks your heart in two so that there is no choice but to cry. Add in all the twists and turns that this Cascade has brought to the land and all its peoples, and you have a story that will imprint itself on your soul. It is stories like this one that makes Guild Hunter my favorite of all her series. Much as I really like Psy Changelings, Guild Hunter will always be my favorite, mostly because everyone is in every book, even if only in a mention, so we rarely have to miss our literary friends. She keeps the thread of people going no matter where you are in the tale of these people. And that consistency can’t help but keep you totally involved.
If you’ve never picked up one of her Guild Hunter books, you need to start now. Start at book one and you’ll find you can’t stop. This was so Very Excellently Done, Ms. Nalini Singh, that if I could give it 10 stars, I would, unequivocally and with no hesitation. Thank you so very much for being the fine author you are. You bring real joy to my life with your books.
Without a doubt one of the best books of 2019, Archangl’s War was everything you could hope for in a Guild hunter novel and then more. Amazing characters, non-stop action, twists and turns around every corner, this was paranormal at it finest. After that shocking cliff-hanger last year in Archangel’s Prophesy, I was so anxious for this novel and I was not disappointed. Archangel’s War kept me glued to the pages and at the edge of my seat throughout the story. This nail biting novel was well-crafted and very much detailed and Nalini did an excellent job with world-building.
Our power couple, Raphael and Elena along with Raphael’s Seven and the members of the Cadre all came together to make this story one you will not be able to put down and one you will not easily forget. This story consumed me and it evoked a range of emotions while reading. Prepare to have your mind blown, prepare to be shocked speechless, prepare to laugh and cry and so much more. Archangels War was a phenomenal master piece worthy on so much more that 5 stars. Nalini Singh delivered and I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it to all lovers of PNR romance.
*Spoiler Free*
LOVEEED IT!!
I know there were mixed reviews and opinions about the last book (which I didn’t read) but I honestly enjoyed it and was eagerly waiting for Archangel’s War and it really delivered. This is the 12th book in the series, seems it just started yesterday….
Archangel’s War starts of where Archangel’s Prophecy left off and ohh boy so much happens in the book. It’s truly an epic proportions of a ride. I cannot wait to see what happens in the guild hunter world next. Nalini Singh really brought her A-game to this book and it makes more excited see what are we gonna have next in store for Elena and Raphael and his seven.
There is a huge story progression that happens in this book, we see quite a bit of the prophecies and other things that have been teased for some while come into play. And more teasing of things to come. As I write this, I’m suffering from a huge book hangover and now going to started rereading the whole series again.
I will also say, its so very interesting how the characters, the immortals who were very complex of course but also remote have come such a long way from when we met them in Angel’s Blood. There was also a very good balance of action, romance and humour and intensity in the book to stop it from being doom gloom.
ALSO ELENA AND RAPHAEL are one of my all time favourite couples, especially after these two books (this is coming from someone who doesn’t like reading series about the same couples so its a pretty big thing for me, I still want more of them). Raphael is still very much an archangel but the way he loves Elena is just amazing and their love is truly swoon worthy especially in these two past instalments. Elena of course I love her and it makes me really happy to see how far she has come from the woman who had friends but was lonely and haunted by her childhood and it’s really nice seeing a kickass heroine getting the love she deserves and seeing her been loved by Raphael and her friends/family. Also I love the legion.
That is all, can’t wait for the next book!! Wonder if [redacted] will be the one to get his book next ?? @_@
I agree with the Book Disciple-there is literally no way to review this book without giving away major spoilers! I’ll just say I started this book at midnight and finished at 5 am. It was absolutely worth the loss of sleep!!! Singh delivered one heck of a story