Book Review: Sins of the Angels

Sins of the Angels

by Linda Poitevin
Series: Grigori Legacy #1
Release date: 27th September, 2011
Publisher: Ace
Pages: 325 (paperback copy bought by me)

Summary from Goodreads:

When homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis is assigned a new partner in Aramael, a Guardian Angel who doubles as a hit man, they have only one thing in common: a fallen angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse. Now they have no choice but to work together-relentlessly, fearlessly, intimately. Because only they can stop the rogue angel from ushering in the end of days.

Review By Alaiel Kreuz:
My comfort zone is YA, you know? It's easy to read, entertaining and so complex that I don't usually feel like I've been missing something.
But sometimes I spot a book that it's out of that comfort zone and I wonder if I should read it. I don't usually surrender to these ideas. But this time I did.
And I loved it.

Sins of the Angels captured me with its wonderful cover: the contrast of the colors, the model's face, the way that simple alley looks so dangerous with the shadow of an angel above it... And the falling thunders that have a purpose in the book.
After seeing the cover I had to read the summary so off to Goodreads I went. It does sound good, interesting to say the least. But it doesn't do justice to the actual plot.

Never mind that, I bought Sins of the Angels and Sins of the Son -second book in the series- because I had faith that it would be so good I would want to continue with it. I'm so glad I bought both! Now I don't have to wait for the second to arrive, yay!

Putting the summary aside let me tell you something: This book is not about a woman and an angel teaming together to defeat a monster. It's about memories, about loss, about traumas that we wished we could forget, about the strength we humans have to fight for ourselves, about the love we recognize but sometimes we are too scared, too wounded, to acknowledge. About good and evil facing a battle that involves Luficer and God herself.
Yes, HERSELF, you read that write. Maybe a small detail but I was so thrilled to read about a female God that it made me love the book even more.

The characters are complex, each one of them have a purpose, a reason, a way to see things and be seen that makes them special. Alexandra Jarvis is strong and stubborn but at the same time hides some secrets that could break her in a heartbeat. One of her best qualities is her dry humor, she made me smile and laugh even when I thought it was impossible.
And Aramael (or Jacob in his human form) is fearless and focussed, dangerous and cursing; the only thing he lives for is the hunt... Or so he thought. To see his personality develop feelings that angels, and specially Powers like himself, were not supposed to feel was wonderful. The struggle felt so real I enjoyed every second of it.

The complexity of the world Linda created is amazingly well handed, every twist has a reason, every character background has a purpose and above all, having in consideration this was her debut novel, she thought of every single detail until the end. The angel hierarchy has her own original stamp in it.

There are books that are written to show different POV which can lead into a huge win or a huge loss. In this case it was amazingly done. I got to understand a little bit better the different personalities of the characters, what moved and stopped them, specially how they evolved.

If I have to complain for something that would be the fact that there's no hardcover version of Sins of the Angels... and I would love to have one!

As for the author I have to mark that Linda's writing was superb, she described the scenes so well that the hard parts didn't make me cringe too much (only the necessary) but I was able to imagine them so vividly that I felt like I was with Alexandra and Trent in the crime scenes.

So yes, Sins of the Angels is a must buy if you are a fan of urban-fantasy and kick-ass female leads!

Alaiel's Rating:

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