Archangels Blade Discussion Thread

[tabitha]

My Archangels Blade ARC arrived today and I'm over half way through the book now and I'm loving it. Honor & Dmitri are perfect for one another even though I was convinced no women could ever be 'right' for Dmitri, so far I actually prefer them to Elena & Raphael.

[tabitha]

The ending was disapointing for me after such a dramatic build up I thought the same about the previous Guild Hunter novel though...

I love, love, love that we get to see more of my favourite member of the Seven, Venom (this vampire is too sexy for words). I so hope he gets his own novel

Holly Chang is an integral character in the novel and I was surpised and delighted at the emotional responses she brings out in the other characters.

I can't wait for everyone else to read this book so we can hold a proper discussion

[Patricia]

Need. To. Read. Now.

Damnit!

[Patricia]

I. Loved. It.

[devilsworld]

I loved itt.
I hope Venom gets his own story soon.. maybe with Holly.

[Patricia]

What did you love the most?

[Sycorax]

I really enjoyed Archangel's Blade.

Spoiler:

I thin, out of all of Nalini Singh's books, this is the one where the external conflict was most closely linked with the internal. You couldn't have one without the other.

ETA: I can't decide whether Sorrow is mostly likely to be with Venom or Aodhan, but I'm tentatively going with Aodhan. There have been so many mentions of him coming to the city that we know he is going to play a big role soon. Also if it were Venom, so much of their relationship would have been established before the book started.

[Patricia]

I see it coming. We're all speculating about Venom-Sorrow-Aodhan. And then? She dies in the next installment. Or Aodhan is gay and Venom asexual.

.. Or all of the above.

(Do we need to use spoiler tags here? I mean, if you read this post you should have read the book. Or so I thought..)

Spoiler:

[SHELITA]

I WANT VENOM TO HAVE HIS OWN NOVEL AND END UP WITH SORROW IT WOULD BE COMFORTABLE BUT WE WOULD LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS PAST AND POWERS .HONOR AND DIMITRI'S, TO ME, THEIR STORY WASN'T AS GOOD AS RAPHAEL'S STORY.

[Rageane]

I am most curious about Jason and Aodhan myself...I think those two are the ones I look forward to most.

I am really looking forward to seeing how Aodhan reacts to his new assignment of angel tower.

[Patricia]

Dmitri: So, Aodhan... (blabla assignment blah)..
Aodhan:

Well, thank you so much!

[SHELITA]

lol

[ellieb09]

I liked it. As times goes on, I find myself liking it more. Really NEED another Raphael Elean fix though. I just love them. Their entire relationships dynamic is sweet but exhilerating. Dmitri and Honour were gorgeoes together though. Also did anyone see in the book, when Dmitri was 'hiding' Illium's gift for Elean's bday? I wonder what Raphael will get her? Hopefully soemthing sweet
Can't wait for Aodhan's story. That's going to be.....intense to say the least? Because my lord, whatever was done to him must have been horrific.
I don't think that Aodhan and Holly really....fit? She's to...snarky. He needs care. Pure loving, slo care.

[Concepcion30]

What I was most anticipating with this novel was seeing more interaction of the seven. And with Dmitri as their leader that was a given. I truly believe they stole the show in all four books.

I'm not sure how NS feels about homosexuality and her characters. All of them have been straight so far and there's been a bare minimum of mention of gay characters throughout the story. Personally, I'm not opposed to yaoi and I wouldn't mind if one of the Seven did turn out to be gay. To me it would add a note of realism considering vampires are into orgies that could be Bi. I feel she's got everything else in these books, the sex, the violence and the gore, why not add that too?

As a fan of the Starz show "Spartacus" that returns the end of this month, I would say that there's a show/series that gets everything right!

[Patricia]

Conception, I thought about that, as well.

In her Psy Changeling series, it's about mates. And there, they ALL seem to be heterosexual. Probably because of the whole offspring-stuff.

I think authors should have seen this documentation I once saw where it was explained that there are actually animals, I think it was a sort of wolf, that turn homosexual if they lose a battle. So there IS homosexuality there. Take that people who keep saying that being gay is something unnatural, claiming that animals aren't gay either! HA!

In the books, though.. They all have to be "manly" men. MHE! I sort of hate how this is something Nalini often disregards in her books.

Edit. That's not to say that she's a homophobe or anything. It's just not addressed in her books and I wish that it was. Although I'm no yaoi fan. I just don't see the appeal. Still I want bi- or homosexuals to be a part of her worlds.

[Rageane]

Nalini has stated in a few of the question and answer sessions that there are homosexual relationships in her worlds that she created, but they will not have the "limelight" for any of the books...correct me if I'm wrong but she did show the Lesbian mates in KoS.

[Patricia]

Yes, I think I read that somwhere, too. I don't know about the Lesbian couple, though. I'd just like her to explain that there are homosexual relationships/mates. That's all. : )

[Concepcion30]

Nalini has stated in a few of the question and answer sessions that there are homosexual relationships in her worlds that she created, but they will not have the "limelight" for any of the books...correct me if I'm wrong but she did show the Lesbian mates in KoS.

I'd got that from the little blurbs she would toss out here and there. For example;

Spoiler:

[Patricia]

Spoiler:

[Concepcion30]

And to explain THIS stuff in her books she'd need more than just a little "So our walls are all terracotta, I recently watched a movie, there is someone gay somewhere and we have soup for dinner today."

But you know what Patricia, I suspect she feels that that is enough. In order not to offend homosexual readers by pretending that they don't exist at all in her story she adds these little side notes. And to tell you the truth it is all that people like me can hope for in what is a heterosexual series. This is where fan-fiction comes in handy for established series where you can read about an alternate version of the author's world. Too bad there seems to be a shortage of such spin-offs.

[Patricia]

And to explain THIS stuff in her books she'd need more than just a little "So our walls are all terracotta, I recently watched a movie, there is someone gay somewhere and we have soup for dinner today."

But you know what Patricia, I suspect she feels that that is enough. In order not to offend homosexual readers by pretending that they don't exist at all in her story she adds these little side notes. And to tell you the truth it is all that people like me can hope for in what is a heterosexual series. This is where fan-fiction comes in handy for established series where you can read about an alternate version of the author's world. Too bad there seems to be a shortage of such spin-offs.

Yeah, I know. But that isn't about me wanting to read some nookie. I just want to know more about her worldbuilding and how homosexuality fits in there. ;( So FF wouldn't do anyway. But yes, I'm glad that she adds things like that at all. Many authors just disregard the whole topic altogether. : >

[droplet]

So I recently read Archangel's Blade (late, I know, but unfortunately school readings come first!), and I found I very much disliked the reincarnation aspect. So much so, I could barely get through it and skipped a number of scenes.

I find that I can't get past the idea that Dmitri and Honor love each other because of their memories of each other, because Honor has Ingrede's soul. I know that Honor says at the end that Ingrede was a different woman from a different time, but earlier she has a conversation with Dmitri where she's basically Ingrede! They wouldn't have fallen in love if Honor was simply Honor, instead of Ingrede reincarnated. I disliked the constant flashbacks as well, because I wanted to read about THIS story, THIS relationship, not one Dmitri had a thousand years ago with a dead woman. I understand THIS relationship necessarily includes the past one because of the Honor is Ingrede thing, but really I just dislike that this is so.

I also think that this doesn't really do Dmitri justice, in a way. Yes, he has stayed in love with Ingrede for so long, but then in this story his guilt is absolved by Honor/Ingrede, that same woman. Because of HER acceptance of him, not his own acceptance of himself. It's almost like he wouldn't be able to grow as a person or come to accept his actions without her. I see this can be taken in a romantic light, but if one were to apply that situation nowadays (minus the fact that we don't live forever haha), really people would say he's got a problem with not being able to let go and really live his life.

Anyways, I guess I don't know if I can believe that Dmitri loves Honor because of who she is, as opposed to because she's like Ingrede and Honor in one body. Which I think is a disservice to both of them. I'd be interested to hear if other readers agree, or if not, ways that they can appreciate the story - i.e. why they liked it/why the reincarnation thing was beautiful. I want to try to appreciate it because before this I liked Dmitri and now can't stomach the thought of rereading his book!

[Concepcion30]

Don't have the exact quote or page, but I would say Dmitri loves Honor for herself and the fact that she has Ingrede's soul is merely icing on the cake. Near the end, when the dogs ran into the house to attack Honor. Dmitri got worried but then he heard gunshots and remembered that Honor, unlike Ingrede could protect herself. If you don't see that exactly as love, it is at least a deep seated respect for the person that Honor is today.

[Elisabeth]

I have to say Droplet, I had somhow the same problems with that reincarnation thing...I found it diffcult to see that Honor is a woman all by herself and not "only" the reincarnation of Ingrede, when she tells Dmitiri, she had to come back, ´cause he would never love another woman, I felt like Honor went away and Ingrede was there out of a sudden...
But I also have to say that Ingredes words about her coming back for him and Dmitiris everlasting love for her was something very sweet and romantic...
and maybe Conception is right about Honor and Ingrede being different persons, with Honor having some kind of memories about another live, a past or something like that....
It´s a difficult question but worth discussing it, worth hearing other peoples opinion...

[Lulu2011]

I didn't mind the reincarnation aspect but then again I am a hopeless romantic lol.

After 1,000 years, Dmitri was a very, very different person than the one Ingrede loved. He changed and maybe Ingrede, if she had been wisked forward 1,000 years, wouldn't understand or love Dmitri any longer. Honor, abandoned at birth and raised in foster homes and subjected to brutal torture/abuse, understood the man Dmitri is now and how he became that way. The fact that she was Ingrede reincarnated (and that they both recognized it) felt like a gift from a higher power to Dmitri for all that he had suffered. I love that they both have the memories and the love of the sweet farmer and farmer's wife that lived 1,000 years ago

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