Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

With one strange occurrence after another taking place; birds falling from the sky to later be followed by angels, and vampires getting sick, it’s apparent to Raphael that someone is mounting an attack on him and his people.  It’s just a matter of who, as Raphael finds it increasingly more difficult to defend against an unknown enemy.

The Cascade has caused an increase of power in the members of the Cadre, each secreting away their new powers as a strategic defense, making forming alliances tenuous at best.   But Raphael finds a dark cold power trying to take over him, but he must fight it as it turns him into someone he’s not proud of, and someone that could easily hurt the ones he loves such as his beloved consort.

Also a strange mark is manifesting on Raphael’s face, is this the unset of the disease plaguing the vampires?  And, are the whispers he hears in his dreams the same that manifested with his father at the beginning of his madness?

There is no time to think of all these questions once Raphael’s enemy makes themselves know and attacks Manhattan.  Raphael must use every resource at his disposal if he and his people have any chance at survival.  And, it will take every strategic plan they can muster to survive.

I’ll be the first to admit that I do struggle reading the Guild Hunter series.  I love Psy-Changeling and I have just never been able to love Guild Hunter with that same amount of vigor.  Don’t get me wrong there have been a few that I absolutely loved: Angels’ Blood and Archangel’s Blade.  I have found the others to not quite live up to those two.

This book started out great and I thought it had the potential to rank up with some of my favorites.  I loved how Raphael and Elena’s relationship has seemed to have evolved over time.  They truly seem to be equals now, unlike past books, where it was obvious Raphael held the reins.  Don’t get me wrong, there are still times where Raphael attempts to assert his will, despite Elena’s protests, but she doesn’t give up and makes him see things her way eventually.  We see a lot more intimacy between this couple in this book and I really enjoyed that aspect of the story.

“ Of course you may go first. When I am dead.”

We get to see more of Raphael’s Seven in this one, especially the progress Aodhan has been making where interacting with others is concerned.  I think it’s only a matter of time before we see his book come to pass!

The fighting to save Manhattan is truly where this book loses me.  The writing is still good, but battle scenes always struggle to keep my interest.  I found these scenes in this book to be okay, they didn’t lose me completely, but they didn’t really excite me either.  I’m just not a battle to the finish kind of girl.  But with all that said this was another decent addition to the Guild Hunter series, and one any Nalini Singh fan should check out!