Fiery Edge of Steel

Noon Onyx, Book #2

By Jill Archer

Author’s Website:  www.jillarcher.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

The Apocalypse has come and gone.  And, the demons won.  Now Hyrkes (humans), Demons, Angels and Hosts (those that are human with a drop of demon blood, causing them to possess magic) have learned to coexist together.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in existence, wielding waning magic, which before her appeared in only males.  She is a Maegester-in-training, as most hosts with waning magic are, perfecting her skills to become one of the few that can keep the demons in line and kill them if necessary.

Noon and her boyfriend and fellow Meagester-in training, Ari, have been given a field assignment that takes them to the outpost lands of the Shallows to investigate a complaint against a demon lord, Vodnik.  He has ruled and protected his people for over 400 years, but now he has gone out on a couple of occasions with some of his followers and came back without them, claiming the mythical bogeyman, Grimasca, got them.

So as soon as they have selected their Guardian Angels from the nearby Jonathan School, Noon and Ari will be on their way to find the answers they seek.  But the trip will be anything, but easy, as they must fight the elements, the starving people of the Shallows and various demons along the way.

I want to make it clear that I have not had the chance to read the first installment of the series, Dark Light of Day.  But the author did a nice job of explaining everything the reader needs to know to be able to pick the series up from this book, without going overboard with details that would otherwise bog the story down.

This is also a book, like many, that isn’t for everyone.  For the highly religious reader, this book may be seen as an insult to their faith, being the opposite of their own beliefs with Lucifer winning the Apocalypse and defeating God’s army.  And, now the Angels train to protect those with demon blood running in their veins.  Luckily, I’m not so easily offended and had no problem reading this story and realizing that it is just a work of fiction and was able to separate it from my own religious beliefs.  I hope others are able to do so as well.

Now to the story itself.

I really enjoyed Noon as a character.  She was strong and powerful, but with a conscience that people in power don’t always possess.  I appreciated with her past experiences not wanting to work with an Angel and being able to speak her mind, even if it was an obvious display of losing control.

I also really enjoyed Ari.  Strong, protective, and devoted to Noon.  I definitely got the feel that there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

Then we have Rafe.  You knew as soon as he was introduced to the story that he would end up being Noon’s Guardian, whether she wanted him to be or not.  I also assumed he was much more powerful than anybody realized and definitely a better angel than his written profile suggests.  As their journey progressed, I definitely got a feeling that there is something more on the horizon for him and Noon and that Ari had reason to feel jealous.

There was a little twist at the end of this story with one of the characters that I hadn’t seen coming.  I was a little bit sad at the outcome, but don’t feel the issue is quite finished.  I’m interested seeing how it will play out amongst all of the players.

I think this book has many positive and negative points.  The story engages you early on, making it read easily.  But like many books it does get to a point that bores me.  Once all the demons kept attacking, I did check out for a while.  But the ending picked me back up nicely and I will definitely give book three a chance.