Archangel's Sun (The Guild Hunter, #13)

by Nalini Singh

A horrifying secret rises in the aftermath of an archangelic war in New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s deadly and beautiful Guild Hunter world. . . .

The Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease may be gone but their legacy of evil lives on—especially in Africa, where the shambling, rotting creatures called the reborn have gained a glimmer of vicious intelligence.

It is up to Titus, archangel of this vast continent, to stop the reborn from spreading across the world. Titus can’t do it alone, but of the surviving powerful angels and archangels, large numbers are wounded, while the rest are fighting a surge of murderous vampires.

There is no one left . . . but the Hummingbird. Old, powerful, her mind long a broken kaleidoscope. Now, she must stand at Titus’s side against a tide of death upon a discovery more chilling than any other. For the Archangel of Disease has left them one last terrible gift . . . .

• ISBN10: 0593198123
• ISBN13: 9780593198124
• Publish Date: 24 November 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Berkley
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593198124

Reviews

[FranJessca @ A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog]

Archangel’s Sun is the thirteenth book in Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter series. This time Nalini Singh gives us the Hummingbird and Archangel Titus’s story. I’ve wanted to know more about the Hummingbird since she was introduced in the series. Here I thought she was only an artist; well, there’s more to the Hummingbird than readers thought initially.

Female Protagonist: Sharine, aka the Hummingbird, is known as the gentle, artistic Angel who has gone through a lot in her lifetime. She became lost to her grief after losing several important people in her life. A lot of her kind forget that’s she’s an Ancient and has seen a lot and used to be a fighter. If there is one thing I love about her character, she loves her son, Illium, and adores Aodhan. She’s what I would consider a mother to everyone. She may have been broken at one time, but there was another side of her in this book. I loved getting her back story and getting to see her grow in this book. Don’t underestimate the gentle Angel anymore.

Male Protagonist: Titus is the Archangel of Africa, and he’s known to being stubborn and loud. He’s a warrior and loves his people. He learned from the best underneath his mother, who was a General and Archangel Alexander. He’s known as a lady’s man, according to how Sharine describes him in the beginning. At first, I was wary about his character, but I did start to like him towards the middle and end. He is nothing like Raphael, but he does have some scary features to him.

Storyline: If you read Archangel’s War, then you would’ve read that Lijuan was defeated. Unfortunately, the Cadre is still dealing with the legacy of what the Archangel of Death and Archangel of Disease left behind. Titus’s territory was impacted the most with the Reborn since he lived close to the Archangel of Disease. Raphael sends the Hummingbird to help Titus with the Reborn because the rest of the Cadre are still dealing with their war issues. Titus is hesitant about having the Hummingbird help him. She’s known as an artist and not a warrior, but he’s going to find out he’s wrong about her. They also will discover that the Archangel of Disease left them a bigger surprise behind what they need to deal with in this book. 

My Thoughts: I was excited to read this book because I had caught up with the series in October of 2020. I was ready to dive into the next book, even though I knew I would now have to wait for the next book in the series. This book gives readers the aftermath of the war. This book brought up a big issue to the Cadre that they were not expecting, which I thought it couldn’t get worst, but Nalini proved me wrong. She managed to throw in a twist. I loved getting to know the back story of both Titus and Sharine (aka the Hummingbird) and wanted them to have happiness with each other. They both deserved it. Readers beware, though, because this is what I would consider a slow-burn. These two did not like each other initially but end up getting to know each other better when they work together. Readers who love Bluebell and Aodhan will get some of them in this book. I need more, though. I need to know who they will end up with, and I need it now!! I’m glad to know that Sharine and Titus found each other, but I need Bluebell and Aodhan’s books.

Steaminess: Some Steam. (It comes closer toward the end of the book.)

Standalone or Part of Series: Part of Series.

HEA: Somewhat of a HEA. Some readers may have an issue with the ending.

Trope: This book had somewhat of a Slow Burn to it and Opposite’s Attract.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. Overall, this book gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (four stars) from me, and I would recommend it to readers of the PNR/UF genres. If you have read the previous books in the series, then you will enjoy this book; if you have not started this series, then I would recommend reading in order. You will miss out on a lot of stuff if you read from this book. I’m ready for the next book in the series. Nalini, please give us Aodhan or Bluebell’s book next. 🙂 Please! I <3 this series from Nalini Singh. If it weren’t for this series, I would never get out of my reading funk this year. I loved reading from the beginning to catch up on this series.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher, Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[EBookObsessed]

The Hummingbird is no longer "broken" and she is feisty. We are going to need to change her nickname.

We have met Illium's mom several times of the past 12 books in this series. The Hummingbird was a fragile, broken woman that everyone treated with deference and respect because her art was so beautiful.   Two things turned Sharine into a fragile women.  The first is that her parents decided to sleep when she was only 80 years old and abandoned her at what would be the equivalent of a human abandoning their 12 year old to raise themselves.  Then Sharine's first love, Raan, simply died in the middle of the night.  Angels don't just die.  Remember, these are creatures that can be beheaded and they're like "No, no, it's not a problem.  Leave him.  He'll be fine in a few hundred years."  So for Sharine to wake up and find Raan dead was frightening, especially since she was still rather young.   But it was Aegaeon's cruelty that finally shattered her, but even shattered, she took care of young Illium and Aohdan and raised them to the men they are today.  So she was never completely broken.

But Sharine has started to reclaim herself after being given the task of caretaker for the city of Lumia and their great art treasures.   Lumia is one of the few places on the planet  that survived unscathed by Lijuan's and Charisemnon's attacks.   All of the Archangels who survived Lijuan's attack on New York are exhausting themselves trying to deal with the aftermath of Lijuan's reborn and the destruction of their lands.   So Raphael comes to Sharine and asks her to travel to Southern portion of Africa to help Titus.  The war against Lijuan is over but Titus is still losing humans and vampires in his territory.  Charisemnon used his cascade given gift and enhanced Lijuan's reborn so they are smarter and more dangerous.  Titus and his people have been trying to destroy the nests of reborn without being caught in their ambushes.

Titus has asked for help in his territory and although he knows that the other archangels are very busy with their own territories, he is not excited to find that Raphael is sending The Hummingbird to his court.  He doesn't have time to rest, let alone try to entertain the fragile angel but he knows he cannot be rude to her since she is a treasure to angelkind.   Titus  has prepared himself and his household as best he can for the Hummingbird's arrival but he is flustered when she arrives in comfortable clothes more for a warrior than the flowy robes of delicate lady.  She actually has the archangel of Africa quite flustered for most of the story.  As Sharine works with Titus to locate the hiding reborn, she rediscovers more and more of herself and the powers she has inside that she has long let atrophy.

While I try to avoid other reviews before I write my own so not to be influenced, I did catch a couple of comments which I found entertaining which were basically discussion of Sharine being Illium's mom and they weren't excited about the old lady getting a romance.   When we get into stories where the characters are literally ageless,  we have to remember it is not just the main characters like Raphael and Illium who will appear in their mid- to late twenties.   If we were casting this series for a movie, neither Sharine nor Caliane would be cast by older actresses.  They would physically look as young as siblings to their grown sons.  It is also possible for Sharine and Titus to have a baby of their own before we even get a romance for Illium since, again, they are ageless.  My favorite example of this agelessness was in Jessie Lane's Big Bad Bite series, where one of the men is checking out the hot redhead in the miniskirt and makes a comment to his friend about how hot she is, and his friend's response is a very angry,  "Hey, that's my Babuska!"  In a fantasy series like this when everyone stays young and sexy, MILF takes on a whole new meaning.

I loved Titus with the loud booming voice.  He just isn't a character that can fade into the background.  I also loved watching Sharine reinvent herself from the woman we have know through the prior 12 books.   And when we finally get a showdown between Sharine and Aegaeon, it is perfect for the strong woman she is becoming.

Received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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