Archangel's Viper (The Guild Hunter, #10)

by Nalini Singh

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

Viper has been an interesting character since the very beginning of this series. He is a vampire and a member of Raphael’s Seven. Viper isn’t like any other vampire. There is absolutely not anyone else like him. He was turned by Neha, the Queen of poisons and snakes. None of the other vampires she turned, ended up like him. He has slitted eyes, poison in his blood and he can entrance people with his eyes. He is also the youngest of the Seven, but that doesn’t make him any less deadly. All of the Seven respect him, even if he is only 350 years old.

Holly was kidnapped a few books ago by the archangel Uram. He was in a mad rage and forced her to drink an awful lot of his blood. It changed her. She isn’t a vampire. She still needs regular food to survive, but she also needs blood. Holly fights this other side of her nature. She doesn’t want to drink blood. She doesn’t want to be this thing that she’s become. It has been a few years since this happened to her. She is getting control of herself. She lives in the tower and is working with Janvier and Ashwini. Venom has always been a part of her training, because they are very similar in that Holly has some reptile tendencies too, but that has always been from afar since Venom was out of the territory on a mission. Now he is back in New York, they have to work together in person.

This was a fun story. I really enjoyed getting to spend this time with Holly and Venom. I loved seeing them come together. I really enjoyed learning more about the mysterious Venom and his past.

So this story overlaps with Archangel’s Heart. Dimitri is running the territory because Raphael and Elena are at a meeting with the other archangels. So we don’t see much of them in this book. There aren’t a large cast of characters in this book. It is mostly Holly and Venom as they track someone who has put a bounty on Holly’s head. Janvier, Ashwini and Dimitri all make appearances. Blue Bell, of course, has some page time (I think Singh would have a revolt on her hands if she didn’t include him some LOL).

Overall, this is a great addition to the series. Not only is the story of Venom and Holly nice, it moves the overall story arc forward. I would’ve liked to have more time with some of the other characters in the series, but then I will probably always say that. I just love the characters in this series so much.

Narration
I just love Angela Dawe’s narration of this series so much. I’ve been listening to this series for a long time now (I can’t remember when I first started listening), but I haven’t gone back to reading since then. I think she does a great job with the male and female characters. I feel like she brings all the characters to life. I would highly recommend her.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.