Fantasy
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Archangel's Resurrection (A Guild Hunter Novel)
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the dangerous, haunting world of archangels . . . and a love that is legend.
For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved, locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak. It is only Zanaya's decision to Sleep that ends their love story.
Eons later, the Cascade of Death wakens them both. The passion between them a flame that yet burns, Alexander and Zanaya stand together in one last battle against the ultimate darkness. But even a warrior archangel cannot win every war. Alexander's scream shatters the world as Zanaya falls, broken and silent . . . only to rise again in a miracle that may be a devastating curse. For is it truly the Queen of the Nile who has been resurrected?
Only one thing is clear: This is the last beat of their passionate, angry dance. The final song for Alexander and his Zani . . .
For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved, locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak. It is only Zanaya's decision to Sleep that ends their love story.
Eons later, the Cascade of Death wakens them both. The passion between them a flame that yet burns, Alexander and Zanaya stand together in one last battle against the ultimate darkness. But even a warrior archangel cannot win every war. Alexander's scream shatters the world as Zanaya falls, broken and silent . . . only to rise again in a miracle that may be a devastating curse. For is it truly the Queen of the Nile who has been resurrected?
Only one thing is clear: This is the last beat of their passionate, angry dance. The final song for Alexander and his Zani . . .
Readers Top Reviews
PJ
I enjoyed the different layout of this story and how it jumped around different time periods in zani and Alexander’s lives. It’s awesome to meet and get to know more angels and see characters from different points of view. I did miss Elena and rafael tho they are just my favourite characters and would love to read more about their story. Another great book in this unique and beautiful series x
syndersMauraOsally g
I am a huge fan of this series and author but this story was boring, I have always struggled to put down her books and usually read them in one day, not with this one, I actually struggled to finish it. Too much of the storyline was a rehash of what we already know and can we please be done with Lujian, that really has been done to death (no pun intended). Let's hope the next book is better and not a filler.
Mary Heron
Zani and Alexander, it was love at first sight though it would be over a thousand years before they came together. Their passion so strong but their drive and will was even stronger so that they could never find the balance needed to stay together. Sometimes it was as short as the years others hundreds but always they would break apart unable to reconcile their differences but one thing no one ever doubted for Zani there was only ever Alexander and for Alexander only Zani. After the events of the Battle of New York Alexander is left with the knowledge that Zani may be gone for good, yes she is in a healing sleep but can any amount of sleep heal the grave range she sustained from Lijouan. If not for his grandson Zander, Alexander would have followed her into the great unknown but then miraculously Zani awakens as strong as ever. But is she the same, She feels a pulse deep inside herself which seems to call out to something that she cannot put a name to, She fears Lijouan may have left her with more than just had memories of her attack.
Concepcion
While none of the guild hunter novels are considered stand alone, Archangel’s Resurrection really enforces that simply by the sheer nature of some of the cobbled together scenes. On that note, it’s very advisable to re-read Archangel’s Enigma (Nassir’s book) and Archangel’s War (final battle with Lijuan) before diving into this one. When I think about what I liked about Guild Hunter at its core was what Elena and Raphael represented, the young and the old coming together and finding common ground. On that note I would have liked to have read a story where Alexander fell in love with someone of the modern world, a much younger vampire or angel. Because so much of Alexander and Zanaya’s love story took place in the past, I still feel what we read was just a glossing over of some of the important points in their history. I do get why some other reviewers are suggesting this should have been novella length simply because we’re following a couple whose romance began prior to current events as was the case with the novella for Galen and Jessamy’s book, (Archangel’s Flight.) Eventually these two grow on you, despite the constant seemingly irrational fighting. If you are together for eons then perhaps not every day will be sunshine and roses. Although I couldn’t help noticing the similarities to Raphael and Elena, Zanaya refused to be caged by Alexander in his desire to protect her. Guild Hunter as a whole has been suffering from a villain problem as of late, when Lijuan isn’t the big bad at the center of a particular book, who we get ends up being rather small scale. And Archangel’s Resurrection was not immune to this as the storyline attempts to clean up disasters left in Lijuan's wake even ten years after her demise. My favorite part of the book was the introduction of Alexander as a child and the court that he lived in and what shaped him to become the archangel that he did. That was done so well and I was hoping to see it continue up to when Raphael was born, but instead we got a flash forward and any instances of Alexander with a young Raphael was all flashbacks, very skimmed over. Overall this was a better read than its predecessor (Archangel’s Light) because we got a true romance and not half of one.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
Lijuan, Archangel of Death and Goddess Over All, gloried in the howl of her power as battle raged around her, Raphael's once-glittering city now broken and scorched. Impudent child. He should've listened to Lijuan, listened to his goddess! She'd told him what to do, had attempted to guide him. But no, he would make the wrong choice. He would choose to tie himself forever to a mewling mortal.
It mattered naught that his consort now bore wings and other trappings of immortality. She was nothing, a worm to be crushed under the boot, as Lijuan had once crushed her own worm. Because worms dug inside you, creating runnels and holes. Weaknesses. Fractures. Vulnerabilities.
Raphael had all of those. And today he would pay the price. They would all pay.
She laughed at the temerity of the archangels who'd gathered into an alliance against her. Together, they thought they could defeat her. When all they'd done was made things easier for her by congregating in one place. They might've been the apex predators on the planet once, but Lijuan alone held that throne now.
They were nothing but her servants.
Ignoring the chaos all around her, she scanned the area until she pinpointed the archangel she most wanted to remove from the equation. There she was. Small in stature, with skin "like the night, eyes that held the stars, and hair of violet moonlight"-or so she'd been described by the idiotic poet who'd written a scroll devoted to Zanaya, Queen of the Nile.
Lijuan had researched Zanaya as part of her investigation into all possible Sleepers who might prove a problem in the future . . . but she'd paid a little extra attention to the so-called Queen of the Nile. Not because she was more of a power than the others, but because Zanaya had managed to obtain the one thing that Lijuan had never been able to capture: the love of Alexander, Archangel of Persia.
Oh, he'd been kind to Lijuan, had told her that she was too young and that perhaps after another seven thousand years, they could come together. Only later had she realized that he'd simply been letting her down with kindness-by then, she'd seen true passion in a man's eyes, had understood with bitter clarity that what she'd seen in Alexander's had been . . . gentle, yes. Twined even with affection. But passion? No. Not even the merest inkling.
Why her and not me?
A gnawing question inside her ever since she'd learned of Zanaya and Alexander's history. Because that's how most ancient scrolls were written-with their two names linked. As if they were so much a unit that it was understood that should Zanaya walk the earth, Alexander would belong to her and no one else.
Rage burned through Lijuan.
How dare he choose this mere archangel in place of Lijuan, who was a goddess? How dare he still look at Zanaya in a way he'd never once looked at her! She shouldn't have noticed how their glances met, shouldn't have noticed anything beyond what was necessary to win this war, but she had-and the reminder of her pathetic past self enraged her.
Fueled by the lifeforce of those who'd sacrificed themselves to their goddess, she turned noncorporeal . . . and then she flew straight to the archangel who mocked Lijuan with her very existence. Lijuan had no weaknesses. After she killed Zanaya, she'd take care of Alexander. She'd consume them both, and once they were inside her, she would control them.
Zanaya never stood a chance.
Appearing behind her, Lijuan sank her fangs into the archangel's neck, and drank of her life. Those fangs usually only emerged in angels during the Making of a vampire, but Lijuan could call them up at will. Yet another sign of her difference from these creatures who sought to humble her.
Sudden savage winds whipped at Lijuan's hair as Zanaya called up her power, the archangel's body twisting to respond to the attack, but it was a futile effort. Lijuan had swallowed up too much of the potent power that made up a member of the Cadre, and Zanaya was fading, fading.
Lijuan's rage, however, oh, it continued to scald.
Because it did, she made a critical error. She eased her iron control on the vicious power which made her a goddess-and created a leak. A whisper of her own power flowed into Zanaya, a gift of which she was utterly unworthy. But no matter. Zanaya was dead anyway. At least now, Lijuan knew not to get so entranced by the refueling process that she lost her grip on the screaming endlessness that was her glory.
Sated for the moment, she dropped Zanaya's shriveled corpse and turned noncorporeal once more. There would never again be a scroll written that paired Zanaya with Alexander.
What a terrible shame that their love story had come to such an inglorious end.
Lijuan, Archangel of Death and Goddess Over All, gloried in the howl of her power as battle raged around her, Raphael's once-glittering city now broken and scorched. Impudent child. He should've listened to Lijuan, listened to his goddess! She'd told him what to do, had attempted to guide him. But no, he would make the wrong choice. He would choose to tie himself forever to a mewling mortal.
It mattered naught that his consort now bore wings and other trappings of immortality. She was nothing, a worm to be crushed under the boot, as Lijuan had once crushed her own worm. Because worms dug inside you, creating runnels and holes. Weaknesses. Fractures. Vulnerabilities.
Raphael had all of those. And today he would pay the price. They would all pay.
She laughed at the temerity of the archangels who'd gathered into an alliance against her. Together, they thought they could defeat her. When all they'd done was made things easier for her by congregating in one place. They might've been the apex predators on the planet once, but Lijuan alone held that throne now.
They were nothing but her servants.
Ignoring the chaos all around her, she scanned the area until she pinpointed the archangel she most wanted to remove from the equation. There she was. Small in stature, with skin "like the night, eyes that held the stars, and hair of violet moonlight"-or so she'd been described by the idiotic poet who'd written a scroll devoted to Zanaya, Queen of the Nile.
Lijuan had researched Zanaya as part of her investigation into all possible Sleepers who might prove a problem in the future . . . but she'd paid a little extra attention to the so-called Queen of the Nile. Not because she was more of a power than the others, but because Zanaya had managed to obtain the one thing that Lijuan had never been able to capture: the love of Alexander, Archangel of Persia.
Oh, he'd been kind to Lijuan, had told her that she was too young and that perhaps after another seven thousand years, they could come together. Only later had she realized that he'd simply been letting her down with kindness-by then, she'd seen true passion in a man's eyes, had understood with bitter clarity that what she'd seen in Alexander's had been . . . gentle, yes. Twined even with affection. But passion? No. Not even the merest inkling.
Why her and not me?
A gnawing question inside her ever since she'd learned of Zanaya and Alexander's history. Because that's how most ancient scrolls were written-with their two names linked. As if they were so much a unit that it was understood that should Zanaya walk the earth, Alexander would belong to her and no one else.
Rage burned through Lijuan.
How dare he choose this mere archangel in place of Lijuan, who was a goddess? How dare he still look at Zanaya in a way he'd never once looked at her! She shouldn't have noticed how their glances met, shouldn't have noticed anything beyond what was necessary to win this war, but she had-and the reminder of her pathetic past self enraged her.
Fueled by the lifeforce of those who'd sacrificed themselves to their goddess, she turned noncorporeal . . . and then she flew straight to the archangel who mocked Lijuan with her very existence. Lijuan had no weaknesses. After she killed Zanaya, she'd take care of Alexander. She'd consume them both, and once they were inside her, she would control them.
Zanaya never stood a chance.
Appearing behind her, Lijuan sank her fangs into the archangel's neck, and drank of her life. Those fangs usually only emerged in angels during the Making of a vampire, but Lijuan could call them up at will. Yet another sign of her difference from these creatures who sought to humble her.
Sudden savage winds whipped at Lijuan's hair as Zanaya called up her power, the archangel's body twisting to respond to the attack, but it was a futile effort. Lijuan had swallowed up too much of the potent power that made up a member of the Cadre, and Zanaya was fading, fading.
Lijuan's rage, however, oh, it continued to scald.
Because it did, she made a critical error. She eased her iron control on the vicious power which made her a goddess-and created a leak. A whisper of her own power flowed into Zanaya, a gift of which she was utterly unworthy. But no matter. Zanaya was dead anyway. At least now, Lijuan knew not to get so entranced by the refueling process that she lost her grip on the screaming endlessness that was her glory.
Sated for the moment, she dropped Zanaya's shriveled corpse and turned noncorporeal once more. There would never again be a scroll written that paired Zanaya with Alexander.
What a terrible shame that their love story had come to such an inglorious end.
