Review - Black City (Madeline Black, Book 5) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: February 26th, 2013
ISBN: 978-0425256589
Stand Alone or Series: 5th book in the Madeline Black series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fifth book in the Madeline Black series by Henry. The sixth book will be titled, Black Heart, and is scheduled for an October 2013 release. I really enjoyed this book, we learn a lot about Nathaniel’s history and what made him who he is.

Maddy thought things would get better after Azazel was disposed of, but things have only gotten worse. Vampires, who are now immune to sunshine, are flooding the streets of Chicago and slaughtering innocents. When a vampire leader demands Maddy in exchange for peace, Maddy is left with the very people she is trying to help hunting her down.

This was a very good installment in this series. Nathaniel is in the story a lot and there are some wonderful plot developments involving him. We finally learn how Nathaniel ended up at Lucifer’s side and we also learn his history. There are some absolutely startling and surprising revealings involving Nathaniel’s character and I truly enjoyed it.

Maddy also grows a lot in her powers. We find out more about her background and she grows into some new and interesting powers. Maddy still takes a bit too much of the scorched Earth approach to her fights and plans, but she realizes this and jokes about it. The supporting characters do try to reign her in, with not much success.

While I do get a bit sick of the way Maddy can conquer all with her increasing power, I do really enjoy the fast pace of the story and how action packed it is.

This was one of the, dare I say, sexyist books of the series. The tension between Maddy and Nathaniel is absolutely wonderful. The scenes between these two are exceedingly well done.

There are also a lot of interesting revelations around Lucifer’s plans. It’s amazing how well Henry had a lot of this stuff planned out so well from the very beginning of the series.

I also enjoyed that there was a problem to be solved in this book, but also a story that continues from the previous book in the series. The book does end at a horrible cliffhanger, but for some reason it didn’t bother me for this book...it just worked. That’s not to say I am not absolutely dying to see what happens in the next book though.

Overall an excellent installment in this series. I loved that we learned so much about Nathaniel’s past, there were some truly stunning revelations around his character. Maddy also grows a lot in power and continues her rather destructive and power heavy approach to things. This book is fast paced and full of great action scenes. I loved the interplay between Maddy and Nathaniel. This whole series is recommended who enjoy action packed urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Color Coded Reading Challenge

Review - Black Lament (Madeline Black, Book 4) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: October 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-0425256572
Stand Alone or Series: 4th book in the Madeline Black series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the fourth book in the Madeline Black series. It was a solid installment in this series, if not the best one in the series. The fifth book in the series, Black City, is scheduled for a Feb 2013 release.

Madeline Black finds out from Lucifer that she is pregnant with Gabriel's baby. Now she not only has to evade numerous assassination attempts from the Faerie court, she also has to hunt down her father to revenge Gabriel, and keep her unborn child out of Lucifer's hands. All of this while she continues to grieve for Gabriel.

This story was fast-paced and has a lot going on. Definitely more of an urban fantasy than PNR. These are always interesting books because, while they don’t always have a clear story or objective, there is always a lot happening and it’s engaging.

Maddie has embraced her power and isn’t afraid to destroy everything in her path to get to a goal. This book is interesting because she is forced to temper her behavior slightly to allow for her pregnancy. I do enjoy how powerful she has become and how she is always kicking someone’s butt.

My favorite character in this series continues to be Beezle the gargoyle; he just adds so much witty banter and humor to the story. Simon and JB are also running support for Maddie and it was great to have them be part of the story as well.

The other character that features in the story that I was surprised to enjoy is Nathaniel. He is in the story a lot because he is assigned by Lucifer to guard Maddie. He is becoming a more complex character and you couldn’t help but feel a bit bad for him at times.

We delve a lot deeper into the faerie realms in this book and I really enjoyed all the crazy faerie creatures that try to hunt Maddie down. There are some seriously creepy faerie creatures in this book and I loved reading about them.

I do like that they were some big revelations with Maddie’s character; I think this book paved the way for her to really grow and change in future books. She is finally embracing her godlike heritage.

My only complaint is that Maddie is a bit too lucky and powerful and is continually getting out of situations she shouldn't be able to get out of. She tends to blast her way through situations that she could probably talk her way out of. While I enjoy the action scenes; I do feel like Maddie’s overzealousness and crazy luck is a bit over the top.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. Fans of the this series should be happy with this installment. We meet some new and interesting fairy creatures. We also get to see Maddie go through some big changes. Maddie’s continual ability to escape impossible situations unscathed does get a bit old, but I do enjoy the fast pace of the story and all of the interesting characters. I recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy. There are better urban fantasy series out there, but this is still a solid one that I enjoy reading.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Review - Black Howl (Madeline Black, Book 3) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 288 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: February 28, 2012
ISBN: 978-1937007331
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in the Madeline Black series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars


This is the third book in the Madeline Black series by Henry. The fourth book will be titled, Black Lament, and is scheduled to release in October 2012. This book was a great addition to the series. It is a story of be careful what you wish for and it was interesting to see Maddy's careless behavior finally catch up to her.

Maddy is an Agent of Death, the granddaughter of Lucifer, and learning to control her dark angelic powers. Her boss is getting upset because unscheduled ghosts are turning up in the streets acting strangely. He wants Maddy to figure out what is going on. Maddy is also contacted by the local werewolves' second-in-commander; their pack leader has gone missing along with all of the werewolf children and Maddy needs to figure out where they all went before it is too late. Additionally Maddy is still trying to outrun her demonic father and mend the relationship between her and Gabriel, her thrall.

Henry does enough recapping to jog your memory, but I wouldn't recommend starting on this book without reading the previous two. I enjoy Maddy's snarky attitude and reckless behavior; although I have often wondered when Maddy's enemies would finally catch up to her. Well in this book they finally do. It is kind of fun to watch Maddy get angry and loose it because when she does she does it in a mass destruction type of way. I also love how she throws down against huge immortal baddies without even batting an eyelash; in some scenes it is kind of hilarious.

My hands down favorite character is still Beezle; you have to love this lovable and humorous gargoyle...I mean I seriously want my own pet gargoyle now! Nathaniel is back, not my favorite guy but you learn more about what makes him tick in this story. Lucifer is also in this story quite a bit more; it was great to learn more about his personality and character and after this book he doesn't feel so much evil to me as complex.

Gabriel is in the story as well; him and Maddy finally get a little romance in their lives. The story is fast-paced, full of some great action, and the plot (which seems straight-forward to begin with) gets bigger and bigger and blossoms into a complex plot of epic proportions...yet it is still easy to follow yet full of surprises.

The ending of the book was full of some huge revelations and surprises; it left me dying to know what will happen in the next book.

Overall this is a fast-paced, action packed read that is part of a solid and enjoyable urban fantasy series. Maddy is sarcastic and snarky and gets beat up a lot (reminds me of Harry Dresden from that aspect) but she is also determined to hold her own. Maddy's reckless behavior catches up to her in this novel. All the wonderful characters from the previous books are here. The plot starts out simple but ends up complex and is full of wonderful surprises at the end. I definitely recommend this novel to fans of urban fantasy; the angelic bent to this series is different than your typical vamp/were series and makes for a different and fun read.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Review - Black Night (Madeline Black, Book 2) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 288 pages

Publisher: Ace
Release Date: July 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-1937007065
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Madeline Black series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Madeline Black series by Christina Henry.  The third book in this series, Black Howl, is due out in 2012.  Right now there are three books contracted for this series, although Henry has stated she'd like to write an additional two after that.  This book was a great addition to the series, we learn more about the Fairy realm and about the past of some of the angels Maddy has to deal with.

Maddy is recovered from being killed in the first book.  With Gabriel assigned as her body guard and Beezle, her gargoyle, at her side to help she is hoping to just chill for a while and continue her job as an agent of death.  Then werewolf deaths start occurring outside of the natural order of things and Maddy is determined to figure out why.  Things get even crazier when members of her fallen angel family start trying to kill Maddy and on top of all that Lucifer wants Maddy to act as the diplomatic head for a mission in the fairy realm.

This book has a lot going on and I was initially worried that the story would be too scattered.  I shouldn't have worried, Henry does an excellent job of tying the multiple story lines together and forming a surprising and cohesive plot.

Maddy has gained more power, but is still getting the stuffing knocked out of her quite often.  The saying, takes a licking and keeps on ticking, definitely applies to Maddy in this book.  Maddy is learning how to use her power and her personality in better and more forceful ways, so this was great to read about.

I was a little disappointed that any relationship between Gabriel and Maddy is stalled in this book; their love is still starcrossed but Gabriel is missing for a large portion of the book.  Stepping in to fill his role is Nathaniel, Maddy's fiance.  Nathaniel accompanies Maddy throughout the book and causes all sorts of trouble.  Nathaniel is an interesting and complex, if not very likable, character and it was fun to learn more of his background.  JB is also a big part of this story and you learn a lot about his background as well.

I enjoyed that time was spent in the fairy realms.  This is a part of this world we hadn't interacted with before.  There are definitely a lot of politics and intrigue throughout the story.  That is not to say there isn't any action, there are a number of well done action scenes as well.  The book was well-paced and well-written.

The story was well wrapped up, with some dangling threads to be addressed in future books.

Overall I am enjoying this series.  The angel mythology is interesting and it was great to see the world expanded into the fairy realm.  Maddy is a great character who is finally learning how to use her power.  There is a lot going on in this story, at points almost too much.  We go into new worlds, meet a number of new races and characters, and have a number of storylines.  In the end though I enjoyed the complexity and thought everything game together nicely.  This is definitively an urban fantasy, not much romance here, so just FYI.  If you like this book I would recommend you also check out Seanan McGuire's October Daye series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge

Review - Black Wings (Madeline Black, Book 1) by Christina Henry (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 304 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: November 30, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0441019632
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in Madeline Black series
Source: ARC from Book it Forward ARC Tours
Rating: 4/5 stars


I got a proof of this book to read through Book it Forward ARC Tours.  This is the first of the Madeline Black books by Henry.  The second is going to be titled Black Night and is scheduled for a July 2011 release.  I enjoyed this book; I really liked the world and the premise.  The heroine took me a bit to get used to, she seemed a bit generic at first, but by the end of the book she had really grown on me.

Maddy works as an Agent, she offers dead souls a choice...to dwell on earth or enter The Door.  It is a position she inherited from her mother and one that she can't relinquish...it also doesn't pay very well.  Maddy lives with her protector, a foul-tempered gargoyle, and writes articles for cooking magazines to make money on the side.  When a strange man offers to rent the apartment below her and her best friend is hunted down by a horrible creature things get a lot more complicated for Maddy.

I'll be honest I had a little trouble getting into this book.  Maddy seemed a bit generic to me at first.  She was kind of your standard smart-mouthed, can kind of kick-butt, urban fantasy heroine with a lack of social life.  If you read a lot of urban fantasy, you know the type I am talking about.  As the book went on though she started to grow on me and, by the end I was very engaged with her.

That being said my favorite character by far is the gargoyle, he is funny and provides a lot of laughs.  For some reason I love books with gargoyles.  Maddy and Gabriel (the beautiful man who rents the apartment below her) have great chemistry and you are really pulling for them throughout the book.  They keep things pretty platonic but still manage to have some steamy and tense scenes; although this book is very much an urban fantasy (as apposed to paranormal romance). There are a number of interesting baddies, and a lot of characters that are many shades of grey.

The strongest point of the book is the world-building and plot.  The plot keeps you guessing and is very detailed and well-woven.  The world is similarly intricate and very intriguing.  There is mention of other supernaturals but this book focuses mainly on fallen angels and demons without being overly religious.  Maddy's powers as an Agent reminded me a lot of the TV series Dead Like Me in how they are handled and with how bureaucratic they are.  The action scenes are well done and paced as well.

I enjoyed Maddy's unpredictable power, the complex world of fallen angels, and the fast pace of the plot.  The book was hard to put down.  Things wrapped up nicely at the end, but there were some major things left unsolved and this was very much an intro book to this world. I hope future books better develop some of the wonderful secondary characters.

Overall a very solid urban fantasy debut.  Those who enjoy smart-mouthed females who can kick some serious butt will love this.  Those who enjoy angel/demon mythos in an urban fantasy setting will also find lots here to like.  I would also recommend the Remy Chandler series by Thomas Sniegoski to those who enjoy this book.  Remy Chandler has a similar angel/demon mythos and the series is very well done.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge