4.5
This was an incredibly fun and engaging book that balanced magic, mystery and romance to great effect. Angelus “Angel” Salvatore is a blunt, powerful, take no BS sorcerer level necromancer who tries to live a relatively low-key life as a sorcery instructor and occasional consultant to the local vampire bloodclan, with whom he has a alliance/understanding and the Boston Police Department (BPD) filled with descendants from a feuding clan that hates his guts. While investigating suspicious events and attempts on his life, Angel learns to trust and rely on Simeon, the vampire clan Elder who has been waiting for Angel to give him an opportunity to act on their mutual attraction for two years.
The world-building was great; SJ Himes managed to convey a lot of information without extreme info dumps that interrupt the story and the relationship development between Angel and Simeon was very well done. The foundation of their history was woven naturally into the narrative, as was the hows and whys of the change in their established dynamic that occurs early on in the book. The only hitch for me, was that while there was a lot regarding Angel’s history, the night that shaped his life, a look into his complex relationship with his younger brother, Isaac, and narration and dialogue that complete the picture of Angel’s personality, such as:
“At the first hint of [bull], Angel snapped back to reality. The Master knew exactly who he was, and back-handed compliments did nothing but piss him off.”
there isn’t anything like that for Simeon. The reader doesn’t learn much about his history and who he is. But to be fair, the book is narrated from Angel’s POV and Angel’s change from no longer fighting his attraction and interest in Simeon and keeping him at arms length is new. And, to SJ Himes’s credit, the author manages to keep Simeon from coming across as a flat, cardboard cut-out of the “perfect” love interest even though romantic suitor is his main function in the book. Now that they are together, Simeon will probably become a more fleshed-out character as the series progresses. I look forward to reading the next book on their journey.