Strange Angels: Book 1

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Strange Angels Volume 1

The floor was hardwood and cold against bare feet; I was across the room and almost ran into the door. Threw the locks with fumbling fingers. A blue-glass night-light gave just enough illumination to allow me to avoid stubbing my toes on unfamiliar furniture. I hadn't been here long enough to memorize anything. I wasn't sure I would be, either. Not with the way everyone keeps trying to kill me. Thin blue lines of warding sparked at the corner of my vision. I'd warded the walls my first night here, and the hair-thin lines of crackling blue light ran together in complex knots, flashing just on the edge of visibility.

I woke the rest of the way and cursed roundly at the door, the howl still ringing inside my skull. Gran would be proud. I was warding without her rowan wand or a candle, and it was getting easier.

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Of course, the practice of doing it over and over again was probably responsible. I wasn't going to sleep anywhere without warding now. Hell, I probably wouldn't even sit down without warding a chair, if I could. Saintcrow's description of Graves make all half one race and half another race children sound slapped together with broken bits and pieces rather than anything that could possibly be genuinely attractive although she does say Graves might be pretty someday when he's 40 like she is -- okay she didn't say 40 but it's so effing distracting for her to keep saying when he grows up he'll be cute.

I say all half and half very specifically because while it was Graves being described it was still done in such a BROAD way that it came out as racist. Also, some of the world building and character outlines are sloppy. I know this from reading the second book. I won't include the details here, but seriously sloppy world building. I suspect Dru having the touch on her father's side is something that ought to have been edited out when the direction of the store changed, but then the writer decided 'what the hell, I'll make her super special on both sides! I'm so over the Supernatural!

View all 11 comments. Nov 12, Jeann Happy Indulgence rated it did not like it Shelves: Strange Angels really grabbed me because it sounded like Supernatural the show - a girl and her father out to hunt evil beings of the night. Unfortunately, what resulted instead was nothing like Supernatural but more aligned with the Buffy vibe, only with a whole lot of other creatures of the night. While there's no doubt that this book is written quite well, I quite a few gripes with the book that prevented me from enjoying it too much. A bunch of teenagers who keep calling each other 'kid Strange Angels really grabbed me because it sounded like Supernatural the show - a girl and her father out to hunt evil beings of the night.

A bunch of teenagers who keep calling each other 'kid'. Double thought processes - some would be in normal font, and others would be in italics with no form of differentiation whatsoever. Weird pronunciation for werewolves, calling them 'werewulven'. Also present when referring to vampires as 'nosferatu' 4. Unlikable heroine who is annoying and living in a different world to everyone else. She's the only woman and an all-important heroine which is the only reason that makes her special. A suggestion of racism with constant slights towards Graves, the half-asian guy with a big beak-like nose and who can get really white even though he isn't a white boy.

Not to mention that she refers to him as a 'half-breed' and always brings up his asian features when describing him. That's probably enough to put me off reading the rest of the series. Check out Happy Indulgence for more reviews! Jun 15, Rebecca McNutt rated it really liked it Shelves: I'm not really much of a romance reader but Strange Angels is much more than that.

A captivating story including everything from ghosts to magic, it follows the life of a hunter of sorts, Dru, who lives a life of travel with her father. It's not for everyone; while most people her age are busy worrying about grades, she worries about survival and the supernatural.

When things turn dire and she winds up alone, things begin to take an even stranger turn! Sometimes the story felt oddly paced and so I'm not really much of a romance reader but Strange Angels is much more than that. Sometimes the story felt oddly paced and some of the characters seemed like they were just sort of there without much development, but overall this is a powerful paranormal tale and the main character offers readers a resourceful heroine whose talents and wit make her easy to follow along with.

View all 3 comments. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her? My Thoughts I realize that I cannot keep doing this to myself, that is, reading books I do not like, for the pure sake of getting it done. Doing so has proven time and time again to be a complete waste of effort.

It has taken me forever just to get 70 pgs into this!! I started another book after dumping this entirely, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi and it is brilliant! At 70 pgs with Mafi's book, I never wanted to stop. With Strange Angels I always wanted it to end. And make no mistake, I'm not hating without a reason, I wanted to like this, I really did, it just never worked out that way because: Ah, Dru, let me count the ways I hate thee: How dare you prance around acting "above" everyone?

What makes you so great, kid? I don't care if you could out-barter me when it comes to arguing in the secret underworld black market for canned leprechaun feet! As far as I'm concerned, You. It's great that some people really liked this, I get that some readers will disagree, but this definitely wasn't for me.

The action was slow moving and the characters far too over-thought to provide natural or even enjoyable reading. The author tried hard to make Dru so, so, so B. And all through I kept getting these obvious and weird Rose Hathaway nudges of similarity like, 'look here! But not overly so, so that I could possibly go to prison for attempted plagiarism? You're a teen, right?

Love her, love this shit! Please, I'd love to hunt her down, effectively now. This bothered me to no end. One thing I will never get over is how she describes Graves - her only friend so far and with the attitude this girl has, I don't blame anyone for keeping their distance.

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So Graves basically takes her in, and yet she persists in making him out to be some circus freak. Crow even writes him as a, half-breed because of his mixed race. Whatt De Frickson Racers?!? When did we start talking about dogs here; or are people from mixed coupling not considered human?? She makes him pathetically self-conscious, gangly and just an oddity.

As is mentioned many times throughout the book, Graves does not know what to do with himself. Children from interracial couples are so freaking adorable! How dare you point a hand at that, St. At this point, around pg ish I was already frustrated beyond belief. You know when you stick a book down and want to go back to it? I never did, on the contrary I was relieved whenever the opportunity arose to get as far away from Dru as possible.

As a protagonist, Dru sucks. She is stale, uninspiring and just there to act obnoxious. Sorry, but future installments having pretty covers aside this is the real reason I ever picked Strange Angels I cannot deal with Dru; and since she is the main character here, I thought it might be best to cut my losses. I never grieved for her.

I never rooted for her. Heck, I never even liked her. Poor Graves, he did though, too much if you ask me. That girl makes Bella Swan and Luce from Fallen look like freaking optimists. She treated him as well as St. Crow implies of him, like a dog. If it wasn't for the wasted potential. The whole 'real world' deal is pretty sweet, it just sucks that Dru tries to make it exclusive to a fault. Crow isn't a bad writer; she just has very poor characters.

View all 28 comments. May 15, Aj the Ravenous Reader rated it liked it Shelves: This is the first book I've read about vampires. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I did enjoy reading it perhaps because it is not solely about the steroetypical sort of vampires or called in this book as "suckers".

The concept of half vampire and half human and other classifications of vampires sort of intrigued me. Feb 27, Kim rated it liked it Shelves: Not bad at all. Not the best book I've read in the past few years, but it was enough to keep me interested. One of my friends here asked me if it reminded me of Supernatural the show and it really did.

The mom getting killed, the absentee dad hunting things that go bump in the night and a kid that grows up knowing there is a whole other world out there. But it felt kinda weird because Graves has been living on his own since he was 12 or something, I don't get how he did that without getting caught, and having just enough money to keep himself fed, clothed and in school.

On a side note: It always surprises me that so-called 'normal' people, never seem to have any idea what's going on in a world where zombies, vampires, werewolves sorry, werwulven, 'cause that just sounds fancier are taking over as soon as the sun goes down. Why would they stay hidden deliberately? It doesn't make sense, none of them seem to get power hungry enough to try to take over the world. I mean come on. If I was a badass vamp, I would let the world know. Notable things I liked: I suspect there must be a reason why we don't know his first name yet. Notable things I disliked: The French Djamphir guy, although I did laugh when I found out what his last name was.

I heard the sequel is crap, so I don't know yet if I'm going to continue this series or not. View all 36 comments. Jul 18, Mariel rated it it was ok Recommends it for: I wanted this to be something other than it was. What I really wanted was Supernatural the show but with a teen girl. Dru grew up hunting the big bad thing in the dark. Her dad allowed her to be put into those situations but in a half-hearted way. Care, one way or the other I'd prefer the scary way.

The revenge angle was watered down. Dru's motives were boring old inherited. I'm gonna do what I wanna so buzzzz off. It could have been girl versus un-nature. Struggle with more tha I wanted this to be something other than it was. Struggle with more than destiny. What about outside what has been decided? Not special teen girl again. Her home life should have been more than flashbacks. Where were the overriding influences?

It felt too textbook explanation like point a is b rather than a real person. Pity parties for the sake of the pity. Dru never formed much in my mind. Also, the love triangle? Graves is in permanent puppy dog position and He is so cliche that I almost named the similar Ash from Julie Kagawa's series. I dislike love triangles 'cause they remind me of when I two-timed Usher and R. Kelley luckily my twin helped me out. Too bad Usher did the same trick with Justin Bieber.

I dislike same as everything else without using the good stuff. Mythology rammed down our throats to swallow. View all 9 comments. Jul 09, Thomas rated it liked it Shelves: To surmise my thoughts on this book, this series has serious potential. While the book itself was a slow start to hopefully something even better, by the end of the book I was heavily anticipating the next novel, Betrayals.

The book is about Dru, whose father is a hunter of sorts - except he hunts otherworldly beings in the Real World. Dru is pretty confident about her living situation until a zombie infilt To surmise my thoughts on this book, this series has serious potential. Dru is pretty confident about her living situation until a zombie infiltrates her house and attacks her. Then she meets Graves, a half-Asian goth boy with some helpful abilities.

Now Dru just has to survive until she can find help against the deadly forces trying to kill her. Let me just say, Graves all the way! Finally, a talented, kick butt, fierce, hot half-Asian character! He's one of the largest contributing factors to my approval of this series. Christophe is like an Edward Cullen wannabe, while Graves is just amazing. I recommend Strange Angels over other young adult fiction such as Marked or Fallen. Want to read more of my reviews? Check out my blog. View all 8 comments. Mar 06, Anushka rated it liked it Recommended to Anushka by: God, this book was SO boring.

It was really slow paced and really trite. I had a hard time keeping my eyelids open. In addition to being such a drag, it also had a very dull setting and a thin plot. The writing was fairly good but the character description was not. Dru was said to have frizzy hair, Christophe had blue eyes and a good-looking face but that was it. No other details provided to get to know the character better. The story is well, nothing really. But things start going south when her father goes on a hunting trip and doesn't return. Nothing much of significance happened till half of the book.

The story moved a little bit forward when Christophe arrived but still, they did nothing except talking. What I did like about this was that the girl was not whiny. She took action and never acted on impulse, she thought everything through before doing anything. Second, I appreciate that the author decided her character to be aware of the World. The idea of a guy coming up on your doorstep one day and telling you that you aren't human and there are supernatural creatures out there which makes the heroine go in a state thinking her world is turned upside down is utterly beaten up.

But still there were some things that Dru found out along the way which did turn her world upside down but she was able to take it better than those clingy girls. Thank God for small favours! I think there will be in the future books but lets not worry about it now. All in all, it was a good book you can say. It is one of those books which irritated you but still you don't feel like giving it less stars.

Plus, I think this series has lot of potential in store. Going into this book, I expected nothing more than a disappointment, so it was a great surprise that Strange Angels turned out as a promising first book of paranormal series. Here's hoping the sequels gets way better. Of course this book had some faults, since it deserved around two stars from me, but overall after finishing this book in two days, I have to say, even with the imperfections, I pretty much enjoyed it while reading it. She's snarky, sarcastic, imperfect and not-so-much easy going.

She's also a teenager and she acts like it. And I loved it, I loved that she's just a human kind of? But I hope that she goes through some character development, grows up a little and becomes more responsible for herself, her actions and abilities as a hunter in the future. You're too goddamn annoying to be dead. He was witty, trustworthy and loyal to the heroine.

Though I can't yet see him as a love interest which I hope will change in book 2 , I like him very much as a character. The only thing I didn't like - which isn't fault of his character, but the way the author wrote it - was that every time he appeared in the scene Dru just had to comment on his race. Yes, we know that he's half Asian, and I get that we need some description of the character, but once the character is described we know how to picture him, so why did the author comment on his looks every time..

It's like she's desperately screaming - Look! My book is SO diverse! I don't think that the author meant to be insulting but.. I'm not entirely sure about his character just yet though. And yes, as you've guessed, there is a hint for a love triangle in the following books. What I hope for is no love triangle, but rather two separate relationships.

Because one of those guys seems to me more like the first-relationship type of guy and the other like someone with whom the heroine could have more independent relationship of two strong, capable individuals. So yeah, here's hoping the romance will be more healthy and complex than in most Ya paranormals..

And since this book had pretty much no romance and Dru has her priorities straight, here's hoping that the focus of the next books will be on something more important than petty love triangle. The plot took interesting twists and turns and made me read the whole book in a few days. It had the right amount of fast paced action and wasn't overwhelming. There were a few shocking moments, one pretty emotional and the ending hints at more adventures in a different setting in the sequel.

There just aren't words for that. The language used in this book was just weird for me. It was very teen-like sounding voice which may have suited Dru's character, but was overall confusing and messy. The writing style was definitely the weakest spot of this book. Which wasn't exactly a bad thing, but for most of this book, the paranormal aspect was pretty confusing, not entirely explained. And I really hope that since she'll be more immersed in the hunter world in the sequel, that everything regarding the world-building will be finally clear.

But alas in this book, the not-enough-explained world resulted in lots of total WTFuckery. Will definitely give the second book a go and see if it turns out to be better. Feb 17, Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it liked it Shelves: One of the more enjoyable YA paranormals I've read lately. The heroine has been trained for this her whole life, but holy shit she is a normal teenager besides being knowledgeable of the paranormal world and stuff, ya know?

Her dad is killed, and so what if she's had training and they've been on the move for years? She's a kid, she's frightened out of her mind, emotional, and unsure of what to do next. Her friend Graves is a good sidekick. He's got flaws, but he's not a complete asshole, nor One of the more enjoyable YA paranormals I've read lately.

He's got flaws, but he's not a complete asshole, nor is he a stalkery saint; they're just two very lonely people trying not to get over their head. My main issue is with the plot and pacing. This is the first book in the series, so I am cutting it some slack. New information is being thrown at us right and left, and we have to figure out which supernatural characters are in play for this one. But hey, willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of literature, right? I wanted more information as to what Dru is, and what kind of stuff she and her dad has been up to since her grandmother died, but I'll let it slide for now, in hopes that the next few books in the series will provide more insight.

I am looking forward to reading the next book. Jan 20, Kristi rated it liked it. I liked this one, fast paced, action packed, paranormal page turner, er The story was interesting. Dad and daughter engaged in a battle with all things that go bump in the night. This was something new for me. Not sure I understood why her Dad would put himself in harms way, when he is her only living family member, but I guess that just adds to the story.

Initially Dru annoyed me, I don't know exactly what it was but by the end of the story she'd grown on me. Graves on the othe I liked this one, fast paced, action packed, paranormal page turner, er Graves on the other hand, although wise beyond his years, was one of the reasons I kept reading. Somehow the dynamics of their relationship or duo, call it what you will, it works.

Overall characterization was notable. The is novel is a supernatural overdose, werewolves, vampires, zombies, leprechauns All my favorite creatures of the night in one tightly bound volume. This is unquestionably a world that I'll want to revisit. Jun 18, Megan rated it liked it Shelves: Then Strange Angels came along. But it was an incredibly fast paced, enjoyable read. He is a normal dude with jeans, a thin black sweater and sneakers.

Three cheers for Lilith Saintcrow! Finally, an author who does not feel the need to keep her old vamps outdated, silly and possibly transgendered. Strange Angels is a great start to a series. I for sure recommend this book and am looking forward to getting further into the series. View all 4 comments. Jan 28, Sarah rated it liked it. Why do people who didn't watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer just assume that people who did were all about the werewolves and other monsters?

That is not why Buffy has such a big fan base This book was so annyoing. This book was so annyoing She was so cruel, and not very smart. Sep 17, Melissa Paranormally Romanced rated it did not like it. Okay so I read the first couple of chapters when I was first started reading Vampire Academy because it was on the last pages as a promo. So I decided never to be interested in that book. Now there was two particular blogs that I follow and that shall remain nameless that Raved about this book.

SO I thought maybe I misjudged the book. So when I Okay so I read the first couple of chapters when I was first started reading Vampire Academy because it was on the last pages as a promo. So when I saw the whole set of audio books at the library I thought this is my chance. Man I should have gone with my original instincts. Well, that's the scary part. If she can't last until sunup, it's game over Also by Lili St. Love Strange Angels Volume 1? Subscribe to Read More to find out about similar books. Sign up to our newsletter using your email. Your subscription to Read More was successful.

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