Review – BloodAngel (BloodAngel, Book 1) by Justine Musk (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: October 4, 2005
ISBN-13: 978-0451460523
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the BloodAngel series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 4/5 stars
“In downtown Manhattan, a rising young painter is haunted by disturbing dreams…In small-town Minnesota, a teenage orphan struggles with a knowledge beyond his years-and a destiny he wants no part of…In California, young and old, hipsters and hippies, fall under the spell of a wildly charismatic singer whose voice breaks down all barriers-including the ones between heaven and hell.
The fans of Asha are finding one other-and the world is running out of time.”
I have had this book on my TBR pile for a long time and was happy to finally read it. This is one of those slightly ambiguous paranormal demon themed books that is a blend between dream and reality, horror and fantasy. I actually enjoyed the writing style and thought it was an intriguing and unique read. It was very similar in tone to books I have read by Elizabeth Hand or Caitlin Kiernan. It also had a bit of that same dreamy quality to it that Catherynne Valente’s Palimpsest had to it.
This book is definitely for adults only; there is a ton of drugs, sex, deviant behavior, abuse, etc. I would also only recommend to those who don’t mind an ambiguous, dreamy, and bizarre tone to their novels. If you only like stories that are clear-cut and easy to follow mentally this is not the book for you. This book will stretch your brain and imagination a bit.
This is one of those demonic urban fantasies where an age old race of beings, that are either defined as angelic or demonic depending on their life choices, start possessing people and trying to take over the world. The three main characters we follow end up bound into this demonic war either by circumstance, bloodline, or possession.
The above makes for a strangely engaging and immediate story. The chapters are brief but I had a lot of trouble putting the book down because there was so much tension and everything built to a climax so nicely. This is a very creative story and the writing style was unique but still easy to read.
The story wraps up well. Although the Epilogue does introduce elements for a follow-up book.
Overall I enjoyed this book. It was one of those different types of paranormal books; it’s a bit ambiguous and straddles the line between horror and fantasy. There’s a lot of metaphysical talk here and possession; so things can seem a bit muddled unless you are really paying attention.
If you are a fan of Elizabeth Hand of Caitlin Kiernan I think you would enjoy this book. Many scenes have the same dreamy quality as Catherynne Valente’s books but in general the material in this book is a lot more violent and vicious than Valente’s books. I probably won’t read the next book in the series because it looks like the series was dropped after the 2nd book and I have enough to read without getting further involved in a dead end series.
This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Paranormal Reading Challenge