Archangel's Resurrection

 Archangel's Resurrection- Nalini Singh

Berkley

Release Date: October 25, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: 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 . . .

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Archangel's Resurrection is a bit different from the rest of the Guild Hunter's series (Archangel's Sun), so readers should prepare for a book that focuses more on the relationship and less on the world/world building- unusual in this series. But this is the story of Archangels Alexander and Zanaya, whose on-again-off-again relationship has literally spanned eons, so there's a lot to cover and anything else is kind of extraneous. We start at the battle of New York and Zanaya's fall at Lijuan's hands, then go back in time to Alexander's childhood, so readers new to the series will probably be pretty lost and either need to accept that they'll have no idea what is going on for awhile and go with it, or put the book down and start with Book 1 in the series.

This is a story of growth and learning, of two angels who are often too similar for their own good. Both Alexander and Zanaya are strong and proud warriors, determined to be the best possible and hold onto their honor, something we have frequently seen lacking in other angels and it's nice to see others recognize this as well. Unlike many previous characters and their equally strong mates however, Alexander and Zanaya don't seem able to compromise with each other and they clash as fiercely as they love. Interestingly, when Zanaya meets Elena seems to be the first time she realizes that it is possible for two warriors to be equals as well as lovers without clashing apart becoming inevitable. As much as we see Alexander and Zanaya grow into the people they will become across the millennia, it seems that they still have things they can learn from even the youngest of humans or angel kind. This is one of the first books where we get to see the point of view of not one but two Ancients and we get a bit of a different take on how age and time change angels, even Archangels. It makes you want to go back and reread the series through a different lens, something Nalini Singh is always good at doing at the most unexpected times. 

I wasn't always in tune with Alexander and Zanaya in terms of their love relationship. For me it worked best when one or both of them allowed themselves to be emotionally vulnerable and relaxed with the other, which didn't happen too often for the first half of the book. I could see why they didn't always work. I liked them both as individuals, but I didn't feel the all consuming chemistry/passion that was supposed to keep bringing them back together. The second half/second chance part, both during the battle against Lijuan and then after Zanaya resurrects from her injuries ten years later, felt like a better romance to me. Softer and more tentative in many ways, two people who know they've made mistakes and aren't sure how to keep from making them again. For all of that, I felt like some things changed too easily the second time around. They decided they weren't going to fight and were going to get along and that was what happened. Of course, it wasn't entirely that easy, and there was a lot of growth that probably finally matured into the relationship, but in someways, it really did feel like it was that easy, which I didn't like. After everything the end of the book was more of a 'and now things are fine' than 'we've worked really hard and will keep working at it but are now happy'. Unusual for Singh, who usually torments her characters into the worst possible corners and then manages an out that works without a deus ex machina feel, but makes you feel like the characters (and you as the reader) worked really hard to reach a deserved happy ending. 

In the end I was conflicted about this book (as this review probably shows!). It's a Nalini Singh book, so I want to love it. I liked having backstory on Alexander filled in and seeing pieces from other people's eyes. I loved the surprise scene where we discover Nassir's origins. I liked Zanaya and (usually) Alexander as individuals. I loved the emotional scenes where Alexander lets his guard down and shows his vulnerabilities to Zanaya- those were maybe some of the most romantic and well written in the book, in my opinion. The world building, usually Singh's strongest suit, was an afterthought in this book, which was disappointing. The up and down relationship wasn't as emotionally convincing or absorbing as Singh's books usually are. I guess in a long series there will always be at least one book that doesn't resonate for someone, and this book just didn't fully do it for me. I hope others feel differently.  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review