Goldilox and the Three Weres: Release Day Review: Archangel's Sun by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Sun
(Guild Hunter #13)
Nalini Singh
Release: November 24, 2020
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A horrifying secret rises in the aftermath of an archangelic war in New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s deadly and beautiful Guild Hunter world...

The Archangel of Death and the Archangel of Disease may be gone but their legacy of evil lives on—especially in Africa, where the shambling, rotting creatures called the reborn have gained a glimmer of vicious intelligence.

It is up to Titus, archangel of this vast continent, to stop the reborn from spreading across the world. Titus can’t do it alone, but of the surviving powerful angels and archangels, large numbers are wounded, while the rest are fighting a surge of murderous vampires.

There is no one left…but the Hummingbird. Old, powerful, her mind long a broken kaleidoscope. Now, she must stand at Titus’s side against a tide of death upon a discovery more chilling than any other. For the Archangel of Disease has left them one last terrible gift…

Review:
I will say now that if you're not caught up on the series, stop reading this post now. There will be spoilers for Archangel's War ahead. But man! Oh, man! This book was good and literally the most unexpected storyline I would never have predicted.

After the last book, I was curious to see where Nalini Singh was going to go with this series after the events of this last story arc wrapping up with the big showdown between Lijuan and Raphael. The big bad may be gone and the Cascade over but there is a lot of clean up to do now that the war is over. The whole world literally is devastated but more areas need help than others.

Every time I learn there's a new Guild Hunter book coming out I try to figure out if it will be about Elena and Raphael or one of the Seven. I had made bets on it being another Raphael and Elena book after the last book but I couldn't have been more wrong. I for sure didn't see the Hummingbird getting her own book at all even though I have been curious about her story since she went to New York to visit Illium.

The Hummingbird is one of angelkind's treasures and a truly neutral party. But she is broken and has been lost in the fog of her mind for centuries. Being appointed as the Guardian of Lumia and the repository of art found there has been slowly bringing her out of it and into the real world. She is picking up the pieces of herself and learning how to be Sharine again. And being sent to help Titus clear his territory of the Reborn and the other messes Charisemnon left behind is just the thing she needed to do that.

It was delightful watching her come into her own and going from this slightly fragile person to a strong fighter who knows her mind. I had always wondered about how she became how she was as the Hummingbird and I was a bit heartbroken for how hard her life was. I'm not completely sold that she had to lose herself in her mind but I will accept it.

As for the romance, I would never had paired her with Titus in a thousand years but it worked so well! When I learned this book was about Titus too, I was so excited! I've loved what bits and pieces we've learned about him as the series progressed and I couldn't wait to find out who this warrior archangel with the booming voice was! I really enjoyed him as a main character and I kind of liked seeing him get a kick in the butt from reality because of his stereotyping of the female gender as a whole was so wrong. It took Sharine coming on the scene to adjust his way of thinking.

I really enjoyed their banter and how they slowly came to care about each other as they worked together. It's definitely a slow burn as they learn to look past their preconceived notions about each other. I will say there were a few instances where I thought Sharine didn't treat Titus right but it didn't take away from the story too much. It takes most of the book for really anything romantic to happen. I won't say anymore about how that happens except that I loved how willing Titus was to wait for Sharine to be ready to be his. It was everything!

I will say that this book was not my favorite of the series but I still loved it. It would actually work as a good entry point for a newbie to come into the series. What I'm really excited about is that this book is that bridge book that is starting to set up a new arc for this series and I'm excited to see where that new batch of stories takes us.

I know I've said this with each of the last few books in the series but I seriously can't wait to see who the next book is about. I really want it to be Illium's book and I really want it to be him and Aodhan paired together. I don't think we'll get it because it's looking like Nalini is starting to set up Aodhan with someone else. Which is kind of disappointing because I really do feel like the whole series has been setting everything up for the two friends to end up together. Anyways, I think we're getting closer to either of them having their own book and I'm so beyond ready for it. I know I'll probably love whatever Nalini decides to do with their stories but I'm still going to keep my fingers crossed over here until we see how everything shakes out.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.