Review: Black Night by Christina Henry

Published Date: July 26th, 2011
Finished Date: September 1st, 2011
Publishers: Ace
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277
Series: Madeline Black Book 2

Blurb from Goodreads: Madeline Black is an Agent of death, meaning she escorts the souls of people who have died to the afterlife. Of course, not everyone is happy to see her...


If obstinate dead people were all that Maddy had to worry about, life would be much easier. But the best-laid plans of Agents and fallen angels often go awry. Deaths are occurring contrary to the natural order, Maddy's being stalked by foes inside and outside of her family, and her two loves-her bodyguard, Gabriel, and her doughnut-loving gargoyle, Beezle-have disappeared. But because Maddy is Lucifer's granddaughter, things are expected of her, things like delicate diplomatic missions to other realms.

My Review:

My sentiments about this book is pretty much the same as its prequel, so this review would be short. Relatively.

So. Maddie was out flying and doing what Agents did with Gabriel faithdully at her side one day when all of a sudden, a shockwave pulsed thru the city. Maddie's wings disappeared and her magic winked out at this, and she started descending to ground level zero. Fortunately, J.B. was in the area and was already flying in their direction when this happened, and so was able to intercept.

Case 1: That shockwave felt terribly like the feeling Ramuell gave whenever he was near Maddie. She's sure that she disintegrated him..Isn't she? And why does her wings and magic keep winking out whenever it appears? That would make her vulnerable . Which is bad news. Very bad news.

Case 2: At the alley where she, Gabriel and J.B. landed was a werewolf who was brutally savaged - complete with his entrails and body parts littering the area like so much garbage. After this incident, many more of such fatalities from the wolves were discovered. Question is, who is the new wolf-hater?

Case 3: Also at the alley where they landed was Baraquiel, Lucifer's messenger. Apparently, the Morningstar himself has quite a special and delicate mission for his recently found daughter - a diplomatic visit to the court of the crafty Faery queen (who so happened to be J.B.'s mom! Not spoiler cause this isn't a very important information. And it was revealed quite at the start of the book, so I'm clear of any charges).

Case 4: Gabriel and Beezle goes missing! Maddie is all alone and left quite ruthlessly pummelled by Samiel, Ariell and Ramuel's kid, who were both killed by Maddie. How the hell is she supposed to find them? Big world and being quite vulnerable now and all? What with her being beaten into a pulp, with no Gabriel there to heal her, that Gabriel and Beezle could be ANYWHERE in this infinitely ginormous world, and with no tracking skills whatsoever of her own?

List continues, but these are the major problems that she had to face. Any more would be a dead giveaway of the ending.

Can I just say that Henry has managed to amaze me? Again?? I was taken in by BLACK WINGS, but I fell in love with Black Night. The plot, the characters, the excitement and suspense drew me whole-soul-edly (y'know, wholeheartedly?) into its pages and just blew me away when all was over and done. And let me repeat what I've said for BLACK NIGHT because I totally think it true for this one too - this novel, is a refreshing take on the whole urban-fantasy-angelic-paranormal-with-a-sprinkle-of-romance genre, and THIS, is how you write an urban-fantasy-angelic-paranormal-with-a-sprinkle-of-romance novel.

Maddie was the same ass-kicking, headstrong, determined young woman with a will stronger than an ox. It literally saved her in the end, her will. She expects so much of herself, and so little of others, but she did fail once in a while, which made her more human and realistic. She breaks down much more this time, but it wasn't so that there would be a mushy making out scene with the male protagonists. Contrary, she was alone everytime she cried (or for the times that I can remember), but she picks herself back up with a stronger will. She's just awesome.

Gabriel was weak in this one. Not that anyone could've done anything more were they in his predicament. But it didn't do much for my image on him. He still cared much for Maddie, but he waited for Maddie to save him everytime he got into a some pile of shit, and that doesn't endear me to him.

J.B.'s transformation was ASTOUNDING. He literally morphed into some hot dude with a protectiveness for Maddie. And with a whole new rank in the supernatural social hierachy that I didn't even know was actually thinkable for J.B. Much less possible. It's still very weird for me to think that he is still in Maddie's age group and a handsome man to boot after his seriously anal behavior in BLACK WINGS. Seems more like some crazy old geezer with a seriously senile and pain-in-the-ass attitude problem.

Anyway, book was good. More than good, it is utterly mindblowing. Read it.

Random Musing (which would contain spoilers):

Y'know, in the Maze, when "Nathaniel" raped Maddie? I thought that the way Henry described that scene, or rather the way that she did not describe the whole scene, was rather brusque. I don't know, curt? It was like the editor thought it was too explicit and flippantly omitted it. Well, it may be a little rated and sadistic, but I thought that it wasn't a good idea to cut it out entirely.

My Rating: