Nalini Singh constantly amazes me with her intricate plots and compelling characters. I can't decide if this was the best book I have read all year or if I'm simply still so punch-drunk from the impact of this book that I still don't know which way is up!

The first three books of the Guildhunter's series were the story of Raphael and Elena, but with Archangel's Blade we step to the side and enter the story of Dmitri, Raphael's second in command. Intensely loyal to Raphael, Dmitri is also a cold-hearted, sexually dominant and depraved vampire. From the very start of the series he's been completely unlikeable.

And yet .... by peeling back the payers of his history Nalini Singh gives an explanation of the reasons why he evolved into the present Dmitri. This understanding didn't make me like him, but by the end of the book I certainly loved him.

Honor is an amazing character. I tend to avoid books where a torture/rape victim is the female protagonist because too often this tortured background is simply too easy a trope for an author, and fictionalizing the issues cheapens the reality. However Nalini managed to deal with the issues clearly and strongly. We weren't mired in the horror of the experience, yet neither was the struggle back to facing the world too easy for Honor. In fact I felt that the emotional tone of the book managed a wonderful balance of suspense and drama the entire way through the book. It was only towards the end that I felt my tears start to well and fall.

Woven through the story of Honor and Dmitri is the mystery of finding a rogue killer and tracking down and punishing Honor's abusers. But at the heart, this is a story about two damaged yet strong people finding each other and reclaiming love.

This is a simply terrific book: excellent writing, brutal visual images and amazing characters.

Delve into this for an amazing read and remember: "Don't let the bastards win"