The second part of the Guild Hunter series continues where part 1, "Angels' Blood", left off: Guild Hunter Elena Deveraux, severely wounded during the fight against archangel Uriel, awakens after one year in coma. Physically still weak, she is also fundamentally changed, having been turned into an angel by the powerful Raphael, Archangel of New York. However, Elena has little time to recover or to enjoy some sort of honeymoon with Raphael, having been invited/challenged by Lijuan, the archangel of Beijing, who is not only older and more powerful than Raphael or any other of the angels, but seems only fascinated by death and manipulating other beings.
Learning to fly and to fight with her new wings are not the only challenges; there is a killer on the loose in the angels' refuge, leaving mutilated corpses and harming one of the angels' children; there are wagers circulating concerning Elena's ability to keep her head on her shoulders, and the Seven consider Elena a serious liability to Raphael's power. Especially Dmitri plans to terminate Elena, should she become too great a burden for Raphael's continuing rulership. To make matters even worse, memories of her mother's and sisters' gruesome deaths are resurfacing and threaten to weaken Elena in her ability to fight, a weakness which Lijuan tries to explore by sending her gifts reminding her of the murders.
Elena faces these challenges with determination and proves to be a likeable heroine, using her weapons as well as her brain without hesitation, but not too proud or stubborn to accept Raphael's help when needed. This is a refreshing contrast to some other stories on the market where the "heroines" are mouthing off and swinging their weapons even in situations where some intelligence and common sense could have brought better results. Raphael is also no one-dimensional alpha-male; even while tending toward dominating Elena, he trusts her abilities and her common sense, accepts her with alle her emotional baggage and sees her human "weakness" as a strength, even when it weakens his considerable powers, making him more human himself. His acceptance and support as well as Elena's unwillingness to accept limitations or defeat represent the strongest points of the story. Both seem to have grown beyond the stage of continous fights between each other, having developed a common base on which to stand and face the fights ahead of them.
After several bloody and violent scenes (and some rather romantic and sensual ones), the story culminates in a showdown of powerstruggles, fights, violence, and macabre machinations for the sake of gaining supremacy and immortality. In some sort of last stand, several of the main characters confront Lijuan, demonstrating some shifts of loyalty. Not all characters survive, but there is no doubt that enough of them are alive for the next installment.

With her own interpretation of angels and vampires, Singh has created something wholly new and unparalleled in a very crowded market. The only angels I had come across so far in paranormal fantasy were by Sharon Shinn and not wholly to my taste. This new aspect is quite entertaining and gripping, and with its dark and dangerous aspects, far from standard or candy-cotton vampire romance.