angel's song coverRating: 4.5 stars
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Length: Novel

 

Caspar Tenebris has woken up in a dirty alley with no idea who he is or how he got there. He quickly finds himself under attack from strange, cherub-like creatures, but fortunately, Caspar is rescued from his would-be kidnappers. But that is just the start of the chaos that is soon to be Caspar’s life.

Aidan Lucas is just a regular guy living a boring life, working for his best friend and roommate at his cafe. When Aidan comes into work, there is a man hiding behind the counter and a woman talking to his roommate, Auggie. Before they know it, the cafe is under attack and Auggie, Caspar, and Aidan are forced to flee. Both Aidan and Caspar have many questions about what is going on, and only Auggie seems to have a clue who might be after them. But there is no time for explaining as it is clear Caspar’s life is on the line and they must race to stay one step ahead of the bad guys who are now after all three of them.

Caspar soon learns that while his amnesia is partly the result of the knock on his head, there is one memory that he has magically and intentionally buried. The only solution to their predicament seems to be to figure out how to recover that crucial memory so they can understand who is after him and why. As the men work to find out just what important secret Caspar has buried, Aidan and Caspar also begin to forge a tentative connection. As Caspar’s memories slowly start returning, the truth about what is really going includes a shocking prophesy that is bigger than just Caspar… it could start a war that changes the world.

An Angel’s Song begins the new Infernal Affairs series and I absolutely loved it. The book appears to be the debut work for A.C. Everett under this pen name (he also writes young adult under Alexander C. Eberhart) and I was really impressed with this exciting and engaging paranormal story. I am a big fan of the amnesia trope and so this one called to me right away. What I particularly liked here is that neither Aidan nor Caspar understands this situation into which they have both been thrust. Caspar hit his head and can’t remember who he is or how he ended up in the alley. Suddenly, he is being attacked and he has no idea why or who he can trust. He just has to go with it and try to figure out what is happening all around him, while staying ahead of whoever wants to kill him. Even as Caspar’s memories start to return, there is one crucial memory that he intentionally hid, even from himself. Then we have Aidan, who is thrust into this magical world he never knew even existed. He not only has no idea about Caspar’s past, but he has no idea that his best friend is part of that surprising magical world. So we have two characters who are learning everything basically right along with the reader, and it makes for a lot of excitement, particularly as the danger ramps up and the men are never totally on solid footing with understanding what they face. I thought the twist about Caspar hiding his own memory is particularly clever, as it puts him in this difficult situation of whether to uncover the memory and learn what is going on, or if he is best trusting that his past self had a good reason for blocking this memory from his mind.

The world building here is quite interesting and creative and there is a nice mix of magics. We have cherubs and angels and demons, but also voodoo and vampires. It is not a typical paranormal mix and I found it all comes together really well. I can’t go into too much detail because part of the fun is unraveling what is going on along with Caspar and Aidan. But there are so many little reveals and new bits of information, plus lots of exciting things they discover along the way. Not to mention some intense battles, intrigue, danger, and a sense of never knowing quite who to trust. Everett layers the story nicely, giving us an exciting journey here for Caspar and Aidan, but also setting up the bigger picture for the series.

The focus here is more on the various external conflicts and less on the relationship building. Caspar and Aidan spend a lot of the early part of the book as two strangers who don’t really like each other much, but who are stuck in this adventure together, and then it seems to move quickly from there into a relationship. But I did like these guys as a couple and the story sets up some interesting angles for them going forward.

Overall, I found this one a really exciting story with lots of great world building and some engaging characters. I enjoyed the book quite a lot and I am really looking forward to following along with the series.

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