Review: Strange Angels by Lili St Crow

Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1)


Title: Strange Angels
Author: Lili St. Crow
Series: #1 of Strange Angels
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy,
Age restriction? Older teens, 15+
Published: 14 May 2009

 A kick-ass book that was completely engrossing and entertaining.

Description (from Goodreads): Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

REVIEW: I enjoyed this book so, so much. Dru's character is just the right mix of vulnerable and warrior to make her believable as a teen who has been trained in combat and action from a young age but always worked with her dad as a safety net.

The characters were fully drawn and completely believable, and although some reviewers thought that Dru was too whiny (what? Did we read the same book? My whininess meter read at 0, btw.), I actually wondered for a while if she was showing enough emotion. I mean, here we have a teen whose last living family member, a fully trained and highly successful hunter of creepy things, has just been killed and turned into a zombie by something that's coming for her and she had to shoot her dad dead. 

That's a pretty good excuse for some angst, yo. And yet, the angst level is really, really low, in my opinion at least. I also greatly enjoyed the character of Graves, and although the plot moved fast and with impeccable pacing, we are still left with ample time to spend with the characters, some of whom are not even really in the story (like Dru's dad, her grandmother, etc.) The world was so fully developed that it simply slipped a new layer over our own, familiar world and there was not a single time in this book that I was left unconvinced or doubting.  

There were some minor flaws (pretty predictable plot, uhm, I think that's it), but this book was so much fun to read, so gripping and enjoyable that I read well into the night and also while I should have been doing other things (*cough* blogging, spawnwrangling, working *cough*). I was left drooling for more (but no cliffhanger ending, YAY) and highly satisfied.

Who would like this book? I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes paranormal fiction, Urban Fantasy, and/or a ton of heart-racing action.