leontiy's review against another edition
5.0
Originally posted at: Jet Black Ink
It has taken me almost an age to review this book, which is not an indication of its quality. I (sort-of-but-didn’t-really) went to the signing and launch of Blood and Feathers: Rebellion and read the book almost immediately, on the way home, stroking happily my new signed copy. It made for good train reading after a long day in London.
Blood and Feathers: Rebellion is generally where the future of one branch of urban fantasy should be: just as full of action and adventure as it is suspense, mystery and the supernatural. It’s been a long wait since Blood and Feathers and Alice’s trip into the belly of Hell, and everything has changed.
The balance has been upset and since the gates of Hell were brought down, the Fallen have been turning the world upside. Widespread riots make the streets Hell on Earth and with nothing left to do but fight, Alice has been spending her time using her fiery wrath to beat back the forces of the Fallen along with whichever Earthbounds flock to her half-born banner.
And it had better be a good banner, because with all the crap Alice is going through, the least she deserves is a decent flag. One with gold tassels and a few bells, too.
With Mallory gone, his wings returned, Alice has been alone and with little she really wants to do besides fighting the Fallen and leading the nightly attacks against the forces of Hell. The problem is, Alice is only one person and despite being gifted with the sheer firepower of Michael’s choir, there is only so much that she can do.
The Fallen have been driven out of Hell and Lucifer is hiding within their ranks, somewhere on Earth and somewhere out of the reach of the Archangel Michael, who will hunt and kill Lucifer at all costs. But what if that cost is too high? But Michael, driven and hard and arrogant, doesn’t care about price. Yet, is that true? Is there nothing that would pain Michael to lose?
As for Mallory, no longer Earthbound, things haven’t exactly improved. Michael refuses to listen to reason, bent on his own plans and arrogant enough to believe there is one way to do this: his way. Meanwhile, Gabriel—making amends for his former actions and his misplaced trust in Gwyn—is slaving away on Michael’s orders, searching for something in the dusty archives.
In war there is no substitute for victory and that’s the only way that Lucifer and his army of Fallen will be stopped from wreaking further havoc on Earth. The riots are tearing the city apart and it’s obvious to see that the angels are losing. Things are getting desperate. All Hell is breaking loose.
The character development from the first book is perfect; Alice has changed whilst remaining just the same. She went through a tough time yet she’s refusing to lose all of her sense of self in spite of quite literally life-changing circumstances. Morgan develops her kick-ass heroine perfectly. Of course, Mallory also progresses in true Mallory style—as if he would do anything else!
Despite no longer being Earthbound, Mallory is still the snarky angel he’s always been, but with good reason! For the first time in history, it seems that that the forces of Hell are winning. Mallory is tired of the war, tired of everything and tired of what happened right at the beginning of all this. There is a link that travels to the very start of Lucifer’s banishment from Heaven and it’s not one he’s keen to share.
Still drinking and still brooding with a pair of guns in his hand, Mallory is now even more a force to be reckoned with, but there is a deep vein of sadness that shows through, trickling into his character before bubbling up to the surface and revealing sides of him that he shows to absolutely nobody. It’s ideally handled and executed with the skill of a writer who has been developing characters through words and on a page for years. Nothing about Morgan’s writing says anything other than, “I’m awesome!”. And she really is.
Blood and Feathers: Rebellion is a pacy, dark and witty urban fantasy adventure that reads like the literary love-child of Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There might not be any vampires or a team of sidekicks and no monsters and ghouls to kick the asses of, but Alice is a heroine that Buffy would definitely knuckle-bump and it’s almost certain that Dean Winchester had a hand in the slick, clever script of this edgy and cutting urban fantasy.
Angels with guns and angels at war is definitely a turnaround for the mythology surrounding angels and demons and in this continuation of the desperate situation from Blood and Feathers the stakes are higher, the writing sharper, slicker and so much more personal. Morgan’s prose is effortless and sharp, funny and deft. Parts of Rebellion hit hard, right where it hurts. There is a balance that Morgan achieves between the light and the heavy and it’s as though she has been doing it for years. There’s a lot of heart in this book, along with betrayal and loss.
Absolutely superb and definitely freaking awesome. This baby is a winner and damn it, but there had better be another one, because there’s no way that it can end like that
It has taken me almost an age to review this book, which is not an indication of its quality. I (sort-of-but-didn’t-really) went to the signing and launch of Blood and Feathers: Rebellion and read the book almost immediately, on the way home, stroking happily my new signed copy. It made for good train reading after a long day in London.
Blood and Feathers: Rebellion is generally where the future of one branch of urban fantasy should be: just as full of action and adventure as it is suspense, mystery and the supernatural. It’s been a long wait since Blood and Feathers and Alice’s trip into the belly of Hell, and everything has changed.
The balance has been upset and since the gates of Hell were brought down, the Fallen have been turning the world upside. Widespread riots make the streets Hell on Earth and with nothing left to do but fight, Alice has been spending her time using her fiery wrath to beat back the forces of the Fallen along with whichever Earthbounds flock to her half-born banner.
And it had better be a good banner, because with all the crap Alice is going through, the least she deserves is a decent flag. One with gold tassels and a few bells, too.
With Mallory gone, his wings returned, Alice has been alone and with little she really wants to do besides fighting the Fallen and leading the nightly attacks against the forces of Hell. The problem is, Alice is only one person and despite being gifted with the sheer firepower of Michael’s choir, there is only so much that she can do.
The Fallen have been driven out of Hell and Lucifer is hiding within their ranks, somewhere on Earth and somewhere out of the reach of the Archangel Michael, who will hunt and kill Lucifer at all costs. But what if that cost is too high? But Michael, driven and hard and arrogant, doesn’t care about price. Yet, is that true? Is there nothing that would pain Michael to lose?
As for Mallory, no longer Earthbound, things haven’t exactly improved. Michael refuses to listen to reason, bent on his own plans and arrogant enough to believe there is one way to do this: his way. Meanwhile, Gabriel—making amends for his former actions and his misplaced trust in Gwyn—is slaving away on Michael’s orders, searching for something in the dusty archives.
In war there is no substitute for victory and that’s the only way that Lucifer and his army of Fallen will be stopped from wreaking further havoc on Earth. The riots are tearing the city apart and it’s obvious to see that the angels are losing. Things are getting desperate. All Hell is breaking loose.
The character development from the first book is perfect; Alice has changed whilst remaining just the same. She went through a tough time yet she’s refusing to lose all of her sense of self in spite of quite literally life-changing circumstances. Morgan develops her kick-ass heroine perfectly. Of course, Mallory also progresses in true Mallory style—as if he would do anything else!
Despite no longer being Earthbound, Mallory is still the snarky angel he’s always been, but with good reason! For the first time in history, it seems that that the forces of Hell are winning. Mallory is tired of the war, tired of everything and tired of what happened right at the beginning of all this. There is a link that travels to the very start of Lucifer’s banishment from Heaven and it’s not one he’s keen to share.
Still drinking and still brooding with a pair of guns in his hand, Mallory is now even more a force to be reckoned with, but there is a deep vein of sadness that shows through, trickling into his character before bubbling up to the surface and revealing sides of him that he shows to absolutely nobody. It’s ideally handled and executed with the skill of a writer who has been developing characters through words and on a page for years. Nothing about Morgan’s writing says anything other than, “I’m awesome!”. And she really is.
Blood and Feathers: Rebellion is a pacy, dark and witty urban fantasy adventure that reads like the literary love-child of Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There might not be any vampires or a team of sidekicks and no monsters and ghouls to kick the asses of, but Alice is a heroine that Buffy would definitely knuckle-bump and it’s almost certain that Dean Winchester had a hand in the slick, clever script of this edgy and cutting urban fantasy.
Angels with guns and angels at war is definitely a turnaround for the mythology surrounding angels and demons and in this continuation of the desperate situation from Blood and Feathers the stakes are higher, the writing sharper, slicker and so much more personal. Morgan’s prose is effortless and sharp, funny and deft. Parts of Rebellion hit hard, right where it hurts. There is a balance that Morgan achieves between the light and the heavy and it’s as though she has been doing it for years. There’s a lot of heart in this book, along with betrayal and loss.
Absolutely superb and definitely freaking awesome. This baby is a winner and damn it, but there had better be another one, because there’s no way that it can end like that
10billionghosts's review against another edition
1.0
Okay, but, like, if it's a war between angels and fallen angels, and the fallen angels were constantly regenerating, why on earth would you punish arguably minor transgressions by cutting off an angel's wings thereby making them fall and adding them to an army that wars for thousands of years constantly just regenerating upon death? I don't need a physics degree to tell me that eventually that scale's going to tip in the fallen angels' favor.
Also there is no resolution whatsoever in this book. None of the characters grow as people in any meaningful way. You don't learn much of anything new that you couldn't have extrapolated from the first book. I read it in a day and felt like I wasted my time because I was just reading what essentially amounted to the episode before the season finale of a tv series. A tv series with seven female speaking roles across 2 books - almost 800 pages - the only gay characters having their sexuality skirted around (and then inevitably one of the gay characters is killed because of course) and a woman lead who is constantly placed upon a pedestal AND called inadequate AND called special BUT ALSO NOT SPECIAL who is supposed to save the day but is constantly just standing around confused while the male angels save and mansplain (mansplaingel?) everything to her.
Also there is no resolution whatsoever in this book. None of the characters grow as people in any meaningful way. You don't learn much of anything new that you couldn't have extrapolated from the first book. I read it in a day and felt like I wasted my time because I was just reading what essentially amounted to the episode before the season finale of a tv series. A tv series with seven female speaking roles across 2 books - almost 800 pages - the only gay characters having their sexuality skirted around (and then inevitably one of the gay characters is killed because of course) and a woman lead who is constantly placed upon a pedestal AND called inadequate AND called special BUT ALSO NOT SPECIAL who is supposed to save the day but is constantly just standing around confused while the male angels save and mansplain (mansplaingel?) everything to her.
cyber_spines's review against another edition
5.0
Oh Mallory, Mallory, Mallory.
There just isn’t any other way to start this review. Alice, Vin, Mallory, and the rest of the angels are back in the sequel to the excellent Blood and Feathers, and things are getting a whole lot worse: kicked out of hell, the Fallen have nothing to lose and everything to win and have taken the battle to the humans, pulling strings behind the scenes whilst Earthbounds and Descended alike struggle to keep the balance at the very least even. Tipping it back in their favour seems all but impossible.
Alice is feeling the same about her life. Left alone now that Mallory has his wings back, and with little to nothing to her name, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. Apart from the fact that that’s not quite true. Alice just doesn’t know how to find a day job when she knows Hell is being unleashed on Earth, and when she fights alongside the Earthbounds every night to drive back the Fallen. Gifted as she is, Alice is a powerful ally to them, but she fails to make the difference she herself desires.
Everything changes for her, however, when she gets hired to work at a funeral home by the Angel of Death himself. There she starts to get the frustrating impression that something more is going on behind the scenes, which is only strengthened when she sees Descended appear in the midst of a riot, Mallory in their midst.
Morgan builds on the excellent character development of the first book with simple grace and ease. Characters have changed but not, the circumstances surrounding them obviously affecting their world whilst they struggle to remain who they are. Alice in particular is torn in between her human and angel nature and Morgan does a very good job of showing her struggle to remain herself despite the chaos around her. Mallory, wings or no wings, is still Mallory, sarcastic, gun-wielding, and with a tendency to drink more than he should. Vin hasn’t changed much although the betrayal from the previous book still haunts him and has pushed him to actions he would never have usually considered.
We also get to see a whole lot more of the Archangels, with Michael being arrogant in thinking there is only one way to win this war: his way. No matter the cost. Or perhaps, by the end of the book (and one hell of a heart rending scene I still haven’t forgiven Morgan for), not so much. Gabriel is there too, making amends for past mistakes, working for Michael, searching for something that would help them put Lucifer back in his body so they can kill him.
Morgan maintains the brilliant characterisation and dialogue of the first book and adds even more fast paced action, mystery, and heart stopping moments. She has all the perfect ingredients in her hands, and damnit, she knows what to do with them. This book made me laugh out loud (I’m sorry Mallory, I’m far too much like Vin), brought a few tears to my eyes, and made me angrier at a certain character than I have been at anyone in a book in a long, long time.
Blood and Feathers Rebellion is an excellent book, well-written, funny in the right places, with brilliant pacing, and shows what modern UF has in stock for us. I finished the book wanting for more: more of the characters, more of the writing, and more of the story. Because holy hell (no puns intended…okay maybe a little), Morgan knows how to leave us hanging right at the end!
There just isn’t any other way to start this review. Alice, Vin, Mallory, and the rest of the angels are back in the sequel to the excellent Blood and Feathers, and things are getting a whole lot worse: kicked out of hell, the Fallen have nothing to lose and everything to win and have taken the battle to the humans, pulling strings behind the scenes whilst Earthbounds and Descended alike struggle to keep the balance at the very least even. Tipping it back in their favour seems all but impossible.
Alice is feeling the same about her life. Left alone now that Mallory has his wings back, and with little to nothing to her name, she doesn’t know what to do with herself. Apart from the fact that that’s not quite true. Alice just doesn’t know how to find a day job when she knows Hell is being unleashed on Earth, and when she fights alongside the Earthbounds every night to drive back the Fallen. Gifted as she is, Alice is a powerful ally to them, but she fails to make the difference she herself desires.
Everything changes for her, however, when she gets hired to work at a funeral home by the Angel of Death himself. There she starts to get the frustrating impression that something more is going on behind the scenes, which is only strengthened when she sees Descended appear in the midst of a riot, Mallory in their midst.
Morgan builds on the excellent character development of the first book with simple grace and ease. Characters have changed but not, the circumstances surrounding them obviously affecting their world whilst they struggle to remain who they are. Alice in particular is torn in between her human and angel nature and Morgan does a very good job of showing her struggle to remain herself despite the chaos around her. Mallory, wings or no wings, is still Mallory, sarcastic, gun-wielding, and with a tendency to drink more than he should. Vin hasn’t changed much although the betrayal from the previous book still haunts him and has pushed him to actions he would never have usually considered.
We also get to see a whole lot more of the Archangels, with Michael being arrogant in thinking there is only one way to win this war: his way. No matter the cost. Or perhaps, by the end of the book (and one hell of a heart rending scene I still haven’t forgiven Morgan for), not so much. Gabriel is there too, making amends for past mistakes, working for Michael, searching for something that would help them put Lucifer back in his body so they can kill him.
Morgan maintains the brilliant characterisation and dialogue of the first book and adds even more fast paced action, mystery, and heart stopping moments. She has all the perfect ingredients in her hands, and damnit, she knows what to do with them. This book made me laugh out loud (I’m sorry Mallory, I’m far too much like Vin), brought a few tears to my eyes, and made me angrier at a certain character than I have been at anyone in a book in a long, long time.
Blood and Feathers Rebellion is an excellent book, well-written, funny in the right places, with brilliant pacing, and shows what modern UF has in stock for us. I finished the book wanting for more: more of the characters, more of the writing, and more of the story. Because holy hell (no puns intended…okay maybe a little), Morgan knows how to leave us hanging right at the end!
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