A review by lordofthemoon
Principles of Angels by Jaine Fenn
3.0
I enjoyed Fenn's [b: Downside Girls|15839361|Downside Girls|Jaine Fenn|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345544112s/15839361.jpg|21579615], the collection of short stories set in the Hidden Empires series, of which Principles of Angels is the first. This, however, didn't grab me a huge amount. The plot follows two main characters: Taro is the adopted son of the Angel Malia, who was murdered by the man who bought his body for the night; and Elern Reen is a musician who comes to Khesh City on behalf of a group that everyone thinks died out centuries ago to kill an Angel.
I found the book very slow to get started. The two strands are almost entirely separate until close to the end, when Taro and Elern finally meet, although their stories do overlap occasionally around the edges. I really wasn't hugely interested for a good chunk of the book, not finding it bad, it just didn't grab me. It got more exciting towards the end and there's a lot of good ideas in there, but it did feel a little like everything was thrown at the wall to see what would stick: floating city; divided society; state assassins; secret hidden enemies; aliens; and more that would constitute spoilers. I'm probably not going to bother too much in searching out more of the Hidden Empire books.
I found the book very slow to get started. The two strands are almost entirely separate until close to the end, when Taro and Elern finally meet, although their stories do overlap occasionally around the edges. I really wasn't hugely interested for a good chunk of the book, not finding it bad, it just didn't grab me. It got more exciting towards the end and there's a lot of good ideas in there, but it did feel a little like everything was thrown at the wall to see what would stick: floating city; divided society; state assassins; secret hidden enemies; aliens; and more that would constitute spoilers. I'm probably not going to bother too much in searching out more of the Hidden Empire books.