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42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Angels and demons with sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, October 14, 2005
This review is from: Blood Angel (Mass Market Paperback)
So many reviews of Bloodangel have focused on comparing author Musk to other horror talents. I don't read the genre, so I am approaching this book as a work of fiction, without knowing whose words are echoed or which best-selling horror writer Musk can be best compared to. Bloodangel starts with a great hook, an opening scene full of sex, drugs, and blood (the rock n' roll is to come a little later!), which is followed by plenty more action. This book is faced-paced despite the fact that Musk has the challenge of filling the reader in on the centuries-old history and culture of the ancient sorcerer Summoners. The age-old story of the demons and the Summoners is rich with political strife, revenge, feuds, and battles to the death.
The point-of-view in Bloodangel moves seamlessly between two people who are being awakened to their destiny: New York painter Jess Shepard, haunted by images and dreams that don't seem to be tied to tangible memories, and a Minnesotan foster kid, Ramsey Doe, who is the subject of Jess's dreams. Ramsey is a poet and music fan who has always known there is something different about him, about his lack of a past, about his power, but he's never been able to get a handle on it. The third point-of-view we see is that of heroin addict and slacker musician Lucas, who comes under the spell of beautiful demon-woman Asha and forms a new band (here's where the rock n' roll comes in, complete with a demon singer!) as he does her bidding. The lives of these three people gradually converge as the battle between angels and demons is brought to a head again in the modern day.
Musk delivers vivid characterization of her human and otherworldly characters, delivering an action-packed apocalyptic story line full of self-discovery and empowerment. This was a thrill ride of a read, and it comes highly recommended.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid debut., November 15, 2005
This review is from: Blood Angel (Mass Market Paperback)
Justine Musk, BloodAngel (Roc, 2005)
I'm coming late to this party. What can I say about Justine Musk's first novel that has not yet been said? (Other than that I wish I'd written it.) It is a first novel, and so has a few minor warts-and-all flashes, but is otherwise as solid a novel as just about anything I've read this year.
The story takes place from three different viewpoints. The first concerns an aging, retired rock star, addicted to heroin, who meets a young girl who cures him of his drug addiction, gets him motivated again, and turns him to her own darker ends. The second revolves around and up-and-coming Manhattan artist who is visited by a man she knew as a child, who needs a rather large favor from her. The third starts off in Minnesota, where a foster kid, through a friend on the Internet, is introduced to a new underground rock band. All three stories eventually collide (along with a fourth introduced much, much later in the book-- the main "warts-and-all" wart, actually, is that the fourth storyline doesn't appear until less than an hundred pages are left in the book, thus immediately telegraphing that the characters therein are far more minor than the introduction of a new storyline tells us), and when they do, we get the feeling that things are not going to be all bread and circuses. Or will they?
I started reading BloodAngel on a weekend where I was already reading a number of books, and had a lot of other things to do besides. It was not a wise move, as I became absorbed immediately and let most of my other reading fall by the wayside. It takes a very good author to break me out of my gerbil-on-crack lack of attention span, and Musk did it from the word go. This is a solid debut novel that is almost criminally readable, and deserves your time. *** ½
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Works its way into your blood, October 16, 2005
This review is from: Blood Angel (Mass Market Paperback)
Justine Musk's "BloodAngel" is a dark fantasy, yes. But it's not just a sugar-coated treat that dissolves on your tongue and is quickly forgotten; it's filled with images and themes that will linger long after you finish the book.
This, in my mind, is what elevates it above many of the dark fantasy novels on the shelves. Most are filled with plenty of sex, violence and supernatural happenings--but don't have anything of real substance to say. The sex, violence and supernatural happenings are mere window dressing, meant to titillate. And granted, that's all some readers want. But again, there's a depth in "BloodAngel" that makes it much more satisfying, giving all these traditional titillations (and a few not-so-traditional ones) more meaning.
You'll find blood pulsing throughout this book in all its literal and metaphorical forms (all the more satisfying, since this is NOT a vampire novel). Literal blood is here, for fans of the horrific. But Musk also explores concepts tied to this central image--blood oaths, blood lines, blood feuds, blood pacts, blood atonement.
The plot revolves around Jess Shepard and, to a lesser degree, Ramsey. But in my mind, the most haunting character is Lucas, a man who embodies the human condition: wanting to do what is honorable and right, yet giving in to base desires, and refusing to pull himself out of his fallen state because he, on some level, feels he deserves to suffer.
And even though the author creates a mix of so many disparate elements (everything from grunge rock to drug culture to ballet), she never lets it overpower the story or the message. Musk is an author in total control of her material. Her style is something to behold: her writing has a rhythm, a cadence, that adds to the story's sense of darkness and foreboding.
In short, "BloodAngel" is a bloody good read.
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