Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Lili St. Crow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2009

In Strange Angels, 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?

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up–Sixteen-year-old Dru Anderson has grown up traveling the country with her demon-hunter father. When he tries to tackle a powerful sucker named Sergej in the Dakotas, he is turned into a zombie. After stopping him from killing her, Dru must save herself when she, too, becomes Sergej's target. She is befriended by Graves, a classmate who is quickly bitten and turned into a loup-garou (half werewolf), and meets Christophe, a djamphir (half-vampire vampire hunter). Dru also learns that she is growing into her own special powers. This is the first book in a series, and a large portion of it is spent developing the three lead characters, which occasionally slows down the action. While Graves seems to be the love interest, it is clear that both young men are attractive enough to draw Dru's attention, promising tension in future installments. However, the book is plagued by frequent odd descriptions (a werewolf the size of a Shetland pony and Graves, who is half Asian, described as a half breed), and the choppy pacing is sometimes distracting. Dru's inner monologue is a bit wordy during action scenes as well, which drags down the pace. Despite flaws, the similarities to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga (Little, Brown) will make this book an easy sell (though Dru is, by far, a tougher heroine than Bella, both in her language and her behavior), and the cliff-hanger ending will leave readers eager for the sequel.–Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System, OH
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Review

The book grabs readers by the throat, sets hearts beating loudly and never lets go. The first in a series, it will be all too hard to wait for the next. ---Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Razorbill (May 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1595142517
• ISBN-13: 978-1595142511
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (101 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Social Issues > Dating & Intimacy > Fiction
  • #42 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Literature > Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror > Spine-Chilling Horror

More About the Author

Lili St. Crow is the YA pen name for Lilith Saintcrow. Lili lives in Vancouver, WA, with children, cats, and a host of other strays. You can find her at http://www.lilistcrow.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gutsy and action-packed, May 14, 2009

By 

The Compulsive Reader (Big Rapids, MI, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Dru Anderson and her father live an unconventional life; they travel across the continent, tracking and killing dangerous supernatural things. Thanks to her father, Dru is a physically strong, and due to her time spent with her superstitious grandmother, psychically strong as well.

At first, this new town in the Midwest is nothing new, and her father's unwillingness to allow Dru accompany him on his hunts familiar. But when he doesn't come home alive, Dru is forced to face reality. She's not as capable as she once thought, nor as smart. There are things about the night and the Real World that her father never revealed to her. And if she hopes to make it until morning, she'll have to draw upon everything her father and grandmother ever taught her and learn to trust.

Strange Angels is a fresh take on a popular subject in YA literature, showcasing a heroine that is strong, gutsy, and fallible. Fans of the TV show Supernatural will be happy to dig into this Pandora's Box of creepy-crawlies, blood-suckers, werwulfen, hexes, and many other assorted paranormal creatures and enchantments. Each supernatural creature possesses its own unique characteristics within the novel which makes Strange Angels stand apart from the mundane. St. Crow's writing is solid and wonderfully descriptive, and she skillfully balances out the novel with action-filled scenes and memories from Dru's past, transforming her world into a tangible and comprehensive one. Though she has a tendency to repeat herself in suspenseful scenes, St. Crow does an admirable job creating and building fear and apprehension. Her characters are well-rounded, the setting vivid, and the action scenes suspenseful: the perfect makings for a stellar new series that will spellbind readers and leave them begging for more.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Description of Graves, March 22, 2010

By 

KoaLala "no one" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a half-Asian (or would the author prefer I use the term half-breed), I found the descriptions in this book to be malicious, whether it was intended or not.

I don't know if the author believes that the average American 'Angry-teenage-girl' has such a negative view towards Asian physical attributes or she is just venting her own opinions through her character - either way it's hard to ignore as a half-Asian reader.

"At least he hadn't drawn the really slit-eyed card a lot of half-breeds have to play, where they look like they're squinting to beat Clint Eastwood the whole time." Am I supposed to read this as 'At least he didn't have the stereotypical squinty eyes that Asians, and therefore most half-Asians, tend to have.' Wow, so incredibly flattering to both Asians and half-Asians. Too bad "He had the type of baby face most guys would curse at in the mirror [...] the kind of face half-breeds get stuck with if they don't draw the pretty card." And why exactly would half-breeds get often stuck with such a face more than any other race?? Because of their Asian ancestry? I have no idea what the author is trying to describe here..but it comes off as racist.

There is no doubt that Dru is a incessantly vindictive narrator. And even though she has her reasons, she is so much the exaggerated hateful teenage girl that it makes her not only unrelatable, but unbearable. Whether it is poor characterization or the author's own twisted views towards half-Asians/Asians leaking in.. it is offensive and frankly, the novel is not that enjoyable to read as a whole.

I hate to be the whiney half-kid. I usually don't like the automatic 'victim' mindset that some Asians (and many other people) take whenever something could be interpreted as prejudiced..but this book did bother me and I'm glad that a few other people feel the same. I don't recommend it.

24 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wasted Potential, July 15, 2009

By 

M. Cahill "mlovesbooks" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was really looking forward to Strange Angels, a fearless girl with two supernatural guys lusting for her? Sounds good right? Well I was disappointed to say the least when I actually read the book.

Strange Angels takes off when lead girl, Dru's, father dies and returns as a zombie. She then teams up with local Goth boy, Graves who is on his own as well. The two teens escape many supernatural creatures that all seem to be going after Dru. It isn't until practically the end of the book when we meet lover boy #2, who quite honestly doesn't seem romantically intenerated in Dru at all.

Besides a fractured plot line, the story had so much going on it was hard to focus on the point of the story. I often found myself confused or waiting for an explanation that never came. Dru, as far as I was concerned was not the fearless teen the book portrayed her to be, but rather a cursing prone teen who feared the night world as much as any of us regular people would.

I give it three stars because the plot had potential, it really did. But with the awful writing, flawed plot, and confusing characters, the novel looks like the unedited version of a potential story. Read it if you must, but don't be fooled but the sypnopsis.