Customer Reviews

Strange Angels (Strange Angels, Book 1)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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.

Under her "adult" name (Lilith Saintcrow), Lili St. Crow has written two adult series involving paranormal heroines (Dante Valentine and Jill Kismet). But when the author turns her sights on the YA market, she brings the same kind of fist-in-your face action and briskly moving plot with constant life or death stakes.

I really like the heroine in this series. Dru Anderson is a girl I could have known and liked back in high school. She knows the real score and is tough but vulnerable. A girl who's able to take care of herself in a smashmouth situation, but still thinks and acts feminine. Even down to the way she gets mad at the two guys working with her in this book.

The set-up is familiar, of course. All of these paranormal-girls-against-the-dangerously-weird are going to run close to the same source, but St. Crow proves herself over and over as a storyteller with a lot to say and a way of moving a story along.

Dru has a lot of mysteries in her life. The foremost is what happened to her mother all those years ago, and how she got to be chosen as one of those hunters that chase the dark things through the night and the shadows. And there's the matter of those strange "hex" powers that get stronger and stronger nearly every day.

I'm not giving anything away by mentioning that Dru's ex-Marine dad gets zombified at the beginning of the book because readers get that from the back cover copy. But I do wish I'd gotten to hang out with him more. The father/daughter relationship seems really solid and I can't help feeling I missed out on a lot of great adventures and family stuff.

The loss of Dru's dad is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apparently all of the stuff Dru never learned about herself is coming home to roost all at once. The magnification of her powers and abilities is a magnet to everything evil creeping around the city.

Graves, the cool homeless kid who befriends her and takes care of her, is a good character and I can't wait to see him develop with all the changes (literally) that he'll be going through. Christophe is equally interesting, and he has at least as many secrets as Dru has.

St. Crow has done a good job of world-building as well. I like the idea of "wulfen" and "suckers," although these are just substitutes for werewolf and vampires. But there are other weird things lurking out there that's she's only now giving us a peek at. I also like the fact that the book takes place in the middle of winter with snow all around instead of the typical balmy summer day. The weather provides great atmosphere.

I will say that the language is full on adult. Several f-bombs get dropped along the way, and the 9-12 crowd needs to know that this isn't a gentle read. The young teens to early twentysomethings (as well as several adults) will hunker down and read this one practically in one sitting. And be anxiously awaiting the second in the series coming in November - not soon enough!

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.

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.

I love a good paranormal read. By the end of this one I was intrigued enough to see where it would go, but it started off rocky. The beginning of Dru's story was as slow as molasses, and for some reason it didn't feel like I was moving through the pages as fast as I thought I was, I would read two pages and it would feel like ten. I find that I don't like the heroine Dru as much as I should. I was really offended by the author's ethnic descriptions of Graves, and Dru's cursing was really out of place to me, it threw off my rhythm and left me confused because it really didn't suit the character. Mind you I'm no prude or linguistic angel in any sense, normally all words are pretty much a go, but it really didn't fit.
What I did like? The Boys. They were really interesting and I could see her having a problem picking one. You have Graves the sweet good guy who's everything she's been longing for in her life. And you have Chris the mysterious bad boy who your never really sure is a good guy or not. The perpetually relocated Anderson's hunt all the things that go bump in the night, Which leaves Dru guarded, jaded, and an orphan. Her mother murdered, her father obsessed leading to his demise and reanimation. Her salvation the kindness of a boy that not only helps her keep going but brings back some humanity to her military mentality.
Though it wasn't predictable and I can't tell you who the traitor is in the book or where it's going to go from here, it's not from a well thought out story line. I do think the story is a little ruff and could have been refined, but in the end I thought it was a fun read, and entertaining.

For whatever reason the review I wrote before has gone poof so I'll repost my opinion.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that the author has a way with creating a certain atmosphere in it. Unfortunatly that isn't what I read for exactly. I'm a person who has to like or at least understand a character for me to get into their POV. It's and important factor when you're dealing with first person pov, IMHO, and I just did not like Dru. Like so many "urban fantasy" heroines in books these days she was the jaded, angry, generic badass female with no discernable sense of humor. She was rude to Graves for no apparent reason other than that he had the audacity to take an interest in her.

I gave up shortly after we're introduced to Graves, not because I disliked his character, but becasue it pissed me off the careless racial comments and the flippant use of the term "half-breed" to describe Graves. I'm not sure what the point of her repetative inner narrative about his ethnicity was, but it came off as offensive and uneccesary to me. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it in some people's eyes, but as a biracial person, whose been referred to in those sorts of terms before, I was suprised and angry to read this in a book, especially one aimed at a younger audience.

Just when you think there's no more blood left in a turnip, someone breathes new life into the sucker.
I picked this book up on a whim a few months ago, based on the blurb on the back cover Dru seemed like a nice departure from the usual "girl in jeopardy, add supernatural element, cute guy..mix till nauseated"
And bingo! I was right. From the very beginning Dru Anderson is a different breed. She has spent most of her life moving from town to town hunting the boogly wooglies that go bump in the night with her father. But now they're in a new town, and things unexpectedly change for Dru.
I have to admit I loved this book, from Dru's antisocial attitude, to the fascinating little tidbits of folklore (thanks to Granny) to the suprisingly new friend she finds just when she needed one the most this book is a keeper.
Often the supporting characters exist only to shine a pretty light on the main character and offer little else, however the supporting character of Gavin is a winner. Personally I am looking forward to learning a little more about him.
Dru is believable as a teenager thrust into a perilous situation (albeit with some major genetic gifts to help)she is alternately smartmouthed, kind hearted, broken hearted, level headed, brave and scared.
I found myself sneaking away while on vacation to read bits I was so engrossed in the story.
Lili St. Crow has delivered a heroine and a story that somehow makes the whole genre seem cool again.

I was really looking forward to reading this book - particularly with the Richelle Mead seal of approval and the promise of a cool young cast of characters. Actually reading it was a bit of a disappointment - don't get me wrong, it is a great idea and there is potential for it to be solid young-adult fiction. As many of the reviewers point out, the main problems were with the writing, the slow pace, and a sort of dull knowledge that it could be great if only it went a little further!

Pluses were definitely Graves, the 'werwulf' and charismatic, kind, and um... delicate sidekick. Again, it is his potential that really makes him shine. You see that he could really become a cool and loyal friend and boyfriend to Dru. Dru (the main character) is also good - damaged and tough, with the potential of becoming more interesting as she grows up and learns more about herself. Likewise Christian (part vampire, part human) is a bad-ass and could really add to the cast of characters. I also look forward to meeting the vampire big-bad!

Overall, however, the strangest part of Strange Angels was the racism. It was, for me, utterly unexpected (given young adult fiction and Richelle Mead's recommendation). Graves, Dru's sidekick, is "half-Asian". But when discussing his ethnicity, Lili St Crow goes a step further and through Dru's voice says: "He had the type of baby face most guys would curse at in the mirror. The kind of face some half-breeds get stuck with if they don't draw the pretty card." She goes on: "At least he hadn't drawn the really slit-eyed card a lot of half-breeds have to plat, where they look like they're squinting to beat Clint Eastwood the whole time."

Hmmmm... I thought this level of old-fashioned racism went out with segregation. Obviously not, however, so I waited patiently after this description for Dru to learn a lesson about racism, or for there to be some point for this degree of Asian-bashing. But the book plodded along, and eventually ended, without any comment about these descriptions, or any relevance (other than some further stereotyping).

I was left, well, confused! Should Asian kids who are 'slit-eyed' not read the book? Should kids reading the book take away the lesson that nothing is as beautiful as being White is (although with a barrage of positive character traits, and some sort of triumph over biology non-White kids can attain a level of near attractiveness)? The anti-Asian sentiment was out of place, detrimental and disrespectful to Graves (and, um, Asian people in general), and will put off a lot of readers who don't like a serve of racism with their paranormal literature.

I want to be clear, I was really looking forward to this book, and I do see potential - although at times poorly executed, the idea and characters are compelling. I sincerely hope that book 2 really lifts the series up, and meets some of that potential. Lili St Crow, however, should really take a look at her own racism, and even if she does feel that Asian people are unattractive (sigh), she should leave this ridiculous, off-putting and outmoded commentary out of her books. Having non-White people reading your books and feeling bad about themselves can never be a good thing. So take the racism out, and add a bit of polish, and hopefully book 2 will improve.

STRANGE ANGELS has some of the most beautiful prose I've ever written--Lili St. Crow is amazing at her job. The awkwardness of the character interaction, though, turned me off a little bit from what could've been a great book.
Let's start with the main character, Dru. Within the first fifty or so pages, Dru Anderson kills the zombified remains of her amazing father. That single event changes the entire rest of the book. Dru becomes hollow, empty, and dull, which of course is expected of someone who killed the single person that served as her only connection to a true family. Then, Graves comes along, all Asian (which St. Crow can't emphasize enough, seemingly) and helpful. He buys her lots of burgers and helps her out, giving her a place to stay so she doesn't have to see her decomposed father on the carpet every day. Graves is a really awkward character, and I had a hard time relating with him.
The rest of the book is the chaos that ensues from their blooming (an ironic word in this series) friendship.
Some things about STRANGE ANGELS ticked me off, such as: 1) the slow pace, 2) the cardboard characters, and 3) the sucky cover. Other things did not, such as: 1) the kick-arse heroine, 2) St. Crow's descriptive powers, and 3) the action scenes. God, Dru is awesome. The last half of the book I read in a blur, because I was at an Easter party, but it seemed really good, so that's what I'm sticking with.

I seriously loved this book! Strange Angels was a fun, fast-paced read that was very hard to put down. Full of action and danger, St. Crow pulls the reader into the Real World with things that go bump in the night.


Dru Anderson loves her dad. He's not the most conventional parent, but Dru knows he loves her. Together they travel the country fighting 'wulfen' and 'suckers', among other nasty buggers.

Like most teenagers, she relies heavily on her dad, even if he leaves her for days at a time with nothing but an "I love you" and a fifty dollar bill on the kitchen table. Dru is very impacted by losing her mother at a very young age, and her Gran, whose practicality and wisdom came in handy throughout the book. It is Gran who teaches her about The Touch, how to put up wards and how to search for information in the Real World.

Our kick butt heroine really grows up fast when her father finally returns from a days long hunt...as a zombie. My heart really went out to Dru on this one. Hard as it was, she did what she had to do. When Dru meets Graves and gets him involved in the danger of the Real World, she begins to utilize all the training she received from her dad and Gran. She has to protect not only herself, but Graves, too.

St. Crow does a wonderful job at developing her characters. I love Dru for a lot of reasons, but a big one is that she always took Graves into consideration when making decisions. She was able to look past "every man for himself" and become that 'grown up' she'd been looking for to take care of things. Graves was a little too weepy for me. He was very sweet, handled a lot of change well, and took care of Dru when she needed help, but still. Hopefully he toughens up in the following books, which I will be reading very soon.

The action/danger factor is kicked into high-gear when Dru starts to exhibit talents she never knew about. These talents and more are what has all sorts of creatures after her, good and bad alike. When things start to get out of control, Dru has to decide who she can trust: an old contact of her dad's, a new acquaintance who tells her that she's more special than she knows and can offer outside help?


Strange Angels was an absolute thrill to read. Never a dull moment!