Blood and Feathers: Lou Morgan

"What's the first thing you think of when I say 'angel'?" asked Mallory. Alice shrugged. "I don't know... guns?" Alice isn't having the best of days. She was late for work, she missed her bus, and now she's getting rained on. What she doesn't know is that her day's about to get worse: the epic, grand-scale kind of worse that comes from the arrival of two angels who claim everything about her life is a lie. The war between the angels and the Fallen is escalating; the age-old balance is tipping, and innocent civilians are getting caught in the cross-fire. If the balance is to be restored, the angels must act - or risk the Fallen taking control. Forever. 

That’s where Alice comes in. Hunted by the Fallen and guided by Mallory - a disgraced angel with a drinking problem and a whole load of secrets - Alice will learn the truth about her own history… and why the angels want to send her to hell. What do the Fallen want from her? How does Mallory know so much about her past? What is it the angels are hiding - and can she trust either side? Caught between the power plays of the angels and Lucifer himself, it isn't just hell's demons that Alice will have to defeat...

Well now, this is a tough one. I've got to start with the obvious, the cover art is gorgeous, and the hype around this one was pretty impressive. Looking past both of these..it was..an OK read. There are some nice touches, and I thought Morgan's vision of Hell was brilliant. Mallory was a fun character, but I found Alice a bit two dimensional...as a protagonist that's clearly not ideal, I didn't really get behind her but I was rooting for Mallory.

It's tough to write this because I wanted to love it. I found parts of the novel to be slow and repetitive, particularly when the Earthbound were waiting to get into Hell. Morgan lost me a bit there, and I was more interested in the Fallen than the Angels. Essentially I lost interest towards the end waiting for the Good Guys to win the battle.

It's also worth mentioning that the typos in this one were pretty distracting. Not something you usually see, or expect in an £8 copy.

My expectations for Blood and Feathers had probably been pumped up way too high. It's a nice concept, and a fun read in places. It's not without its flaws. Something out of the ordinary, but not quite extraordinary. I'd give the sequel a look, but won't be counting down the days.