BloodAngel

BloodAngel #1

by Justine Musk

In downtown Manhattan, a rising young painter is haunted by disturbing dreams...In small-town Minnesota, a teenage orphan struggles with a knowledge beyond his years-and a destiny he wants no part of...In California, young and old, hipsters and hippies, fall under the spell of a wildly charismatic singer whose voice breaks down all barriers-including the ones between heaven and hell.
The fans of Asha are finding one other-and the world is running out of time.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Fiction, Magic

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2005

About the author

Justine Musk was born in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada and earned a degree in English literature from Queen's University. After working and traveling in Australia and Japan, she moved to California. She is divorced and lives in Los Angeles.

Her website is www.tribalwriter.com.

She's the author of three books: a YA supernatural thriller called UNINVITED (MTV Books/Simon & Schuster), the dark urban fantasy BLOODANGEL and its upcoming sequel LORD OF BONES (Roc/Penguin).

"Justine Musk is a talented, vivid writer and a voice we'll be hearing for a long time." -- Poppy Z. Brite

"Full of wicked delights and devilish charm. I really, really loved UNINVITED." -- Holly Black

"A fantastic, nightmarish tale of temptation and redemption and a fresh twist on fears as old as humanity." -- Christopher Golden

"Musk has created an array of fascinating characters and an intricate plot which is vaguely reminiscent of early Anne Rice." -- Romantic Times

"Reading BLOODANGEL is like avidly watching three separate trains race towards each other at neck break speed...The excellent writing and engrossing story lines fill the mind with evocative imagery that lingers long after you put the book down."
-- Black Gate

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I've finally outlived my love of angsty kids living angsty lives in angsty black outfits. This is what I have learned from this book.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

BloodAngel is billed as “dark urban fantasy”; I do tend to steer clear of fantasy labeled “dark” for the simple reason that I don’t enjoy the gorefests those tend toward. I can live without images of violence dancing in my head, and particularly the often gratuitous violence featured in dark fantasy. I’m not weak-stomached about blood and gore in general (I grew up with M*A*S*H on during dinner – hemorrhages and spurting blood alongside the mac and cheese? No problem), but in these books there are so often demons or other creatures who romp about wreaking horrible and gratuitous mayhem and littering the landscape in often a most creative fashion with body parts, purely for the enjoyment of it …. Not my idea of a good time. I had a feeling even when I bought the book that I was risking it, but I also had a good feeling about it. Good cover (by Don Paresi), interesting back blurb – I took it. And when I needed a next book in my kick of contemporary fantasy, I went for it.

I’ve found that I’m not a harsh judge of plot. I don’t always notice flaws others pick up on automatically (which, yes, concerns me a bit for my own writing). My two main concerns are writing and characterization. For me, a book can have the dumbest plot in the world, or none at all, but if the writing is masterful and the characters are interesting and/or likeable and/or hateful, as applicable, it can rank fairly high with me. In this case, I wasn’t in love with the progress of the story; it seemed rather disjointed and episodic – but each episode was very well done, well imagined. I’m a little puzzled about the mythology, by how the angels of the book, some fallen (or all fallen?) are intended to relate to better-known manifestations of angels, but in the end it doesn’t really matter. I liked the protagonists (though it’s never fun not knowing whether main characters can be trusted or not); they had solidity and depth, and I enjoyed spending time with them, investing time in them. The demon Del was a little masterpiece. The writing carried the day, coolly handling every eventuality… maybe a little too coolly, in a way, leading to an ending which proved me partially wrong: as I said, intense, but not as intense as expected – it was almost detached. I was involved, but not rapt; mildly horrified but not actively repulsed; glad about happy outcomes but not to a personal level. There was a lot of background that felt skimmed over, but … It was a unique story, well told.

(On a side note, the author is a little younger than I am, has five (!) sons, and when I read this was apparently divorcing her husband, who is the founder of Paypal. That’s an unusual sort of bio…)

(ETA: How funny that when I read this, and wrote this review, and even updated the review, I had no idea who Elon Musk was. The world is strange.)

[Nana · Rating 1 out of 5]

1 Stern ist schon großzügig bemessen.

[Maja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy, fun read

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

BloodAngel (BloodAngel #1) by Justine Musk is an interesting, dark urban fantasy with new intriguing creatures of both good and evil. I like that there is something new out there, not the same old thing. I have read Musk's books before and enjoyed them. A good dark fantasy once in a while lightens things up, lol. She has new creatures, great plot, twists, turns, some gore but yea, it's a dark fantasy. I enjoyed the wondering of who is the boy in the painting, who is the summoner, who is this singer, and what is a Dreamliner? The book was scary, fun, twisted in a good way, good vs evil, suspense-filled, and had lots of magic/fantasy. What more could a good dark fantasy want? Oh, did I mention the angels and demons?

[Loren · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a perfectly okay book, full of well-written prose, but the story never engaged me. Perhaps that was because the characters themselves never felt fully engaged in it. Either they were drugged beyond caring what happened, or they'd shut their fears away and wouldn't allow themselves to feel what a normal person would, or they were superhuman near-immortals who didn't really care what danger they might face. The whole "Burning Man is EVIL" ending was silly, especially since it left no repercussions in the Real World (tm). People apparently died (although no one whose name we knew), demons were loosed, but there were no news reports, no radio comments, not even any headlines anywhere that revealed that the events of the story reached beyond the pages on which they were told.

I wanted more from this book.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid urban fantasy with strong characters, a well-paced plot, and description that makes it easy to imagine you're right there alongside the characters. While some of the magical elements / worldbuilding were a little hard to follow at times, this slowed things down only infintesimally. On the whole the novel is gripping, suspenseful, heartbreaking, and given current world events, even a bit disturbing.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloodangel was a 3 1/2 star book for me. In Justine Musk's world, Jessamy Shepard is an up and coming artist. She has a dark past that she has tried to run away from but it continues to pop up in her relationships and in her art. Prior to a premiere of her new exhibits she is contacted by a handsome and myterious stranger (aren't they always?). He attempts to convince her that she is the sole survivor of a line of people who have great talent and that these talents will be necessary in keeping the world as she knows it from burning in hell. Of course, Jess does not believe him. Yet, she cannot help but follow up on his invitation to discover who she really it. Her destiny it seems involves rescuing a teenage orphan who has great gifts before he falls into the hands of a underground rock band who has a demon for a lead singer. This singer, Asha is the chosen one who will bring about the apocalyse. Does all of this sound convoluted? Well, at times it was and it interferred with my enjoyment of the book. This book had the potential to be really good; but fell short. I originally picked up the second book first, Lord of Bones but did not read it because I like to read books in sequence. However, let me warn you. This first book is difficult to obtain. Although I enjoyed it, I find it difficult to give it high praise. Read it for yourself and you decide.

[Witch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this used. My copy had an inscription and was signed by the author. I thought, "ouch." But after reading, I realize why the original owners of the book sold/donated/gave it away. It's not that good. What's missing is the character development. I just didn't care about the fate of any of the characters, because they're not made likable. They're just there without any of the emotions to compell me to like them. I can't narrow it down. Anyway, so I'm PBSing my copy too, though I liked to have kept the inscription by the author.

[harlequin {Stephanie} · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely a thinker book. I truly enjoyed the dark tale the author has written. Lacking in action so I would NOT classify this as urban fantasy. More psychological / horror thriller with a paranormal structure.

Glad I started this book first and not lord of bones. I'd have drowned.


Really loved the authors writing style! The last dark fantasy I read was one sex scene after another. Author avoided that and kept you interested with the story, characters & writing. Overall very well done!

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark urban fantasy, nicely written, good characters with realistic dialog, pulls you in and carries you along. An artist, a musician, a possessed teen in story lines that converge on a journey to a supernatural concert in the desert. Even the demons are interesting.

[Samuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is pretentious, I don't know what else to say. It seems to try hard to be shocking, but is couched in overly flowery prose and just comes off as... well... pretentious.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was interesting

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had this book on my TBR pile for a long time and was happy to finally read it. This is one of those slightly ambiguous paranormal demon themed books that is a blend between dream and reality, horror and fantasy. I actually enjoyed the writing style and thought it was an intriguing and unique read. It was very similar in tone to books I have read by Elizabeth Hand or Caitlin Kiernan. It also had a bit of that same dreamy quality to it that Catherynne Valente’s Palimpsest had to it.

This book is definitely for adults only; there is a ton of drugs, sex, deviant behavior, abuse, etc. I would also only recommend to those who don’t mind an ambiguous, dreamy, and bizarre tone to their novels. If you only like stories that are clear-cut and easy to follow mentally this is not the book for you. This book will stretch your brain and imagination a bit.

This is one of those demonic urban fantasies where an age old race of beings, that are either defined as angelic or demonic depending on their life choices, start possessing people and trying to take over the world. The three main characters we follow end up bound into this demonic war either by circumstance, bloodline, or possession.

The above makes for a strangely engaging and immediate story. The chapters are brief but I had a lot of trouble putting the book down because there was so much tension and everything built to a climax so nicely. This is a very creative story and the writing style was unique but still easy to read.

The story wraps up well. Although the Epilogue does introduce elements for a follow-up book.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was one of those different types of paranormal books; it’s a bit ambiguous and straddles the line between horror and fantasy. There’s a lot of metaphysical talk here and possession; so things can seem a bit muddled unless you are really paying attention.

If you are a fan of Elizabeth Hand of Caitlin Kiernan I think you would enjoy this book. Many scenes have the same dreamy quality as Catherynne Valente’s books but in general the material in this book is a lot more violent and vicious than Valente’s books. I probably won’t read the next book in the series because it looks like the series was dropped after the 2nd book and I have enough to read without getting further involved in a dead end series.

[H. T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book that I’m surprised has such bad reviews. I think it may be more a reflection of judging the author (being Elon Musk’s wife) rather than the novel itself. This is a dark fantasy that deals with demons and a mysterious group of people known as the summoners. It’s sort of abstract in a way and rather fuzzy around the edges- but that’s the world of this novel. It’s dark and the main character Jessamy finds herself in a new reality in which things aren’t as they seem and unknown evil lurks around every corner. I thought it was brilliant and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Alaina Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the concept was interesting and the writing was pretty good. I just wasn't a big fan of all of the blood and gore and demon themes. Sometimes the interwoven storylines got a bit difficult to follow, and I think those could have been a little clearer. Overall, not my favorite book personally but I do think it was well written.

[livestreamsuicide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es war ganz okay, aber ich hätts mir auch sparen können. Irgendwie zu vage und lahm. Aber es war jetzt auch nicht schlecht.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow, don’t care much for characters. Style is decent, ideas are okay. Too pretentious.

[Marie Collazo · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was soooo fun to read. i couldn’t put it down. justine musk is a beautiful writer, she writes like poetry. i can’t wait to read the next ones in the series

[Lisa (Harmonybites) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the book was a gift from a friend I let this lie on my bookshelf for years, reluctant to pick it up. The title, the cover and back blurb made this sound like hundreds of other urban fantasies complete with vampires.

I was wrong.

First, look ma, no vampires. Now, don't get me wrong, I rather like the creatures in many iterations from Stoker to King to Rice to Hamilton and Harris (but not Meyer.) But just how many such books are out there? And if not the bloodsuckers, well, then it's weres. No weres here either. And yes, that's a lot of what I did like. That this is not like other urban fantasies I've read and there's a really well-thought out magical system featured. This does remind me somewhat of many a Buffy episode in that there is a threatened apocalypse in the offing, but it never felt too predictable. I should warn this is of a rather dark hue of fantasy, rather violent and gory at points although within lines I could stand.

It did take a bit for me to get into it, because there are several narrative strands. They eventually converge, but I found it hard in the first hundred pages to feel connected to the story and characters as the story bounced between New York City artist Jess Shepard, Minnesota teen Ramsey Doe and California musician Lucas Maddox. Each did come into focus for me eventually, but if this misses a fifth star, it's because even though the writing and world-building was strong, the characters themselves didn't pull at me emotionally. Maybe because most of them came across as too detached. (Or at least most didn't. I felt most for Ramsey, but he wasn't given enough face time to quite suck me entirely in.) But I certainly would be interested in reading more of Justine Monk and the sequel, Lord of Bones.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

What drew me to this book was the prose. I was shown the first few pages and was immediately enticed by the elegance with which the book was written. Justine Musk truly does have a way with words, and paints works of art for the mind on almost every page of this urban fantasy piece. It’s a pleasure to read a book that is so well written.

The only drawback I found was the second act. In a hero’s journey there is typically the first act awakening, the second act training, and the third act confrontation. The first act is excellent—grabs your attention and holds it. The second act is beautifully written, but ultimately a touch slow—the extended period spent on training and description sadly takes the first act’s momentum and virtually halts it. The third act picks up the pace with a large scale showdown, but ultimately it suffered slightly from the slowness of the second act.

These are minor quibbles, however. Justine Musk is an electric writer and though Bloodangel isn’t perfect, you’re very much left with the impression that the minor areas for improvement will be amended in the follow up Lord of Bones (which I can’t wait to read, btw).

Definitely an author to keep an eye on.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've read in a really long while, and I am so happy to see there is a sequel. I immediately ordered it on paperbackswap, as well as her third book. This is a new author for me, and I really enjoyed her writing style and her ability to create characters you care about and can relate to, even as they are exposed to supernatural situations and unlikely events. The plot kept me engaged - I loved Jess and wanted her to survive, even when the odds seemed impossible. I am also wondering what happened to some of the other characters like Del and Salik and I guess we'll find out in the next one. I'm really glad I found this writer.

[Jo Narayan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing style is amazing. I love what the author has done with this story. The writing itself is very choppy and abrupt, which definitely suits the main character, Jess, and the overall mood of the story. Jess is a painter who is recovering from addiction and a traumatic upbringing when she’s thrown head first into the world of magic. The story explores themes of addiction and loss, vengeance and justice, and a modern outlook on love and sacrifice and what they truly mean. Magic, demons, psychic powers, and ancient angelic warriors.. BloodAngel has it all. For those who love Dark Fantasy, this is a must read.

[Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing style of Justine Musk is unique and all her own. Some people may find it distracting, but I found it dynamic and appropriate for the narrative.

I enjoyed the characters. There were fleshed-out characters on every side of the narrative. From the girl recruited for good, the guy stuck with evil, and the boy caught in the middle. I felt concern for them, maybe not as much as some other characters I’ve seen, but enough to keep reading.

My disappointment was how the middle of the narrative in Del’s prison became slow, and settings like Labyrinth city and the desert stage seemed too ambiguous for me to get a real handle on what was going on.

[vyoletkyss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. It took me 2 days to read this book because I didn't want to stop. I kept parsing it out to myself in small pieces; trying to make it go further even though I have the sequel. What struck me most about this was the writing. It sounds silly considering the amount of media I devour, but really compared to all the other fiction subgenres I read the words in this were refreshing. It wasn't formula, it was artistic, it was different, it was fresh, and evocative. It made me wish I was back in Los Angeles (a miracle itself).

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun to read, kind of know where it's headed but the writing style keeps you intrigued. Enjoyable and creative. Three story lines are brought together in a well-thought-out way. If anything I would have liked it to be longer with a little more depth to the world and characters. I think it is a series but didn't feel like it was only here for the next installment a la "Pirate of Caribbean Movies".

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complicated story of horror and strange people and powers.

All about an evil that's been hidden for years and now is going to come back and about a group of people trying to fight it.

It's more in the horror than the urban fantasy end of things and not really to my taste. Not a bad read but it didn't really resonate with me.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really *wanted* to like this book but the characters were just way too one-dimensional.

The author crammed too much plot into a relatively short book and glossed over most of the disturbing things that occurred. I think if she could've fleshed things out and stopped pulling punches, it would've been a lot better.

[M— · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel a little bad for rating this so low because it's probably only contingent on my having glutted myself of this genre, but I found it just so profoundly meh.

No more urban fantasy/horror books by unknown/new authors for me, and I'm sticking to it! ...At least not unless it comes hugely recommended.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Musk's first work. It's pretty good. I liked the plot and the characters are decently developed. Still, feels like it could have been a little longer to really flesh out the world she's created. I'd like to hear more about how it all works together. I'd especially like to know more about Kai's life before all the events in this book. A prequel would be excellent.