Elizabeth Hunter - The Singer

Ava left Istanbul with a new identity, new name, and new magic she could barely control. Laid low by Malachi's sacrifice, she searches for help from the fabled Irina. But will the secretive women of the Irin race welcome or shun her? Ava's origins are still a mystery, and her powers are darker than any they've encountered before.
The Irin world hangs in the balance. And as the children of angels battle their own demons, ancient rivalries among the Fallen threaten to wreak havoc on earth.
Thousand of miles away, a warrior wakes with no memory of his identity or his people. Stumbling though the dark and twisted schemes of fallen angels, ravenous Grigori, and even his own leaders, he must find a way back to the one thing he remembers. A single voice calls him. Malachi has one mission.
"Come back to me."

Comment: This is the second installment in the Irin Chronicles series by the author. I've read the first one recently and it was enjoyable enough for me to want to read more. But even more important, the 1st book ended in one of those hateful cliffhangers and I just had to read the next one soon. As son as I managed to get my hands on this one, I started it.

In this second story, Ava still mourns her loss and her singing has touched the heavens and sort of changed the course of events in a way no one can guess what it would mean, not even the Fallen.
In an attempt to understand her new powers and inheritance better, Ava travels to Norway with Dimitry for his mate might have the answers to some of Ava's questions. However, the enemy isn't resting just because Ava's life lost its happiness. What does it mean that so many enemies are focusing on one place?

It's tricky to talk about this book because the biggest issue to mention is a spoiler from the last book. I'll try to be vague enough although the blurb ruins it all a bit for those who haven't read the first one anyway, so...

This book focuses on two issues, Ava's travel to find out about more about her past an who she might be and the fight against the gregori who prey on humans and who seem to be concentrating on a place and no one understand why that might be considering the inner fights between the Fallen leaders.

I enjoyed seeing Ava's parts a lot. She learns a lot but she doesn't know it all right away, so there's time to learn more as the books move along. It's one of those cases where the more we learn, the more there is to discover.

The bad guys parts are always such a duty to me, I tend to skip them or to read just a few sentences here and there to be updated about where things are. I really prefer the stories where the villains don't have a voice, where we know about their actions and not their psyches. I know it might be interesting to see their reasons but if it's not one of those books of some undercover situation, I think it annoying, personally.

The secondary characters play an important part. I liked knowing more about them and what role they have in the books. Most are there to just support the main action but in a way I'd like to see them find love too. I especially liked the reunited couple in this book, their problems were big but seeing glimpses here and there about their reconciliation was cute too.

Ava's romance happens mostly through her dreams in this story. But we learn a lot about her while she learns too. Also abut Irinas and their roles in the battles, past and future. Still, things remain cryptic and mostly mysterious on purpose. The things we find out in this book aren't as surprising or completely different from what we've seen in the first book, some things are finally explained but it wasn't anything we've heard about in the previous story. So, all things considered, the action moves along but really slowly. I hope more new thing for the following story.

In the end, it was full of interesting tidbits, interesting and cute scenes, but it could have been a bit better overall. Still, better than many, thanks to a solid writing and polished idea.
Grade: 7/10