REVIEW: Archangel’s Resurrection by Nalini Singh

In Archangel’s Resurrection (Guild Hunter #15) by Nalini Singh, Every angel in existence–as well as most mortals and vampires–know of the great love that is Alexander and Zanaya. Both powerful archangels who have fought battles for more centuries than they dare count, the pair has spent most of that time together in each other’s passionate embrace. It was the years in between when they were apart that changed them. When Zanaya could no longer keep going on earth after her thousands of years of existence took a toll on her mind and body, she went into her Sleep. But Alexander did not follow her. Instead, he waged more wars and lived his life as best he could without his beloved Zani.

‘He was power and he was beauty–and he was danger. And it all sang to her in a way nothing else in her life had ever done.’

Then a Cascade brings forth Ancients such as Alexander and Zanaya from their Sleep to fight against Lijuan, an archangel turned evil. That they would defeat her was without question. They had too many archangels and angels on their side to not be able to take down Lijuan. But no one thought she would dare drain the lifeblood from Zanaya, leaving her to fall from the sky as a husk of her former self. Alexander becomes completely distraught. But he does find a way for Zanaya to be protected by an Ancient while she Sleeps to heal herself. It is a decade later when Zani once again awakens that Alexander sets out to prove to her that he is willing to compromise if it means he will never again be without her. And Zani must determine if she is free of Lijuan’s attack or if it changed something in her permanently.

‘Zanaya was to him what no one else had ever been or ever would be–a literal piece of his heart–but they were akin to two opposing elements that, together, could create great beauty…or great carnage.’

Nalini Singh has yet again delivered an amazing story that traversed eons and told the tale of a couple whose lives were entwined even when they couldn’t be together. Dramatic, sweet, bold and achingly tender, Alexander and Zanaya lived up to the whisperings we’ve heard in previous installments.

He pressed a trembling kiss to her lips, and it tasted of the salt of his tears. “I can’t exist in a world where you do not… Come back to me, my Zani.”
Silence.

I am so, so in love with Zanaya and Alexander’s long, complex history together. And the way Singh wrote their story, beginning with Zani’s fall after Lijuan attacked her, then going back to when Alexander was born, then to when he met Zani for the first time and carrying forward to the present day, was incredible. As with Illium and Aodhan in Archangel’s Light, not only did Singh have to continue the series arc forward post Cascade, but she had to explain a relationship that was millennia in the making. Her attention to detail was outstanding. I felt engaged with all of the characters but could especially just *feel* the love as well as the independent strength in Xander and Zani.

Without giving too much of their history away, suffice to say that the two archangels were some of the most strong-willed characters I think Singh has written in the series. (And that’s saying something!) Alexander and Zanaya were warriors through and through. They knew their own minds, they expected things to be done their way, and they could make the tough decisions no one else could for their people. But when they were together as Xander and Zani, that was when their guards were (mostly) dropped and they could be themselves–a man and a woman, angel to angel, in love. And it was magnificent. Until it wasn’t. Because over the years Both Xander *and* Zani lost their temper, were short-sighted, or were plain old hard-headed and it would tear them apart for a time. But as we find at the end of Archangel’s Resurrection, they were most definitely destined to be together.

QOTD: Do you enjoy romances with two well-matched, equally strong characters? Or do you prefer more of an opposites attract?

Book Info:

Publication: Published October 25th 2022 | Berkley | Guild Hunter #15

New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the dangerous, haunting world of archangels…and a love that is legend.

For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved. Locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak, it is only Zanaya’s decision to Sleep that ends their love story.

Eons later, it is the Cascade of Death that wakens them both. The passion between them a flame that yet burns, Alexander and Zanaya stand together in one last battle against the ultimate darkness. But even a warrior archangel cannot win every war. Alexander’s scream shatters the world as Zanaya falls, broken and silent…only to rise again in a miracle that may be a devastating curse. For is it truly the Queen of the Nile who has been resurrected?

Only one thing is clear: this is the last beat of their passionate, angry dance. The final song for Alexander and his Zani…