I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the libraryStrange Angels
by
Lili St. Crow
urban fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by Razorbill on May 14, 2009 and has 293 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Betrayals, Jealousy, Defiance
First in the Dru Anderson urban fantasy, young adult series about a teenage girl with special powers.
My Take
The story is great; Dru Anderson is a typical teenager who thinks she is so hot because her dad has been hunting mystical evil for most of her life, and she’s picked up a few tips. Typical because she thinks she’s hotter than she really is, and there were times I was hoping the bad guys would take her out and relieve us of her stupidity.
She and her dad have practically a library of books about what they hunt, or who hunt them, and she spends all this time whining around, whimpering, when she could be looking up the fire-breathing pony that came after her and Graves. She’s got a list of people she can call, but, does she?? Noooo, instead it’s so much more fun [for her, not us!] to whine and whimper and whinge. Gawd…preserve me!
Then she meets the djamphir, Christophe, and, when she gets home, does she look it up? Nooo…why do something practical when you can whine and whimper and whinge.
I can understand Dru’s apprehension: something nasty is out there after her, but, hey, the kid helped her when he could easily have taken her out. Hullo, that should buy him some ear time. That and the fact that he’s out in daylight and bleeds red…hullo…some logical thought process here, please.
Even after she meets this guy and he moves into the house, it’s still a day or so before she bothers to call Augie to find out what’s happening. When he verifies Christophe’s identity, does she cut him any slack? Nooo, oh, no, instead she simply makes things worse and plays stupid games with the car keys…if I’d’ve had a gun, I think I’d’ve shot her for being too stupid to live!
The other part of me was crying my eyes out…Dru has to have been in the scariest position ever of her life with the loss she experiences. Yes, I do want to read the next in the series, Betrayals, if only to find out about this school that Dru and Graves go off to and see if St. Crow gets any better.
Just writing this review is making me nuts again…maybe I won’t bother with Betrayals…
The Story
From Florida to the Dakotas in winter, Dru Anderson is just not prepared for the cold and snow, especially when a zombie attacks in her own home. A zombie she knows very well.
Grief-stricken and terrified, Dru attempts to come to terms with who she killed by hanging out at the mall where Graves, a fellow student from the high school, finds her.
In helping Dru, Graves is attacked and his refuge is compromised, forcing Dru to take him along, thereby introducing him to a lot more than Graves could ever have imagined.
The Characters
Dru Anderson has had a strange upbringing: learning folk magic from her Granmama (who now appears to her as a white owl) and survival from her dad: tai chi, shooting, knifework.
Her dad, Dwight Anderson, went all revenge after his wife, Dru’s mom, died.
Graves has been on his own since he was 12 with a pretty good sense of self-preservation and plans for the future.
August is a fellow hunter and a friend of her dad’s who lives in New York City. Several times, her dad dropped her off with Augie while he went hunting.
Christophe Gogol Reynard is a djamphir, a vampire hunter who claims he’s Dru’s guardian angel.
Sergej is the leader of the evil vampire faction
The Cover and Title
An absolutely gorgeous girl glaring out at us dressed in a thin-strapped khaki-green tank top and a black zippered jacket enfolded by her bicep-length, wavy, dark brown hair. The title is accurate enough for Dru and Graves certainly do encounter some Strange Angels helping them escape their enemy.
