Review: The Last Archangel

Title: The Last Archangel
Author: Michael D. Young
Source: Received for review from NetGalley.
★★★☆☆

Xandir has been exiled to earth until the end of time. But when his cherub trainee disappears, Xandir makes a deal with rogue angels and giants that could restore life to the mortal woman he loves and end his assignment as a destroying angel in exchange for helping them bring about the end of the world and all of mankind.

I was not able to get through this book… Around about 65% through I forced myself to give up and accept that I couldn’t keep dragging it out… After 2 weeks of trying to get through The Last Archangel, I figured it was safe to quit. I wanted to like this. I really, really did. In theory and summary, this sounds like a book I would end up loving. But in reality,  the formula was just too wrong for me.

First I will start with what I liked about this book: It has a very original concept. Never before have I read something that is so rife with culture and mythology. Young definitely did some research for this.… He makes paranormal, seem normal, if that makes sense. Young was able to make me believe that things like angels, demons, giants, cherubs, and Atlantis could actually exist without being seen.

Now, for the things I didn’t like…

(1) This could not hold my attention for more than 10 minutes. It seemed like there was quite a bit of action, but I was unable to fully invest myself in it (and I usually love reading action scenes).
(2) 65% into the book and no love story, no background on this mortal woman he loves so much (well only a little). I just couldn’t feel the passion that Young was trying to portray! I was very disappointed about this. I would have liked to see a passionate love flashback every once and awhile to make me understand WHY Xandir was jumping through hoops to save her.
(3) I felt no connection with the characters and had no desire to see whether they succeeded.
(4) My time spent reading this, was time spent wondering what else I could be reading.
(5) I had to force myself to read.

In conclusion, this book may be worth a shot if you are a fan of angel-themed books, but it definitely was not for me! And don’t read this if you are looking for an epic love story (not that I was, but I hoped it would turn into one). This could have been a great book, but it was lacking in so many different areas that I think it was unable to recover.