Archangel's Ascension (Guild Hunter, #17) by Nalini Singh 
Series: Guild Hunter #17
Published by Berkley on May 6, 2025
Genres: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 416
Format: eBook
Source: Netgalley
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Aodhan and Illium. Adi and Blue. Sparkle and Bluebell. Friends become lovers, their future a wild unknown.
Finally reunited in New York, they must now learn to navigate the monumental shift in their relationship. But for these two members of Archangel Raphael’s legendary Seven, there is no time to rest. As they investigate a case for the Tower that echoes the darkness from Aodhan’s past, they will be forced to confront not only the scars that mark them both, but the promise of a vast power that flickers in Illium.
The threat of ascension has haunted and troubled Aodhan’s Blue for too long, the forces of change immutable and without mercy...and uncaring of Illium’s fierce wish to remain part of the Seven. Change is a constant in an immortal’s life, and this new horizon will bring with it both terrible heartbreak and a joy extraordinary enough to reverberate through time…
There is happiness and sadness to this turn of event but mostly there is great storytelling.
Back during Archangel’s War, the cascade was throwing power at the archangels in order to do battle but what was feared in Raphael’s camp more than Lijuan’s upcoming attack was the fact that Ilium, everyone’s favorite Bluebell, was showing signs of ascending. At only 500 years old, everyone feared that the power of an archangel would tear him apart. So how does an author Assend everyone’s favorite angel without killing him? By fast forwarding the story 700 years.
This story is told both in the future and in the past. We begin 700 years in the future with Illium flying home from the Tower and giving us a general update on the status of the city, why there aren’t flying cars by now (hint: angels don’t want to be hit by terrible drivers) and how the city has recovered and changed since the War with Lijuan. There is something in the air that is hinting toward a cascade or an ascension but nothing indicating where this rising ancient or ascending angel is located until it suddenly blasts out of Illium just as he reaches the home he has built with Aodhan.
We then switch to the past, arriving in this story shortly after leaving Aodhan and Illium in Archangel’s Light (Book 14). When we left them, we believed everything was perfect between our new couple who evolved from friends to lovers but as we get to Archangel’s Ascension, we find that there is still much that both Aodhan and Illium have to work on in their relationship. Aodhan still has intimacy issues even 200 years after his kidnapping and Illium is still wrestling with is need to protect those he loves which went into overdrive after Aodhan’s rescue and subsequent withdrawal from the world. Aodhan is ready to step out back out into his life without Illium standing between him and the world but that desire still leads to moments of fear which then triggers Illium’s desire to protect.
As we bounce back and forth between the past and the future, we will meet many people in Illium’s past who we will come to learn are important to his future.
Obviously, Raphael and Elena are happy/devastated over Illium’s ascension since they lose him as one of the seven but also because Illium and Elena had their own special bond which will now be separated by Illium setting up his own territory.
I think the best part of this ascension is that once we get down to it Illium becomes number 10 of the Cadre, and probably for the first time in the Cadre’s history, a new archangel has more friends than enemies in the council. Obviously, Raphael is ready to help him, knowing immediately that he will be losing Illium and Aodhan, as Illium’s new second. Titus, Illium’s stepfather is ready to help. Caliane, Raphael’s mother and the Hummingbird’s long-time BFF will stand with him. Suyin, as Illium and Aodhan jumped in to lend her a hand when she took over Lijuan’s territory. Alexander might have a wait and see attitude but his love, Zanaya loves the idea of Illium throwing the Cadre into chaos, so they will be friends. Elijah is Raphael’s long-time friend and has known Illium most his life. Marduk has no animosity towards Illium. This leaves his only person to cause Illium any problems and that would be his own father, Aegaeon, who is still holding a grudge that Illium didn’t leave Raphael’s side and join his court when he emerged from his sleep.
Illium has been a very amicable angel and while he has been promoted to be Raphael’s First General at this point due to his battle prowess and strategic strengths, he has also been the first to volunteer to help another angel, archangel or even a simple mortal. Illium is an all around great guy. Everyone knows it and they are flocking to him. And on top of that, this new archangel gives many an opportunity for growth where they might be stagnating for centuries in lower positions since no one has been killed since the War. Many people we meet not only in our jumps to the past but also from prior stories want to join Illium’s new court and be a part of what will be a wonderful new and exciting archangel. And they go with the blessings of their own Archangels who are aware of this opportunity for their best people and who are friendly to Illium. We are excited to see what comes next for Illium, Aodhan and this new court.
What is the downside of a 700 year jump? The fact that the author has written herself into a corner for any stories between Murdak’s awakening and Illium’s ascension since we know there have been no new archangels to join who joined the Cadre as they have been at nine for centuries. We know there have been no great conflicts. We know the Legion has not come back. All the archangel’s wounded during the war with Lijuan apparently are still recovering 700 years later as there is no mention of them emerging and re-taking their place in the Cadre. We have lost all our mortal friends. I am going to presume that any new stories in the Guild Hunter series, which I believe will continue, will need to go forward from this point as 700 years of peace makes for uninteresting stories.
If anyone deserves an ascension, it is Illium but we will certainly miss his antics in NYC.
Favorite Scene:
Upstairs, Montgomery had a veritable feast waiting for him. The butler had laid it out on the table in the library, where Illium had eaten a thousand casual meals, and Illium could’ve kissed him for it. It would’ve been a blow to the fucking heart had Montgomery decided on the main dining room. That was for guests, not family and friends. And never for Illium alone.
Sitting down, he began to fuel himself–and wasn’t the least surprised when Raphael took a seat opposite him not long afterward. “Well done, Bluebell.”
Not pointing out the slip of his nickname–it made him feel normal, at home–Illium clanked his tankard of mead against Raphael’s. “You know what I realized?” he said after swallowing his current mouthful. “That I have more friends on the Cadre than not. Most through you, granted, but Suyin, Titus and you are friends I hold on my own.”
“Yes.” Raphael leaned back in his chair. “The only real problem you have is Aegaeon, and possibly Alexander.”
“Alexander?”
“He’s calmed down since my time, but it’d be wise to be wary. He’s a very old angel, and while he appears settled since he and Zanaya became consorts, you’re a brash new archangel on his border.”
“He offered to give me intelligence about the people in my territory. Should I trust him on that?”
Raphael raised an eyebrow. “If he said that, then yes. Alexander doesn’t play those kinds of games–if he’s going to come at you, it’ll be out in the open. How did you win him over? I’m fairly certain he only tolerates me even now.”
Illium grinned. “Zanaya thinks I’m trouble–and of course, I am Avelina’s favorite grandchild.”
Raphael’s shoulders shook, his grin reaching his eyes just as there was a stir at the doors to Illium’s back. Striding past him, Elena drew back a chair beside Raphael, sat, then glared daggers at Illium. “You ascended!”
“I know. I know. Not my fault.” Pushing her favorite pastry in her direction in mute apology, he said, “But now you have an excuse to visit my side of the world.”
Dressed in black hunter leathers that hadn’t changed much over the centuries except to become closer to soft armor in the protection they provided, the near-white of her hair in a braid, Elena tore off a bite of the pastry. “I am not going to forgive you for this,” she said, and the pastry abandoned, got up again before walking out through the external doors.
Raphael, his expression tender, watched her leave. “Go,” he said to Illium. “You can still be her Bluebell for one more day.”
After that…
Throat choked up, Illium shoved back his chair and went after Elena. She wasn’t on the lawn, but he knew where to find her. Her greenhouse had been renovated and repaired countless times over the years but it remained true to the vision she’d always had for it–there was a sense of age about the structure, the iron of it weathered and curved, the curlicues that Aodhan had designed a few hundred years ago the gentlest touch against the glass, which let in all the glorious light that made her plants thrive.
She’d tested out trailing grapevines on the outside but that had blocked too much light, so her outdoor growing area was behind the greenhouse, and she took great care to keep the glass free of lichens and other growth. The passage of time meant that the glass was no longer as shiny as it had once been, but the patina just made it lovelier.
Opening the door after taking a deep breath, he walked into a humid warmth rich with the earthy kiss of life as familiar to him as the scent of paint and clay that was Aodhan’s studio. The banana palm in one corner groaned heavily with plump yellow fruit, while just-ripe mangoes, their skin red blushing into green, hung on another tree in the opposing corner.
Elena crouched on the floor by the mango tree, working on the underplanting. Her wings lay on the grass floor of the greenhouse in a show of midnight and dawn that rippled with bursts of wildfire, her braid reaching her lower back.
Aware that she knew he was there, he sat down next to her, his wings overlapping hers. And he began to weed and remove dry or old leaves as she’d taught him over the years.
The two of them worked on that bed for a quarter of an hour before she looked at him and said, “I will miss you.” Her voice trembled, her gaze ashine.
He closed his hand over hers, their fingers entwining. “If you don’t visit me at least ten times in the first year, I won’t talk to you for a century.”
Making a wordless sound, she leaned her head against his shoulder, her hair a glow in his vision that reminded him of Aodhan. When she spoke, however, it wasn’t with anger but with the worried love of a friend who’d been with him through multiple seasons of life. “How are you feeling about it?”
Sitting up, she looked at him with eyes of silver-gray that no mortal would ever possess. The Cascade’s mark on Elena had taken time to emerge and settle, but it was there in those eyes that were just a touch too silver to be gray, and in the wings that crackled erratically with fine threads of wildfire.
But when it came to Elena, the external didn’t matter, had never mattered. It was her heart that made her–and that heart was proudly, defiantly mortal. She’d stayed true to herself through the very alteration of her being. So would he. He would not contort himself to fit some ordained vision of what it meant to be Cadre, would not lose himself.
“I…” He took a breath, released it. “Much as I didn’t want ascension, I know it was time. It’s right–I feel it. This is who I was meant to become.”
Elena ran her fingers through is hair. “Just…stay a little be Bluebell, won’t you?” A whisper.
“Not a little bit, Ellie.” Grinning, he rose to his feet and offered her his hand. “I plan to be all Bluebell. The Cadre will learn to deal.”
Lips curving, Elena allowed him to hand her up. “I expect great things,” she said in a voice portentous.
Wow! I cannot wait to read this latest installment. I love Bluebell!