Not like any of the other Hamilton book I have read. I love the underlining religious criticism. There is an all religions are equal feeling. Main character is not a female I did not expect that.

I've been a fan of Laurell Hamilton's for quite some time so was excited to read this book. While it was good I just didn't feel it held up to the quality of some of her earlier works. I did enjoy it and would read additional books in the series.

Really enjoyed this book #1 in a new series from Laurell. Looking forward to book #2 upon its release.

I see this one ascending the best seller lists.

This new series by Laurell K. Hamilton features Detective Zaniel Havelock; “Havoc” to his army buddies and the men and woman of the police department, but Zaniel to the more celestial friends and co-workers. Zaniel spent most of his life training to be a messenger of the angels, although messenger is too broad a term as those training at the College of Angels since there were so many ways to serve the celestial beings and deliver their graces to the humans of the earth. Zaniel’s future at the College was promising and the celestials favored Zaniel, perhaps too much, and after a dozen years of training with the Angels, Zaniel left the College to join the army and later the police, working once again with the Heavens in the “Heaven and Hell” Department, and once again working as a buffer between angels and humans.

When angels seem to have involved themselves into a recent murder, Zaniel is called in to investigate what originally looks like a typical murder but the angels insist that something more sinister is at work, as God had plans for the woman who was murdered and her death is interfering with God’s Plan. Havoc is skeptical at first since nothing interferes with God’s Plan, but when he finds something walking the earth from the bowels of Hell itself, he isn’t certain if a former Angel Speaker is strong enough to defeat such a being without some divine intervention of his own.

I think you need to straddle the fence in your personal beliefs to enjoy this series. Too religious and you might take offense at some things and not enough, and you scoff at some of the thoughts and concepts of heaven and hell among us. And I don’t mean that your beliefs need to center on a specific religious teaching, most of the divine concepts discuss the same basic thoughts of God and the Devil and many of Havoc’s squad are made up of those with some type of religious magic. Havoc’s Lieutenant is a voodoo priest and another woman is a wiccan priestess. Each member of the Heaven and Hell division brings in their own special ability to drive away the demons so believing in angels but contempt for witches will skew your enjoyment of the story. I enjoyed the fact the mix of magics that were brought into the story and how well the department blended those magics and accepted that there wasn’t simply one way to fight the demons.

We are also introduced to the idea that not everyone supports the College of Angels and that not every facet of Angel Speaking is a slice of Heaven. There is discussion of a documentary about the College that paints it as more of a cult and as most of the students are recruited between the ages of 5 and 7, that once these kids go in, that parents aren’t able to reclaim their children, whether it is because they are blocked by the College itself or their children are so brainwashed about their own salience in standing next to the divine.

The College is adamant to keep those students with strong magic since not everyone can interact with the divine without going insane, and the angels (and demons) are heavily influenced by the humans they come into contact with, and the more they come into contact with humans, the more they change and can become Fallen.

I thought it was interesting that Hamilton not only gives leave to Havoc to ask for divine intervention (either for God or angels) but in doing so has to tread carefully between asking assistance vs. demanding help be given. We are also told that everyone has a guardian angel but that they cannot interfere with free will so once again, careful wording is needed for your guardian angel to help keep you safe even from yourself. And again in the blending of thoughts and beliefs, angels aren’t the only guardians which people have and animal totems are also introduced as protectors and the question arises of whether the College of Angels actively destroys any connection to spirits who are not clearly celestial in nature.

I enjoyed how the story blended the excitement of a crime drama with the theological concepts of heaven/hell, angels/demons, and magics which are black, white or grey. Many ideas had me thinking through my own beliefs, although since I absolutely love paranormal fiction, you can guess I am pretty open to most ideas.

Sadly, I wish I had found this story after at least a second novel was published. While there was a current investigation to keep us focused, there was a great deal of world building involved and character introduction and backgrounds to get through. (This is why I love ebooks, I have highlights and notes everywhere.) By the time I hit the end of the story, I was fully invested in the world building and ready to jump into another story and this one isn’t even scheduled for release until August 17th. Now the waiting begins.

This is a promising start to a new series from Laurell K Hamilton. I enjoyed the premise, and the slow reveal of the main characters background. I also enjoyed the fact that the supernatural beings weren't limited to angels and demons. I feel like there is a lot of character development to explore, and I look forward to reading more books in this series.

Laurell K Hamilton's (Anita Blake, Merry Gentry) latest novel, <strong>A Terrible Fall of Angels>, is a nice departure from her previous two series of novels. Angels, demons, spirit totems, familiars, all are here, with nary a fae, shapeshifter, or vampire in sight (so far, anyway).

The main character, Havoc, is a police detective with an interesting past that makes him the perfect person to investigate a horrific attack that leaves a bloody mess and a promise of even more violence, horror, and death before you get to the end.

The characters are engaging in personality and their own stories, rather than engaging in coitus (in the colorful flavors that so many of her readers have become accustomed over the years), and that is a refreshing change. Hopefully this will bring back more of her readers.

She indicates this is the first novel in a series, and based upon this novel, I look forward to reading the others. It is scheduled for release on 17 August 2021.

A Terrible Fall of Angels by Laurell K. Hamilton kicks off a new contemporary supernatural mystery series. If you’re a fan of the early Anita Blake books when there was more crime-solving and less boink-fu, you’ll enjoy this new series.

Zaniel "Havoc" Havelock’s a police detective, formerly an Angel Speaker at the College of Angels. Now he uses his experience with angels to help solve crimes in a world where angels, demons, totems, spirit guides, and loas are all taken matter of factly. He’s called in as the department’s angel/demon expert when there’s a suspected demonic possession.

We also get secondary storylines with Havoc’s wife, Reggie – they’re currently separated and going through counseling. And Havoc has to confront his past, when a classmate from the College is called in as an expert on his case.

This very much felt like a classic Anita Blake story with its first-person POV with some serious snark, lots of gorgeous, badass characters with pretty eyes and hair, and relationship angst, and a fair number of fight scenes. The worldbuilding is really intriguing and she definitely set things up for future books – lots of unresolved/unanswered questions at the end.

Fast-paced, lots of action/fight scenes. A fair amount of mysticism/spirituality/religious discussions – not surprising in a book about angels, demons, and other spiritual beings.

For those who’ve read the later Anita Blake or Merry Gentry books – there’s absolutely no boink fest in this book. Lots of physical touches, not all of it sexual, some heavy flirting and kissing but that’s it!

Shout out for racial/ethnic and LGBTQIA+ and religious representation.

A TERRIBLE FALL OF ANGELS is the beginning of a new series by Laurel K. Hamilton; and so far, Zaniel is pretty different from Mercy, or especially Anita. No long sex scenes or orgies that fill up half the book, but we’ll see as the series goes on. We still have butt kicking characters, though this time our main character is a man. We have angels and demons and, yes, some people with various powers, and we have a gruesome mystery that needs to be solved. It was a good mystery; creepy, edgy, and I was all in for it and how it was solved.

There were a lot of angels and demons; and a quasi-religious theme. At times it gets a little heavy-handed, but I think a lot of that is world building which should hopefully be a little lighter in the next books. If you like Hamilton’s work you’ll like this. The lack of squicky sex scenes and keeping the eye on the plotline was refreshing.

Brand new series from LKH takes us into the world of Angels, Demons and everything in between. This new series pulls me in from the very first few pages. We quickly learn that Zaniel aka Havoc is a very unique cop. Specifically his previous training and upbringing makes him a perfect person to work on the paranormal investigative team because no one of his ilk has left the "fold" willingly.

I am intrigued with this world because of how the angels speak to humans and how they fall. I keep thinking of the Nephilim as I read this book. I also like how different religions and practices are mentioned and interwoven into this world. I can already see a vilification of the Christian faith (as it is described in this book) so for those who are strictly of Christian faith that may take offense to a work of fiction, this book may not be for you. I see it more as a questionable authority and transparency of a religious training ground based on the Christian faith. Zaniel is accurate when he deems this school a cult. The concepts of it reminds me a little bit of the Jesuits with a paranormal twist. I like it.

This book is about a violent homicide that doesn't look exactly right. Zaniel is finding clues that does not match what he knows of Angels and Demons. What is worse is that a world he thought he left behind is now pulling him back in. There are many conflicts between different characters and their perspectives are nicely put forth. I like how there are not absolutes. There are many shades of grey here. I also like the different spirit guides and Zaniel finally opening that pandora's box he shut down and locked away. This first book does a great job in world building as well as character building. There are several questions that are raised which I think will carry through as subplots through the rest of this series. It will be interesting to see where Ms. Hamilton goes with this series. This series shows high potential of a rich world building, complex characters and harder hitting suspense. I would categorize this possibly as urban fantasy and I'm loving it. This book is recommended to Urban Fantasy readers who like a male protagonist who wrangles angels.

I really enjoyed this book, I'm so glad that Laurell K. Hamilton has a new series. I gave up on Anita Blake long ago, but this seems like the start of something great. I enjoyed the main character and the world building is amazing. The concepts Hamilton brings to life--the different types of angels and who can access them and how. The other religions and beliefs co-exiting. The idea of the College of Angels. It's a new, refreshing world.

Um…LKH? This you, girl???

So I totally hesitated when deciding whether or not to read this.

I sort of think LKH readers come in a couple of different types. There are those of us who love the butt-kicking women and the enthralling supernaturals, but are a little tired of the insert this body part into this one and this one and this one squicky orgies. And then there those of us who also love the butt-kicking women and the enthralling supernaturals but also love all the squicky orgies.

I’m the please-not-another-squicky-orgy type. This book was for me!

So I’ll warn you from the start that if you’re after nothing but supernatural sexcapades, this one isn’t for you. We still have butt kicking characters, though our main character is a man. We have angels and demons and, yes, some people with various powers, LGBTQ characters, etc. And we have a gruesome mystery that needs to be solved, asap! I loved our mystery – it was creepy, edgy, and I was all in for it.

With the angels and demons, there’s a really heavy religious theme here (not necessarily Christian, just religion). At times it gets a little heavy-handed, but I think a lot of that is world building which should be a little lighter in the next books.

Do I believe that eventually we might go back to threesomes, foursomes and moresomes? I mean…this is LKH, so yeah. But with this start to a new series, I’m (so far) on board.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

I love Laurell K. Hamilton's work. I really loved the paranormal-mystery-ness of the earlier Anita Blake series and only lost interest in them because the erotica side of the story became too prevelant. So I really love this new story about a cop working a paranomal mystery. It was a breath of fresh air that I needed in my reading life and I am eager to keep up with this new series.