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Misguided Angel

Melissa De La Cruz

Published 2010            265 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

After inheriting the dark Van Alen Legacy, Schuyler fled to Florence – with her forbidden love, Jack. Now the two of them must embark on the mission Schuyler was destined to complete: to find and protect the seven gates that guard earth from Lucifer, lord of the Silverbloods.

As the Blue Blood enclave weakens yet further, fate leads Schuyler closer to a terrifying crossroads – and a choice that will determine the destiny of all vampires.

The Review

Misguided Angel is the fifth book in Melissa De La Cruz’s addictive Blue Bloods urban fantasy series. The Blue Bloods books follow the fortunes of a privileged group of teenaged vampires who are coming into their powers while fighting evil incarnate – the machinations of Lucifer who wants to escape from Hell and rule over Earth. Previous books have covered the development of characters’ relationships and of the world in peril plotline, so if you are new to Blue Bloods don’t start here – these books need to be read in series order.

Misguided Angel starts from where The Van Alen Legacy finished off. The opening pages see Jack and Schuyler, plotting their escape from the European Coven. Originally the Europeans gave the young lovers sanctuary from the New York coven, who want to see Jack killed after he abandoned his bonded mate to be with Schuyler instead, but the pair soon realised that they were prisoners rather than guests. Needing to complete their mission to find the Gate of Promise, Jack and Schuyler make a daring escape. This storyline takes up the first third of the book.

Next the focus switches to Mimi, Jack’s abandoned twin, in New York. Mimi is now in charge of the coven, hence the coven’s drive to see Jack dead, but she soon finds herself with more problems in the form of a leaked YouTube video of a kidnapped vampire. The cover-up of the vampire video is easy enough but locating the missing vampire before she’s killed by her abductors proves more difficult. This storyline takes up the second third of the book.

The final third of the book introduces a new character, Deming Chen. Deming is a Venator from the Chinese coven, tasked with finding the party responsible for the vampire kidnapping when it begins to look like an inside job. Deming is the Angel of Mercy and has some unique powers and attributes that make her an ideal investigator. It appears she will be part of further novels, exploring a new storyline involving an evil plot hatched by humans and demons.

Overall Misguided Angel has something of an “inbetweener” feel. Its purpose appears to be to bridge the gap between the events of the previous book and whatever happens in the next book of this series. Jack and Schuyler’s storyline is disappointingly brief. Mimi’s part of the story does a little work to further her character development but ultimately is more of an introduction to Deming’s part of the story. Deming’s part of the story is just a vehicle to reveal the new threat to the fallen angels. Ultimately this fractured book just doesn’t stand-up well on its own, as part of a series it’s okay but I doubt any series fan will ever say this is their absolute favourite Blue Bloods book.

Misguided Angel isn’t the most coherent book in the series either. While coyly revealing a new type of evil supernatural being, comprehension is sacrificed. In places it’s a struggle to keep up with the historical past-lives, past-mystery, part of the plotline. This time readers are transported to 15th century Italy to see clues from the past to tie-up with the mystery going on in the current timeframe. Only I didn’t feel transported to the past, I felt abruptly transplanted and thoroughly bewildered.

The book’s short page count (over 100 pages less than The Van Alen Legacy) and the fractured feeling of its scanty content make it feel like poor value for money for readers purchasing this book. Frankly, this isn’t the best book Melissa De La Cruz has ever written. It suffers in comparison to Revelations or The Van Alen Legacy, but it’s not terrible either. While most of the book is disappointingly average, Deming’s part of the story recaptures lost interest before readers depart and gives series fans reason to anticipate the next instalment of this popular series.

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