{Review} of Black Lament by Christina Henry

Black Lament by Christina Henry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THEME: Demons/Magic/Paranormal
RECEIVED: ACE
AUTHORS BLOG: Christina Henry's Site

BLURB:

As an Agent of Death, Madeline Black deals with loss every day. But when tragedy touches her own life, Maddy will have to find the strength within to carry on… 

Devastated and grieving, Maddy unexpectedly finds hope with the discovery that she is pregnant. But Maddy’s joy is short lived when Lucifer informs her that he wants the baby, hoping to draw on the combined power of two of his bloodlines. Maddy is determined that her grandfather will never have her child, but she’s not sure what she can do to stop him. 

Being pregnant is stressful enough, but Maddy suddenly finds herself at odds with the Agency—forbidden from meddling in the affairs of the supernatural courts. When a few of her soul collections go awry, Maddy begins to suspect that the Agency wants to terminate her employment. They should know by now that she isn’t the sort to give up without a fight…

REVIEW:
I was very weary about starting Black Lament, the ending of the previous book broke my heart in so many ways as the reader and for the lead character Maddy. I felt the relationship between Maddy and Gabriel didn’t get enough build up, but with this book starting right in the aftermath, the reader really feels that emptiness from the previous books.

Black Lament follows the very strong willed Madeline Black, once again fighting for her life. After the loss of her husband Gabriel she is heartbroken and now with a baby on the way she has a lot more to protect. Maddy not only wants revenge on her father Azazel for the loss of Gabriel but has to deal with the on going threat and attacks from the faerie court. Life is never easy for the granddaughter of Lucifer.

Maddy, I swear more and more this girl is reminding me a lot of Anita Blake from Laurell K Hamilton’s series. She just keeps on getting stronger and more powerful and I don’t really know why. Some may think she was super reckless in this book but she just lost the love of her life, so I gave her a break from running in head first. Everyone is telling her to be careful, think of the baby and try not to make someone else her enemy, but she totally ignores everyone. In the end I’m still not sure what her weakness is besides the people closest to her but this girl is unstoppable and now with her little one coming, she’s might get even more powerful.

The gang of course is back and my favorite bits of the story have them all in it. Beezle, Maddy’s trusted and always hungry Gargoyle is the humor of all the books and pretty much the one who keeps Maddy stable. Samuel gets a love interest and along with Beezle is by Maddy’s side. We also get a lot of Jude, the werewolf and ally of Maddy who takes a lead role in helping her find Azazel and save her fellow agents. J.B, who always seems to make me smile, his heart still is for Madeline but I feel she wont ever let him in emotionally. Then of course Nathaniel, I was actually surprised that he was brought back into Madeline’s life, but he helps them a lot, even though they don’t trust him. I’m not a real fan of his character and hope he just becomes apart of the gang instead of a love interest again.

Some side stories that came about were of the faerie court, dealing with classic characters such as Titania and Oberon, along with the interesting Puck. Even though I liked the idea of bringing in a new evil threat, I felt there was already so much going on with Azazel as the villain. The ending was a great new start to the series and I hope will pace the story a little better the next time around. It’s pretty shocking what happens not only to Maddy but what Azazel created and left behind for her to deal with.

Overall, this took a little dip from what I loved in the previous books but I feel that everything that happened in this book was so built up that it was a relief to see some bit of conclusion. The characters are still strong and really held on to the plot and kept me reading. I look forward to the next task for Maddy and her friends to battle.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is an adult romance that brings out the best of Urban Fantasies, Fans of Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassins series and Devon Monks Allie Beckstrom series, then Christina Henrys Madeline Black series is the perfect fit!

View all my reviews