Review of Black Wings by Christina Henry

Black Wings (Madeline Black #1) by Christina Henry
Adult Urban Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback
Published February 24, 2010 by ACE
Source: Purchased

As an Agent of Death, Madeline Black is responsible for escorting the souls of the dearly departed to the afterlife. It's a 24/7 job with a lousy benefits package.

Maddy's position may come with magical powers and an impressive wingspan, but it doesn't pay the bills. And then there are her infuriating boss, tenant woes, and a cranky, popcorn-loving gargoyle to contend with.

Things start looking up, though, when tall, dark, and handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in Maddy's building. It's probably just a coincidence that as soon as he moves in demons appear on the front lawn. But when an unholy monster is unleashed upon the streets of Chicago, Maddy discovers powers she never knew she possessed. Powers linked to a family legacy of tarnished halos.

Powers that place her directly between the light of Heaven and the fires of Hell...

I've had this book for ages and only just found some time to fit it in.  I do love urban fantasy and have been reading much more of it in the past month or so.  And this is another series to add to my must-read list.  It was full of action, which made for a fast read and Madeline was a character that I can truly stand behind.  She has some snark and isn't afraid to stand her ground, but yet she's not quite idiotic in her decisions, she knows where to draw the line even though it's extremely difficult for her to shut her trap.  I always find myself annoyed when the heroine just pushes things too far and Madeline didn't do that.

I really liked the world created.  Maddy is an agent of death but other then that she lives a normal life pretty much.  As an agent of death she has a job (this includes paperwork and all that) where she's assigned people to escort to the door (Heaven or whatever) or to let them be released if they so choose to not leave and want to stick to earth as a ghost.  But this job of Maddy's, well, we don't get to see it too much because straight away things start happening.   She discovers she has more in her blood then just being an agent and 'someone' (or someone's) is trying to kill her.  Then Gabriel shows up to rent her apartment downstairs and well, there's more to him then meets the eye.  

This book is full of demons, nephilim, angels, and so much more.  We know that there are vampires and faeries and other creatures, but we aren't introduced to them in this book.  Oh, and Maddy has a gargoyle who is her guardian or whatever and he's a pretty funny little guy who loves popcorn.   


The romance is light as there's mostly just developing feelings going on.  They really know they care about eachother, and may even believe they are in love, but they can't do anything about it.  I think a forbidden romance makes a story so much sweeter but it can also be frustrating.  It's hard to say which way this one will go but so far I definitely feel the heat between them and am rooting for them that it all works out.  


Overall this is a great start to a series and didn't seem to have info dumps or too complicated of plot for a first book.  There were a few things that sometimes confused me because suddenly there were all these demon things I got them confused at first, but it didn't take long for them all to be sorted in my head.  There's quite a lot of gore in this book so be prepared for that...  I definitely recommend this book to urban fantasy readers though!


4/5 stars