Review & Giveaway: THE BLACK ANGEL

The Black Angel by John Connolly
Read by Jeff Harding
Book 5 of Charlie Parker series
Genre: paranormal crime fiction
Format: paperback & audiobook

About The Black Angel:

When a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel -- considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins.

Source: Info in the About The Black Angel was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175245.The_Black_Angel on 08/10/2012.

Review:

Some of the symbolic items mentioned in the book were so intricate that I wished I had a talent in drawing so that I could render them in an artist's interpretation, like for example the black angel as described in the book. My brain itches to do so! I just don't have the talent, nor the software, to do it. The best image I can come up with from googling the internet is a human femur to represent the symbolic items with human bones in the book. Yeah, artistic, that's me. But, perhaps it is another indication of how insidiously good this author is in weaving a story around a reader's mind which incites mental images so vivid that drives one to seek a visual representation of it. Even to such as me with no artistic talent whatsoever. Kudos to the story telling quality!! Having said that, this book kinda dragged a little bit at the start. However it picked up soon thereafter and continued on gathering momentum until the very end! And what a ride!!

In Book 2 and Book 3, I complained about the paranormal elements being inserted into the story that went nowhere and barely related to the story. In this book, those loose ends now make more sense. And I like it when things come together to present the bigger picture. It has a satisfying feel to it. I think this may be my favouritest book in the series thus far.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (17 hrs and 26 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narrator = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


GIVEAWAY:
This giveaway is suppose to be part of the MY FAVORITE READS HOP co-hosted by Rachelle Christensen & I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. However that giveaway hop seems to have been cancelled... but there is no reason for the rest of us not to have fun and for you guys to win these awesome books!

I want to spread some Charlie Parker geekiness and share with you my love of this series so I am giving away my paperback copy of EVERY DEAD THING and DARK HOLLOW to one lucky reader! That is the first two books in the Charlie Parker series. And yes, this is an international giveaway which means I will mail the books to any address in the world so long as the postman can reach you.

This book giveaway ends on June 6 and is open to international readers. Winner will be picked via rafflecopter's random.org system and announced soon thereafter. Winner will also be sent an email notification with this email address: cherrymischif-winnr[at]yahoo[dot]com, in which winner has to reply within 72 hours to claim the prize or another winner will be picked. Please read the Terms & Conditions at the bottom of the rafflecopter form and the blog Disclaimer as it forms part of the giveaway rules. Fill in the rafflecopter below to enter. If rafflecopter does not load in your browser, leave your email address in the comment section (in broken pattern same as my email above to avoid spam bots) and that will include you in the draw, however, you will not be able to take advantage of the optional entries offered in the rafflecopter. More entries means more chances of winning. Alternatively you can try and see if you could access the rafflecopter form HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway If you can't see the rafflecopter form, try going HERE.