Review: Blood and Feathers / Author: Lou Morgan / Publisher: Solaris / Release Date: Out Now

The current trend in urban fantasy fiction is for tales about the war between heaven and hell, now that the market for stories about blood-sucking teenage dreamboats seems to have become exhausted. This is not a bad thing however; there is a vast wealth of lore about angels and demons that will be familiar to most of the target audience.

Blood and Feathers draws upon the things that everyone knows about, celestial agents, and adds some entertaining twists. The tale focuses on Alice, a young lady who unknowingly has a little touch of the divine within her, and becomes embroiled in the war between heaven and hell. The tale starts off strongly with some nice physical horror and the promise of more to come. What we get is a character driven tale filled with mysteries piled upon mysteries. Morgan’s version of the angelic host is one filled with politics, bitterness and betrayal. Tired yet immortal warriors waging a seemingly endless war beneath the noses of an unwitting (and perhaps uncaring) humanity may be a cliché, but it also makes a good backdrop for a thriller.

Despite these strong foundations, Blood and Feathers doesn’t quite fulfil its potential. The main protagonists are engaging, but the author’s style isn’t quite strong enough to carry them forward. There are some great key moments, but overall it fails to deliver the sort of impact it promises at the beginning.  However, this is a debut novel and I do hope that subsequent books in the series (the next one will be called Rebellion) improve upon what could be a rather brilliant sequence of books. Lou Morgan has a very peculiar and slightly twisted vision of the world, and I look forward to reading what she writes next.