Christina Henry - Black Howl

The third book in the Black Wings series, published February 28, 2012.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: good



Madeline Black is an agent of death, meaning she escorts the souls of people who have died to the afterlife. But lately, some spirits don't feel like crossing over…
Something is wrong with the souls of Chicago's dead. Ghosts are walking the streets, and Agent of Death Madeline Black's exasperating boss wants her to figure out why. At the same time, the pact that Maddy unwittingly made with the local werewolves comes back to bite her when their alpha is kidnapped. As Lucifer's heir, she should be able to discover who - or what - is responsible for both occurrences, but the fallen haven't been too happy with her since she agreed to harbor Gabriel's half brother, Samiel.
And while work is bad enough, Maddy has a plethora of personal problems too. Now that Gabriel has been assigned as her thrall, their relationship has hit an impasse. At least her sleazy ex-fiancé Nathaniel is out of the picture--or so she thinks…


I have fallen hard for this series, as it hits all my buttons. I love the heroine, Maddy, whose life is overturned completely when she finds out who her father is: Azazel, one of the Fallen, and even more when she finds out she is Lucifer's many-greats granddaughter. They both want her in their court and under their thumb, but Maddy has no intention of doing that, and succumbing to their laws and wishes. She has her own life, and her job as an Agent of Death is important to her. She has friends, and a man she can't have according to Nephilim law: Gabriel, one of Lucifer's grandsons and a thrall, which is some kind of slave.
After rescuing him in the previous book, he is now given to her as her thrall, and she doesn’t like that at all. Besides, Gabriel only obeys her when he wants to. His job is to keep her safe, and that is very hard work with all the enemies she has made lately.

The story is fast paced and Maddy heads into danger to safe her friends and allies, no matter what. She faces scores of demons, to safe the abducted werewolf cubs, fights giant spiders although she is arachnaphobic (as am I) and braves her father's court to extract a traitor…


I was happy for something that Lucifer made happen, after he manoeuvred her into taking a job for him she never would have accepted, but in the end I cried my eyes out. What an evil ending, I am so glad I have the whole series on my shelves already.
Maddy is spunky, still learning to control her powers, loyal and hard working. She is not rich, or extremely pretty, she is just a normal women with very unnormal powers and jobs. Maddy refuses to touch her father's money as she doesn't want to be beholden to him. All she wanted was a father who would love and accept her, and all Azazel wants is to uses her for his own purposes. Like marry her off to Nathaniel, one of his flunkies.

Lots of danger, lots of action, and lots of humor, especially with Beezle, her guardian gargoyle (who is only the size of a guinea pig and loves to eat donuts and popcorn and other bad stuff). I really like Christina Henry's writing style, her sense of humor and who she makes me fall in love with the characters so fast. She really engages my emotions, and that makes it a good series.

9 stars.

© 2016 Reviews by Aurian