The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce, is the opening book in the Darkangel Trilogy. The book was first published in 1982, but in 2007 Little, Brown reissued paperback versions aimed at YA (which in my opinion was an excellent idea or I may have totally missed reading it!)
Aeriel, a young slave girl and Eoduin, her mistress, protector and friend are in the mountains gathering nectar for Eoduin’s cousin’s bridal cup. The fair Eoduin is snatched and borne away by the darkangel, a stunningly beautiful youth with wings of shadow. The darkangel, also known as a vampyre, is an undead being with a heart of lead. In order to please his mother and come to full power, he must drink the souls of 14 wives. Eoduin is to be his thirteenth.
Aeriel risks her life to follow them to the darkangel’s ruined castle. There, Aeriel is also captured. Instead of killing her as he first intends, the darkangel forces her to weave gowns for his wraith-like wives, who have grown so insubstantial by his feeding on them that they are weighed down by cloth woven of even the lightest spider silks.
As the darkangel prepares to bring home his fourteenth and final wife, Aeriel is reluctant to act against him. Though time is running out, she finds his cruel beauty irresistible and senses that the barest hint of humanity may still survive within him.
Like others before and after it, The Darkangel is a fairy-tale fantasy of a young girl digging out the hidden soul in a physically beautiful but soulless creature. I wonder why we love this theme so. This story predates a lot of the modern ones including the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and I’m glad the publisher decided to reissue this series in time to take advantage of the surge in popularity of romantic vampire stories.
Five daggers out of five – and I’m really looking forward to reading the next two, A Gathering of Gargoyles and The Pearl of the Soul of the World.
Fairy-tale fantasy loving, missing her two cousins and yours,
Twyla Lee
Aeriel, a young slave girl and Eoduin, her mistress, protector and friend are in the mountains gathering nectar for Eoduin’s cousin’s bridal cup. The fair Eoduin is snatched and borne away by the darkangel, a stunningly beautiful youth with wings of shadow. The darkangel, also known as a vampyre, is an undead being with a heart of lead. In order to please his mother and come to full power, he must drink the souls of 14 wives. Eoduin is to be his thirteenth.
Aeriel risks her life to follow them to the darkangel’s ruined castle. There, Aeriel is also captured. Instead of killing her as he first intends, the darkangel forces her to weave gowns for his wraith-like wives, who have grown so insubstantial by his feeding on them that they are weighed down by cloth woven of even the lightest spider silks.
As the darkangel prepares to bring home his fourteenth and final wife, Aeriel is reluctant to act against him. Though time is running out, she finds his cruel beauty irresistible and senses that the barest hint of humanity may still survive within him.
Like others before and after it, The Darkangel is a fairy-tale fantasy of a young girl digging out the hidden soul in a physically beautiful but soulless creature. I wonder why we love this theme so. This story predates a lot of the modern ones including the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer and I’m glad the publisher decided to reissue this series in time to take advantage of the surge in popularity of romantic vampire stories.
Five daggers out of five – and I’m really looking forward to reading the next two, A Gathering of Gargoyles and The Pearl of the Soul of the World.
Fairy-tale fantasy loving, missing her two cousins and yours,
Twyla Lee
(This post is dedicated to Serafina-Zane.)
7 Comments on The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce, last added: 7/10/2008
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I LOVED THIS BOOK!
Ohh, I'd never heard of this one. I'll definitely be adding it to my wishlist. :)
Sounds excellent. I bet not a few Twilighters will be surprised to learn that people wrote books like this about vampires before Steph Meyer. ;)
Ha, thanks! new review!
I remember the library at my middle school had this book, and little sixth-grade Serafina was always a little too creeped out to get it out. But positive reviews make me want to really read it out now.
This is a great series. Looking forward to hearing what you think of the next two.
oooh this sounds like a great book!
hey i was wondering do you mind if we link you? over at the blind sisters?
Certainly you can link us! We'll be putting up a link section of our own soon.