
Highborn by Yvonne Navarro
Highborn begins with a vividly described scene of Hell. Astarte, a fallen angel, watches the daily round of horrors from her bloodstained tower, and decides she wants out. We then cut to Astarte, having escaped Hell and calling herself Brynna Malak, as she adjusts to life in modern-day Chicago. Brynna can understand any language she hears. She’s less adept at navigating other aspects of human life: how to feel empathy, how to pet a dog, and why you shouldn’t just wander away from the scene when you witness a murder. Yvonne Navarro does a terrific (and often funny) job of portraying a character who just doesn’t “get” social norms and has a lot of acclimating to do.
Brynna soon learns that someone is killing nephilim in the city. Nephilim are the children of angels and mortal women, and each is born for a specific, divine purpose. Killing them not only s... Read More