FROM PUBLISHER: In Dark Angel, Gillian is saved from drowning by her guardian angel. Only visible to Gillian, Angel will fulfill her heart's every desire. But when Angel starts making strange and sinister requests, Gillian must question who he truly is and where he came from. ( )

I wasn't really as much of a fan of this one as others so far in this series. Gillian is walking home and hears crying nearby. Her investigation causes her to fall through the ice and nearly die. While dying, she meets this mysterious "Angel" who encourages her to go back. When she does, she finds she can still hear Angel in her head and his advice to her is affecting her life in both positive and negative ways.

This really didn't fit with the style and format of the series so far. It was also largely a bummer without any kind of happy ending or soulmate-finding. ( )

The fourth entry in L.J. Smith's Night World series, about a secret world of vampires, witches and shape-shifters that exists alongside the human one, Dark Angel follows the story of Gillian Lennox, a seemingly ordinary high school junior. When a brush with death leads her to "Angel," a beautiful, otherworldly being, Gillian suddenly finds everything she's ever wanted - a new appearance, popularity, a romance with cute senior David Blackburn - within her reach. She also discovers that she is a witch, gifted with extraordinary powers. But as "Angel" begins to ask her to do harmful and dangerous things, Gillian begins to wonder if he's everything he claims...

Generally considered the weakest in the series, I have read reviews that describe Dark Angel as boring and rather pedestrian. But while there is certainly a healthy dose of teen cliches to be found here, from the popular "mean girls" to the loyal but geeky "true friend," Smith does fairly well with a worn formula, communicating Gillian's sense of loneliness, and her desperate longing to belong: "There's got to be someplace I belong, something I'm meant to do that's different. Because I don't fit in this world, in this life. And if there isn't something more, I'd rather be dead." I imagine that Gillian's feelings will resonate with many teens, just as the fantasy of suddenly becoming popular will seem very familiar to them.

The real weakness of Dark Angel is not the teen melodrama, which any reasonable reader would expect from a series devoted to the idea of forbidden supernatural love as a pathway to redemption and healing. No, the chief trouble with this entry in the series is that it feels disconnected from the other books, and one sees very little of the Night World itself. There is one cameo appearance by Ash Redfern (of Secret Vampire and Daughters of Darkness), as well as some brief interaction with a young witch named Melusine. But other than that, this could be a free-standing novel, which is something of a disappointment given the care that Smith has taken to build up her world in the first three books. ( )

In a departure from what, four books into a nine book series, has already become formula, LJ Smith presents the story of Gillian, a girl who nearly dies, only to be saved (and eerily inhabited) by a mysterious being named Angel.The Night World elements take a back-seat to the story of Gillian's rise to social power thanks to Angel's advice. High school, and the lonely, complicated lives of high schoolers, is also at the forefront here. Gillian's miserable home life (alcoholic mother, absent father), social invisibility, and low self esteem are related with stunning and painful accuracy. Although there are plenty of parentless children in YA literature, there are few truly poor kids and fewer latchkey children. It was difficult to pinpoint precisely what was so spot-on about Gillian's life, but the details--particularly her troubled relationship with her best friend Amy, who has recently ditched her for a boyfriend--probably had something to do with it. I couldn't get over the feeling that I knew Gillian, or girls very nearly like her, during my own high school career.And the situation Smith creates with Angel is appropriately horrific. Angel infests her and instructs her to climb socially. He also convinces her to enact magic spells against her social enemies and tries to convince her that they belong together emotionally, that he is her soulmate. The conceit is strange and fairly original (although I think Stephanie Meyer did something similar in the Host?), which makes for fast, gripping reading through the novel's first third.Unfortunately, the Night World elements--the forced presence of Gillian's true soulmate, the lazy inclusion of a few recurring characters--distracts from the really solid elements of Dark Angel. What should be a scary, honest book becomes instead a neatly resolved ghost story. This definitely should have been a stand alone novel; the concept easily warrants it. ( )

One winter day Gillian Lennox almost dies... and is saved by an angel. His hair is golden. His eyes are as violet as her own. And when Gillian comes back from her near-death experience, he comes with her. An invisible guardian that only Gillian can see, her whispers the secrets of popularity in her ear. Overnight, the once-shy Gillian becomes a sensation. David, the boy she has loved for years notices her.

But then Angel begins to make bizarre demands. To draw Gillian into a world of risk and dark excitement. At last, she has to face the terrifying question: Who is Angel? What has she brought back from the Other Side? And can sht his secret before it is too late...?

To me this was the weakest book in the series. I loved the series, but this is the lowest book for me! ( )