Review | Angelopolis, Danielle Trussoni

I grew up Catholic, and so have been somewhat familiar with angel mythology all my life. From the protective guardian angel of childhood to the romantic figure of books and movies in my teens (City of Angels, anyone?) and finally to the complex, deeply flawed yet sympathetic fallen angel as portrayed by Dante, angels are such fascinating figures that I’m surprised angel novels have never made it as big as vampires or werewolves. I haven’t read Danielle Trussoni’s Angelology, so I began the second book in the series Angelopolis with no idea what to expect.

Possibly because of the cover and an overheard (and unfortunate, in my view) comparison to Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches, I thought the story was going to be a romance between an angel and an angel hunter (here called “angelologists”), something of a Romeo and Juliet type tale, but with angels. To my delight, Angelopolis is light on the romance and more of a suspense thriller with an interesting mix of science and mythology.

The novel introduces us to an entire hierarchy of angels. There are far too many to keep straight, but the primary villains appear to be the half-human, half-angel Nephilim. They are dangerous to humans — not only do they delight in inflicting pain, but, like any villain worth anything, they have a master plan to take over the world. The heroine, Evangeline, is an odd angel/human hybrid who was raised as human. Her true nature isn’t completely understood, but she appears to be an especially powerful type of angel who presumably can thwart the Nephilim’s plans if she can only harness her power.

The hero, Verlaine, is an angelologist, and when Evangeline gets captured by Eno, one of the most skilled Nephilim assassins in history, he gathers a team of angelologists to rescue her. (Her capture is on the book flap and happens fairly early on, so I don’t really consider it a spoiler.) Along the way, he tries to unravel the mystery of the Faberge egg Evangeline has given him — what do these eggs have to do with angels, and how can they help him understand Evangeline’s true nature?

Trussoni has tapped into a world of unbelievably rich mythology, and I only wish she could have delved deeper into it. Instead, we get information on Evangeline’s past, and on the work of her parents, both of whom are angelologists. Trussoni does a great job in blurring the lines between hero and villain when it comes to angels and angelologists — while angels generally appear dangerous to humans, the heroine of the series is herself an angel, and even though angelologists are on the side of humanity, angelologists like Danielle’s parents are not above some really murky, Gitmo Bay type activities.

The novel presents us with some really fascinating characters — Eno for one is particularly intriguing, and I personally found her a much more compelling figure than the rather bland, colourless Evangeline. There’s also the really fascinating character backstory of Verlaine’s boss, whose desire to capture Eno is deeply personal. These are threads I wish could have been explored further, and in some ways, these secondary characters took on a life far more than the main characters did.

I’m sure Evangeline played a major part in the first book, and will again in the third book, enough to merit being the heroine of the series, but in this book at least, she was mostly forgettable, a figurehead and symbol rather than a real character, a sort of holy grail for Verlaine and the Nephilim. Worse, she did something that is a major, major pet peeve for me. Minor spoiler alert — if you wish not to read, please skip to the next paragraph: The reason she was captured in the first place, and set off Verlaine’s need to rescue her is due to a really stupid, misguided sense of ethics. As a supremely powerful angel, she actually defeats Eno in battle, then decides she refuses to kill anyone, so instead of actually dealing a decisive blow (or even knocking Eno out or tying her up or something), Evangeline surrenders. So quite frankly, later on when she is trapped in a laboratory and feeling really scared, all I could think was that she brought it on herself.

The ending was a letdown as well. It was definitely building up to something big for the third book, but events just seemed rushed, almost perfunctory. After the fascinating buildup of most of the book, the climax itself was a whimper. Given the events in the final few scenes, they should have been epic, but instead, they were just lackluster.  And at several points, many involving Evangeline, all I could do was scratch my head and think, huh? Decisions by several of the characters made no sense to me, and the final line of the book just seemed to come from nowhere.

Despite the ending however, Angelopolis is a fun, fascinating thriller. I think it works as a standalone, though perhaps if I’d read Angelology, Evangeline’s plight and the ending would have meant more to me. I do wish Trussoni had explored certain characters and plot lines further, as well as delved a bit deeper into angel mythology, and therefore into Christian mythology. I’m not particularly religious, yet I did hope to read more about god’s role in Trussoni’s take on angel mythology, mostly because that would have set the angels apart from random supernatural beings with wings, regardless of how cool those supernatural beings are. There are references to the garden of Eden and to Noah’s ark and possibly other Christian references I missed, but I guess I was hoping for a bit more of the fallen angel mythos, and their view of a god that has thrown them or their lineage out of paradise.

+

Thank you to Random House of Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you as well to the publisher for the chance to meet the author.

If you’re interested in reading this book yourself, I’m giving away a copy signed by the author. Canadians only. Enter here.

Review | The Clock of Life, Nancy Klann-Moren

Jason Lee Rainey has big shoes to fill. His father was a civil rights activist who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and later died serving in the Vietnam war. Growing up in Hadlee, Mississippi in the 1980s, Jason Lee struggles to overcome his community’s attitudes about race and the scorn he faces as a white boy whose best friend is black.

Nancy Klann-Moren’s The Clock of Life is a striking coming of age story about wanting to change the world and coming to terms with the sheer enormity of the world’s problems. While the novel can get a bit heavy handed with symbolism — the portentous tone of the title, for example, or Jason Lee’s PTSD-suffering war vet uncle coping by carving See/Hear/Speak No Evil monkeys, Klann-Moren refrains from tipping over into sentimentality.

Jason Lee is a compelling character, though I wish his best friend Samson was explored in more detail. Still, Klann-Moren makes the right choice in not making too big a deal of their friendship. While others in their community may think it wrong that a white boy and a black boy are friends, and express that view openly, Jason Lee and Samson at least act like the rightness of their friendship shouldn’t even be in question. Their relationship at least is colour blind, and it is only when other characters comment on it, or threaten to beat them up that we realize the courage it takes for these boys to be friends.

Jason Lee’s uncle is another compelling character. His memories of the Vietnam war, and his fear and anger at certain members of the community serve as a constant reminder that one can’t simply label the past as history and move on. Rather, some things are still very much a problem at the present. Klann-Moren offers us glimpses into history through news clippings and historical documents, thus integrating them really well with the present day story of Jason Lee.

Minor note that while the writing is strong, there are several typos in the book, just enough to irk me enough to mention it. [Note: The author has just informed me that a later edition of the book - after she sent me this copy - has corrected the typos.] Many of the characters are interesting, with Jason Lee and his uncle being the most explored, however I wish the villains had been less stock characters and better fleshed out.

Overall, however, Clock of Life is a compelling narrative. Klann-Moren takes on themes like racism and PTSD, and to her credit, doesn’t flinch at the violence and horror of those topics.

A note as well, that the author has just informed me that Clock of Life is a Finalist in the 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Well deserved, in my view.

+

Thank you to the author for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

 

Review | Icons, Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures co-author Margaret Stohl begins a new YA dystopia/fantasy series with Icons. Aliens have taken over the world, and a select group of teens have supernatural powers, though it’s unclear where the powers came from, or what the purpose of these powers are (presumably to defeat the aliens and taken back human freedom?).

As the first book in any series, the primary task of Icons is to establish its world and introduce readers to the characters. As such, it does start off a bit slow, though I enjoyed the introductory scenes of Dol and her best friend Ro in the countryside. The introductory chapters in particular have much too many parallels to The Hunger Games. Apart from the obvious — dystopian world — there’s the female protagonist Dol with hot, brooding, angsty male best friend Ro who wants to overthrow the system, they’re each the only one who really understands the other, they both enjoy spending time in the outdoors. Then, we later meet Lucas, instantly recognizable to any avid YA reader as the other point in this love triangle, who is a blond ray of light and love, connecting to Dol in a very different, much more hopeful way than Ro’s anger does, and who has a natural ability to charm people. Katniss, Gale and Peeta, anyone? Dol however does suffer in comparison to Katniss, being a much less kick ass, much more emo heroine.

That being said, it’s hard to fault Dol for being emo. The superpowers in this series are closely linked to emotions, and to anyone who has studied a bit of Spanish, Dol’s full name Doloria gives a pretty strong hint what emotion she embodies. Stohl tries to broaden Dol’s range a bit by also gifting her with a heightened sense of empathy, but really, being born with the innate capacity for sorrow must really suck. There isn’t any subtlety with Stohl’s treatment of the teens and their powers, which is unfortunate given the potential richness of the world she has created. Take for example the character names: Ro’s real name is Furo, which explains why he’s always angry, Lucas’ full name is Lucas Amare (light and love), etc. It’s all just a bit too obvious, and when it comes to predicting how characters will react to any given situation, their names pretty much say it all.

Still, the book is a fun read overall, and the story picks up when Dol and Ro are captured and sent to the embassy. Along with Lucas and a fourth teen Tima, they are monitored and their abilities tested, and while the purpose is unclear, intriguing snippets from rebel documents hint at the symbolic significance of these powers. Stohl drops just enough hints to keep the villains intriguing — the aliens’ human representative, Ambassador Amare (Lucas’ mother, which adds an interesting dimension to both characters) is as much a victim of these aliens rather than a pure villain, and the ending hints at a much more emotionally gripping sequel.

I also love that the protagonist is a person of colour, as well, that the Ambassador, probably the highest position a human can attain in Stohl’s world, is a woman, Lucas’ mother rather than his father. Even better, while these details are mentioned, Stohl doesn’t beat us over the head with them, suggesting a time when it becomes mainstream for books to have people of colour as protagonists and women in top positions of power. Given the wide range of YA books in the market as well as the genre’s popularity, these little touches make a statement, and make Icons stand out in a very good way.

+

Thank you to Hachette Book Group Canada for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.