Posted by This was part of Bookworms Blues grouping and has since been eliminated.
Plot:
Alan is a kid suffering from depression, when the book opens he’s contemplating killing himself after a long time of trying different medications and nothing working. He goes to the top of a building, and ends up going over the edge. He was saved when his body slowed down and came to a stop just above the pavement.
He was blessed with gifts from the Angels which allowed his life to be saved. He was contacted by people who work for the Angels to explain why he was chosen to be gifted, and what it means for him in the future.
There’s a book called the Chronicles which is more or less an instruction manual for how to build weapons that could work against heaven. It was entrusted to a human family on Earth as a record of what’s come before, and the war against Heaven that took place a long time ago.
Alan and his friends and Angels have to stop the Fallen from getting making weapons to start a new war against Heaven.
Final Score: 5/10
Characters:
Alan has always been bullied, and he’s an orphan with no family. He’s growing up in a group home with a couple other boys, and although it isn’t abusive, it’s not exactly a loving and welcoming place either.
He gets picked on relentlessly at school and has suffered from depression for a while, he sees a therapist and takes medication but he always seems to feel angry, lost, and depressed.
The book skips forward a few years, so later on in the book he’s a little older. He still thinks about how he suffered in high school but is seeming to come around now that his life has a purpose. He was stealing and living in motels after high school barely making it by.
This is a mostly single POV story, but we do get a few interlude chapters from the villian pov and a couple others. The villains felt a little flat to me, a stereotypical good vs evil plot line and character arc – but I do suppose that was the purpose of this kind of story.
Final Score: 5/10
World Building:
This was set in modern times, there were references to things in the real world like WoW (World of Warcraft), so it’s def an urban fantasy of sorts.
A lot of the lore and mythos of this world is based in Christianity. There was a war for Heaven when a power hungry angel wanted too much power, he was then cast out and sent to a hell.
Both the Angels and the Demons work through humanity to wage a “shadow war” on Earth, as the Fallen haven’t dared attack Heaven in thousands of years. They need the magical weaponry to make it happen.
The “gifts” bestowed on humans are pretty varied, super speed, super strength, hardening the skin to defend against attacks, manipulating water, etc.
Final Score: 6/10
Pacing/Prose/Tone:
This was a YA book, the overall tone was lighter and more adventurous. It went pretty quickly since it’s under 300 pages, but, there were weird pacing issues with the flashbacks. I’d get confused where I was in the story, although some of this may be because I listened to the audiobook.
Pacing Final Score: 7/10
Writing Final Score: 6.5/10
Originality:
I have to admit I’ve seen most of this before. I think my favorite bit was that the old Wonders of the World, like the pyramids of Egypt were supernaturally created and part of the mythos of the world.
Final Score: 5/10
Audience:
- For people who like classic good vs evil
- For people who like YA
- For people who like Christian mythos
- For people who like shorter faster paced books
- For people who like characters suffering from depression
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