Tagged: religion
Sins of the Angels by Linda Poitevin
(Cover picture courtesy of Were Vamps Romance.)
A detective with a secret lineage. An undercover Hunter with a bullet-proof soul. And a world made to pay for the sins of an angel…
Homicide detective Alexandra Jarvis answers to no one. Especially not to the new partner assigned to her in the middle of a gruesome serial killer case-a partner who is obstructive, irritatingly magnetic, and arrogant as hell.
Aramael is a Power—a hunter of the Fallen Angels. A millennium ago, he sentenced his own brother to eternal exile for crimes against humanity. Now his brother is back and wreaking murderous havoc in the mortal realm. To find him, Aramael must play second to a human police officer who wants nothing to do with him and whose very bloodline threatens both his mission and his soul.Now, faced with a fallen angel hell-bent on triggering the apocalypse, Alex and Aramael have no choice but to join forces, because only together can they stop the end of days.
[Full disclosure: I received this book as part of a blog tour. Unfortunately the book didn’t ship in time, so I’m doing this review later than anticipated. Either way, the review is still honest.]
I’m not a big fan of urban fantasy in general, but on occasion I do pick out a book that interests me. Some are total duds and others are like Sins of the Angels: amazing.
The world-building in Linda Poitevin’s book is simply amazing. And, if you’re so inclined, more than a little blasphemous. God, in this case, is called the One. And she’s most definitely female, which is something I’ve never seen before in fiction of any sort, let alone urban fantasy. Sins of the Angels touches on quite a number of religious topics like free will, the fall of Lucifer and why there is so much destruction and chaos in the world. Some of the conclusions the characters draw are fascinating from a theological point of view and they do reveal a lot about the characters themselves. However, I wouldn’t recommend reading this if you’re a very orthodox Christian. It does touch on some nerves.
With that said, I loved the characters. I loved how Alex (Alexandra) was such a strong, independent character. She’s tough and struggles with a horrific past as she tries to push down the memories that surface during her murder investigations. At the same time, she can be vulnerable and stubborn especially when dealing with Aramael (who goes by Jacob Trent in human form). Her chemistry with Aramael is great and I love how both of them slowly realize just how much of a connection they really do have.
I didn’t want to put this book down at all. It’s 300 pages long and trust me, those pages go by very quickly. The plot takes so many twists and turns, but it’s never difficult to keep up with them. At the same time, you’re left guessing until the end and when Sins of the Angels does end you’ll be clamouring for the next book. I know I was.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Drought by Pam Bachorz
(Cover picture courtesy of Pam Bachorz’s website.)
Ruby dreams of escaping the Congregation. Escape from slaver Darwin West and his cruel Overseers. Escape from the backbreaking work of gathering Water. Escape from living as if it is still 1812, the year they were all enslaved.
When Ruby meets Ford–an irresistible, kind, forbidden new Overseer–she longs to run away with him to the modern world, where she could live a normal teenage live. Escape with Ford would be so simple.
But if Ruby leaves, her community is condemned to certain death. She, alone, possess the secret ingredient that makes the Water so special–her blood–and it’s the one thing that the Congregation cannot live without.
Drought is the haunting story of one community’s thirst for life, and the dangerous struggle of the only girl who can grant it.
In most books there is often a sentence or question that keeps coming up for me as I read them. The recurring question for me in Drought was: “What is going on?”
Pam Bachorz raised so many questions in Drought, but very few of them were answered. Who is Otto? Why does his blood have magical properties? Why hasn’t the Congregation escaped after 200 years of slavery? Why did Otto leave? Why haven’t any kids been born since the Congregation formed? How did Darwin West enslave people like this? And why is the Congregation completely in the dark about modern inventions when it’s 2012 in the story? Surely Darwin wasn’t able to keep them completely isolated.
There are some pretty heavy religious undertones in the book, but they made no sense whatsoever. The Congregation is much like a cult and Ford introduces Ruby, the main character, to the idea that they’re worshipping a false god (Otto), but I had no idea where Pam Bachorz was going with it. As my English teacher frequently wrote on my essays, “So what?” Why is religion discussed so much in Drought but never actually plays a believable role in the motivations of the characters?
Ruby, the protagonist, is decent enough I suppose. Like in most YA novels, she is 200 years old but essentially acts like a teenager and falls in love with a teenager. Okay, I get that the Congregation ages much more slowly than regular people, but really? Even if you are treated like a child for 200 years, if you see the kind of violence Darwin West inflicts on your own mother, you’re going to grow up a lot faster than Ruby has. Her ‘romance’ with Ford feels completely contrived. It’s like the author didn’t know how to make readers truly connect with the characters; her writing doesn’t have that much emotion in it, to be truthful.
Drought had so much potential but ended up being a complete mess plot-wise and character-wise. This is one of the few series I will not be continuing in the foreseeable future.
I give this book 1/5 stars.