While I cannot go back and review any of the numerous books I have previously read, it's an overall fact that I probably will not give many bad reviews. Mostly because if a book is that bad, I won't continue reading it. Another reason we don't give many bad reviews is because due to the nature of the book clubs general genre and type of literature most prominent in the reading list, we enjoy stories (even mediocre ones) for the sheer entertainment value. While many serious literature fanatics pin point the errors in prose and plot problems of the author, I tend to have a more innocent approach to each story, absorbing words and mentally transforming them into a video presentation in my head and getting lost in the movie so to speak. Only when the author has done an incredibly poor job of pulling the plot together and/or character development, unanswered questions, etc. do I step out of that world and think to myself..."well that makes no sense".
Another reason my book club discourages other members is because I like to encourage people to read books despite the reviews. Reading reviews should only be used to help you find other books that you will enjoy, as most reviewers have lists of books they enjoy and more often than not will follow some kind of pattern. In most cases you can discern a persons personality by that list of books. If you find yourself agreeing with someones general reviews on a number of books you may look to see what books you haven't read that they've also enjoyed, chances are you will enjoy those as well. Enough chatter...on to the review.
Angelology by Danielle Trussoni
Angelology managed to catch my eye on various lists that have been generated (probably by a computer) as a 'reccommended' read in accordance with other books I have enjoyed, bought, or read. A whole secret sect dedicated to studying and protecting the world from the secret offspring of angels and man? Intriguing. Add in some biblical references and ancient mythology and you got your story. Maybe...
This Ms Trussoni's debut novel, and honestly I had a difficult time staying in the story. My usual approach of letting myself become absorbed into the story has not worked in this case. The premise of the story revolves around this secret organization of angelologists who not only study angels but have made it their mission to protect human kind from their hybrid children, the nephilim, who have endeavored to gain the power to rule over and enslave humans. The concept is there, and it is quite brilliant, but the execution of the story is lacking.
The story begins in present time, 1999, and starts off following a young nun, Sister Evangeline, who as the convent's secretary comes across an intriguing letter from a researcher, Verlaine, who is inquiring about an unknown link between the convent and the late Mrs Abigail Rockefeller. Upon confirming this link, the two are then unimaginatively thrust into a war decades in between this secret sect of angelologists and the nephilim.
The story backtracks to pre-WW2; an angelologist, Gabrielle, who is Evangeline's maternal grandmother, becomes dangerously intertwined within the nephilim society infiltrating one of their prominent families, the Grigori. This leads to an expedition to the cave where the angels, who fathered the nephilim and cast down from heaven, were imprisoned until judgment day. And where a historical, mythical object of biblical lore was first collected by the angelologists who entrusted its safe keeping to Mrs Rockefeller who has taken its hidden location with her to the grave. Or, so they believed.
This story also follows Percival Grigori, the nephilim with whom Gabrielle had her dangerous affair. He suffers from an unknown debilitating illness and is searching for the missing object to be used to heal him. (Here I'm confused, and see no reason why his story made any contributions to the main plot)
In present time, Evangeline and Verlaine continue to uncover truths about Evangeline's history, and in a weakly combined "Da Vinci Code" style series of puzzles, they quickly uncover keys to the possible location of the missing object. Their discoveries lead to a race to collect this object, which the nephilim would kill to possess, that potentially has the power to create or destroy the world as it is known.
The problem I had with this book is, nothing is explained. Too many characters are introduced without the proper background information, you don't know why any of the characters act the way they do. Why would Evangeline, with 11 years of service to the convent begin questioning their ways, lie to another nun? Too many questions are left unanswered, how did angelology become a profession for example, how did they recruit? The entertainment value is there, the plot has many, many kinks. And whoever edited this book did a poor job as well. Many minor mistakes were noted that caused a disruption in the flow of the story. And the end! In my head, the words..."UGH...WHAT?!" appeared. The end...violently piecemealed in such a fashion that explains nothing. It left me severely disappointed. The plot is left open ended, although the story seems to end, there are far too many questions at the end than my usual, "What's going to happen to this character"...
The story, when it flowed well, was entertaining and enrapturing. I enjoyed parts of the book, and disliked parts. The forced love interest between Evangeline and Verlaine was childish, it was more like 2 teenagers, trying to figure out if the other liked them rather than the mature adults they were suppose to be. Overall, 2 stars. Sad, I hardly ever rate books less than 3 stars, but this book was a disappointment for as interesting the plot could have been.
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