At one point in their lives, sooner or later, most people wonder about the existence of heaven and hell, if angels really do exist and walk the Earth amongst us mere mortals. C.J. Sullivan weaves a story that takes you behind the veil and inside the realm of heaven and hell, and introduces you to a world where the bonds of friendship and music transcend the earthly realm.
SPOILER ALERT — Do not read further if you do NOT want to know what happens in the book! (Go ahead, you know you want to! You’re just dying to find out what happens, aren’t you???)
The story starts a bit slow at first, with two heavenly angels, Gidyon and Naom, being tricked into coming to Earth by Lucifer, disguised as the Archangel Michael. Hot on their heels and ready to battle are Malynko (the Elitist) and Laphelle (the First Rank) and ‘underling’ to Malynko – which he absolutely hates. The two of them are accompanied by a timid little creature by the name of Kiazmo, whom the two dark angels order around like a slave.
As Naom and Gidyon flee the dark angels, they come upon a church, where inside, Max Edenton is praying for a miracle and the return of his son, Harry. When the angels burst in on Max, he has no way of knowing that his life is about to change…forever.
The residents of Edenton are just like the residents of any small community, and have no idea of the war between the forces of good and evil that are being waged in their streets at night once the angels arrive. While their wings are disguised, the angels walk amongst us, but not all of the residents are so easily fooled. Angie, whom Gidyon frees from the demons of alcohol; Melissa, who narrowly escapes Malynko’s clutches thanks to Noam; Adam, who sees the fight between Noam and Malynko outside Lektriks and records it all; and little Christine, who is saved from a horrible fate at the hands of her father.
Laphelle finds the source of a hauntingly beautiful song he’s sure he has heard before, and encounters Jack playing the violin in his living room. So begins the unraveling of Laphelle and all that he thinks he believes in. The hauntingly beautiful music awakens his true soul and he begins to question everything. The one thing that he wants most is to always know that Jack was his friend, and to never forget it like he had forgotten everything else from before the Fall.
A remarkable story, with many twists, turns and surprises throughout, that will leave you wanting to know more. The storyline takes you through the lives, past and present, of the key players and slowly unravels how their lives have all been intertwined with each other. The story leaves you with Laphelle, looking at the metal door handles of the church, a place that no dark angel dare enter without turning to dust, and the tug between turning away from the darkness entirely and re-joining the side of light. Secretly he longs to return, to figure out the mystery of his past that eludes him, of the violin, and the memories that refuse to surface. He reaches out a steady arm and touches the handle of the church door.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I would give this book a 4 star rating. The only reason it has not received a 5 star rating is due to the slow start; however, it is detrimental to understanding the rest of the storyline. A definite must read and one that I will enjoy reading again and again. The 2nd installment in the series, Blade of the Divided, is due out in February 2012. You can keep up with C.J. on her blog HERE as well as follow her on Twitter.
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It sounds very intriguing. CJ is an astonishing writer with a magical touch. Good luck to her book although I am sure she is not going to need it :).
A magical touch indeed, unikorna! It was an amazing book and I cannot WAIT to read Blade of the Divided! I just know that she's going to do a bang-up job with that book as well!