Angelic Friday: The Fallen 1: The Fallen & Leviathan by Thomas Sniegoski

Angelic Friday is a new Meme started by me, that features books that explore the lives of angels, nephilims and fallen angels.

Angelic Friday is back for this week. I'm really finding it difficult to look for angel books nowadays. Last weekend, I watched a marathon of the movie version of Fallen, in which Paul Wesley aka the Stefan Salvatore in the Vampire Diaries TV series, played the role of Aaron, the main character of Fallen. I was glad that I got to watch the movie before I read the book, and not the other way around. Or else I would've been disappointed. The Fallen - the book - was so much more.

Book Description (from the back of the book):

THE ULTIMATE QUEST FOR REDEMPTION
On his eighteenth birthday, Aaron begins to hear strange voices and is convinced he is going insane. But having moved from foster home to foster home, Aaron doesn't know whom he can trust. He wants to confide in the cute girl from class, but fears she'll confirm he's crazy.

Then a mysterious man begins following Aaron. He knows about Aaron's troubled past and his new powers. And he has a message for Aaron: As the son of a mortal and an angel, Aaron has been chosen to redeem the Fallen.

Aaron tries to dismiss the news and resists his supernatural abilities. But he must accept his newfound heritage -- and quickly. For the dark powers are gaining strength, and are hell-bent on destroying him....

My Thoughts:

Upon reading this book, I had this expectation that it would be almost the same as the movie that I *loved*. And as I tore through the pages, reading on and on, I found out that there were chunks of it that wasn't in the movie. The book exceeded my expectations.

Aaron's character was just so real. He didn't jump into the 'i'm-powerful-phase.' He restrained himself, rooted for something that he had wanted all his life: to have a loving family and to graduate high school with flying colors, get into a good college and land an awesome job. Being a foster kid made him more appreciative, more sensitive to the things around him. It was something that I appreciated, him choosing his family over power.

Sniegoski takes readers into the world of ancient missions and lets them witness a different face of ethereal beings. The Powers, a group of angels who are ever so determined to fulfill their mission in wiping out all abominations here in Earth, isn't what I expected them to be. They were so sure and at times, smug of their superiority over man. They even labelled man as 'animals' and treated humans with an intense cruelty that I never expected. I've learned to hate them. I've learned to worry and feel pity over their victims - harmless humans, their fallen brethren and nephilims, abominations by nature but are also still half-human, half of God's most-prized creation.

I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes when I'm busy, I'd open the book, try to read a few lines and get myself instantly hooked. I even forgot to email someone back because of this and I was typing the said email at the moment. That's how Fallen captured my attention. This action-packed novel satisfied me. Finally, an angel book with mystery and action. The idea of the prophecy was brilliant. It was great how Sniegoski was able to connect all these little occurrences together and make them appear as a part of a bigger plan that's supposedly made by the Creator. The second part of the book - Leviathan - shocked me. There were things that I certainly didn't see coming. As the tension built up, I found myself lost in Aaron's world and unable to pull out of it until I found out what's really happening to the people in Blithe, a seemingly peaceful town with secrets. Secrets that are connected to an ancient evil lurking in the darkness and of course, to Aaron's nightmares and to the sword of great light that mysteriously and unexpectedly manifested in his hand.

And I really really loved Gabriel, Aaron's yellow Labrador and bestfriend. I found his lines very interesting and humorous. After coming back to life as something more than a simple dog, he accompanied Aaron in his journey and made things more easier, happier in a doggy way.

Rating:

Photos from the movie taken from http://paul-wesley.com/