by Danielle Trussoni
PUBLISHER: Viking USA
RELEASE DATE: 11 April 2013
GENRE: Fiction - Fantasy / Paranormal Thriller
A decade has passed since Verlaine saw Evangeline alight from the Brooklyn Bridge; the sight of her new wings a betrayal that still haunts him. Now an elite angel hunter for the Society of Angelology, he has a single mission: to capture and eliminate her kind.
But when Evangeline suddenly appears, something about her seems different from the other creatures. And when she is kidnapped before his eyes by an assailant who has topped the society's most-wanted list for more than a century, the ensuing chase pulls Verlaine and his fellow angelologists from the shadows of the Eiffel Tower to the palaces of St Petersburg and deep into the provinces of Siberia and the Black Sea coast, where the truth of Evangeline's origin - as well as forces that could restore or annihilate them all - lie in wait.
Conceived against an astonishing fresh tableau of history and science, Angelopolis plumbs Russia's imperial past, modern genetics, and ancient depictions of that most potent angelic appearance- the Annunciation of Gabriel - in a high-octane tale of abduction, treasure seeking, and divine warfare as the fate of humanity once again hangs in the balance.
My thoughts:
Wow! Just, WOW! I absolutely loved this book and really can't praise it enough. It was evocative, captivating, haunting and had a very understated elegance to it.
The author has created an alternate version of the World with a history (based on real events but given a "fantasy" spin) that is both plausible and fascinating to read. It also referenced many a historical figure and gave a new slant to their lives. I do feel this amalgamation of reality and fantasy made for interesting reading.
The choice of setting really adds to the atmosphere and the themes that are being explored, and it is so refreshing to read a book that is predominantly based in Paris, Russia and Siberia rather than the USA or UK.
The storyline is fast-paced and convincing - I'm not going to talk about the plot though because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. The only complaint I have is that the action sequences were quite swift and over too quickly but I'm willing to overlook this because the book has so many other good points.
Angelopolis is one of those books that I will read several times as I know it will take more than one reading for me to feel like I've extracted every last sip of story from it! Also, I read it without having read the first book, Angelology, but I will definitely go back and read that one as well!
I wasn't entirely expecting the direction that the end of the book took. There's definitely more to come and I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT!!!
Read this if ...you enjoyed Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy
Don't read this if ...you have strong religious views, as you may find the World history and some of the plot points offensive
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