The Fallen: Fallen and Leviathan by Thomas E Sniegoski
| The Fallen: Fallen and Leviathan by Thomas E Sniegoski | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Robert James
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| Summary: A somewhat disjointed pair of novels to start off The Fallen series; however the second in particular shows real potential and hero Aaron is one who'll appeal to teens. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 544 | Date: October 2010 |
| Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0857071217 | |
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Thousands of years ago, a bunch of angels fell in love with human women. For their sins, they were cast out of Heaven. Their children are the Nephilim. They are hunted by Verchiel, leader of the Powers, hell-bent (excuse the pun!) on destroying them, especially the leader who prophecy says will lead them. On his 18th birthday, Aaron Corbet has a strange dream of weapons clanging and angels descending on a battlefield... and wakes up able to speak and understand any language, including that of his dog Gabriel. We can see where this is going, can't we?
Of course, predictable doesn't mean bad. It's clear for most of the book that a showdown is looming between Verchiel and Aaron, as we see Aaron struggle to deal with obtaining his powers. But watching Aaron initially fight against his heritage, and eventually accept it, is good fun, and he's a fun character, as is Gabriel. For me, though, the first book in this pair was something of a maybe, with the supporting cast a little underdeveloped and one scene in particular falling rather flat due to my lack of caring about the characters involved. However, Leviathan, the sequel, is excellent and makes this two-in-one well worth a read.
It's hopefully not giving away too much of the ending to book one to say that Aaron's still alive as we go into the sequel, he's more accepting of his powers, and teaming up with the engaging Gabriel and an angel called Cam as they go in quest of Verchiel and something he's stolen... only to be diverted by mysterious happenings in a small town they stop in.
This side quest is so interesting that it becomes the main focus of Leviathan, as Aaron's powers are desperately needed to stop something extremely evil from waking. Meanwhile, we keep getting very short interludes of Verchiel as he prepares for another showdown... and there's also a shock in store at the end of the book as another character from book one is reintroduced and appears to have rather more to them than meets the eye.
Sniegoski's writing style seemed to really improve by the second book. It's significantly shorter, it's much punchier, the supporting cast is far better drawn, and in general it's a really enjoyable read. Special mention for the romance in the book being realistic and so far rather minor - something which sets it aside from the majority of supernatural teen stuff these days.
Overall a recommendation with just a warning that it is something of a slow starter - trust me, it's worth persevering with!
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
Further reading suggestion: Can I be really confusing? While this is called The Fallen, I'd like to recommend Fallen by Lauren Kate for another superb - if not too imaginatively titled - teen novel about fallen angels.
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