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A review by jscarpa14
The Angels Are Here by Patti Roberts
3.0
RECEIVED FROM: The Author For Review
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Paradox: The Angels Are Here is an introduction to many characters, Abaddon, an angel vampire creature, second in command of the Grigorian Angel Demon creatures, only second to his brother Cerebrus. Juliette, an angel who sort of serves as an introductory narrator. And Grace, a human child with strange nightmares and angels constantly flocking to her who serves as the main character in this tale. Grace is unaware of the many angels around her and the reason for this isn't even revealed to the reader in the course of this novel. Her father is aware of what's going on though that's not completely explained either and the angels become even more prevalent in Grace's life when he passes on in what's she's told is a mining accident.
I know that's not the best summary of a book, however it's the best one I can put together with so many things going on in this novel, hopefully my explanations in the review will better serve for an explanation of the book.
Have you ever read a book where a good editor would have made all the difference? Paradox: The Angels Are Here is one such novel in my personal opinion. The synopsis listed for this book focuses on Juliette, a character who had an entire two pages of presence in the novel. Her entering voice is a compelling opening, but after that she just disappears, lost in the tale of the strange fantasy read that follows.
Scene changes in the novel are abrupt and confusing, especially toward the beginning. It does smooth out a little later in the novel, but I often found myself stopping and asking what is going on and where did this character come from before realizing the author had transitioned into a different scene.
The writing jumps between past and present tense, which is extremely confusing and changes point of views so often it's almost whiplash like in it's effect. She head hops within the third person, which while I know this point of view opens the ability to jump into a variety of minds, it's not meant to be jumping every other sentence. In addition to this she jumps back and forth between first and third person point of view and at one point even includes the rarely used second person point of view. I understand that most of the time when she moves to the first person she's trying to show a dream sequence but unless that dream sequence is a part of a conversation it would be better identified with the use of italic font than a point of view switch. And honestly I don't think she meant to include the small section of second person point of view. It wasn't long enough to come across as something she planned when writing. It's more just there.
She begins multiple plots in the course of this story, a baby being born on the night of his grandfather's death, the birth being strange with the medical staff being even stranger. The little girl growing up with only an angel she thinks is imaginary for a friend, losing her father, befriending hidden angels. The odd war and the politics within the Griogorian family. Unfortunately for the reader she never fully explains any of these plots and they don't quite blend together right, so I spent most of the novel wonder what was going on. I think the plots have something to do with each other of course, but the lack of explanation in each plot and subplot is probably what causes the lack of these stories really weaving together. Also none of the plot lines encompass a full story arc, therefore the book is more of an introduction to this vast cast of characters leaving the reader curious as to exactly what they have to do with each other. As there are further novels planned for the series I believe the writer intends to explain this at a further date, however I truly to believe she needed to do a little more explaining in the first novels to better encourage readers to read the second.
The quick jumps from plot to plot also make it close to impossible to get to know any of the characters and really relate to them.
While her descriptions are well written and almost prose like at points, especially in the beginning the sections of them are so long it distracts the reader from the actual plot and by the time she comes back from the descriptions to the story you can't remember what was going on. She needs to find a way to weave these well written descriptions into the text without putting them in giant block that don't serve to move her story forward in anyway.
What saves this book is two things. One the writer is actually very talented, she can weave together a well written sentence and has a very strong voice. Two she's got some great plot lines going on, though they are extremely unorganized when presented in this story. If she'd expanded and explained more on any of the plots connecting them better, lengthening the time spent in each story line the book really would have been a page turner. Her ideas are excellent, it's her follow through that's not quite there yet. What Roberts really needs is to be paired up with a shrewd and experienced editor who can help her with transitioning and point of view. Someone who will point out the writing issues that make her story hard to follow before she publishes the story and an editor strong enough to make her voice heard. The combination of Robert's talent and imagination with a shrewd and experienced editor would make an unstoppable pair. However I will mention that this is a debut novel, her only other release being a book that she felt wasn't actually ready for publishing, and many writers are shaky on form and organization on their first novels. I can only hope that with experience her style will become more organized and easier to follow.
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Paradox: The Angels Are Here is an introduction to many characters, Abaddon, an angel vampire creature, second in command of the Grigorian Angel Demon creatures, only second to his brother Cerebrus. Juliette, an angel who sort of serves as an introductory narrator. And Grace, a human child with strange nightmares and angels constantly flocking to her who serves as the main character in this tale. Grace is unaware of the many angels around her and the reason for this isn't even revealed to the reader in the course of this novel. Her father is aware of what's going on though that's not completely explained either and the angels become even more prevalent in Grace's life when he passes on in what's she's told is a mining accident.
I know that's not the best summary of a book, however it's the best one I can put together with so many things going on in this novel, hopefully my explanations in the review will better serve for an explanation of the book.
Have you ever read a book where a good editor would have made all the difference? Paradox: The Angels Are Here is one such novel in my personal opinion. The synopsis listed for this book focuses on Juliette, a character who had an entire two pages of presence in the novel. Her entering voice is a compelling opening, but after that she just disappears, lost in the tale of the strange fantasy read that follows.
Scene changes in the novel are abrupt and confusing, especially toward the beginning. It does smooth out a little later in the novel, but I often found myself stopping and asking what is going on and where did this character come from before realizing the author had transitioned into a different scene.
The writing jumps between past and present tense, which is extremely confusing and changes point of views so often it's almost whiplash like in it's effect. She head hops within the third person, which while I know this point of view opens the ability to jump into a variety of minds, it's not meant to be jumping every other sentence. In addition to this she jumps back and forth between first and third person point of view and at one point even includes the rarely used second person point of view. I understand that most of the time when she moves to the first person she's trying to show a dream sequence but unless that dream sequence is a part of a conversation it would be better identified with the use of italic font than a point of view switch. And honestly I don't think she meant to include the small section of second person point of view. It wasn't long enough to come across as something she planned when writing. It's more just there.
She begins multiple plots in the course of this story, a baby being born on the night of his grandfather's death, the birth being strange with the medical staff being even stranger. The little girl growing up with only an angel she thinks is imaginary for a friend, losing her father, befriending hidden angels. The odd war and the politics within the Griogorian family. Unfortunately for the reader she never fully explains any of these plots and they don't quite blend together right, so I spent most of the novel wonder what was going on. I think the plots have something to do with each other of course, but the lack of explanation in each plot and subplot is probably what causes the lack of these stories really weaving together. Also none of the plot lines encompass a full story arc, therefore the book is more of an introduction to this vast cast of characters leaving the reader curious as to exactly what they have to do with each other. As there are further novels planned for the series I believe the writer intends to explain this at a further date, however I truly to believe she needed to do a little more explaining in the first novels to better encourage readers to read the second.
The quick jumps from plot to plot also make it close to impossible to get to know any of the characters and really relate to them.
While her descriptions are well written and almost prose like at points, especially in the beginning the sections of them are so long it distracts the reader from the actual plot and by the time she comes back from the descriptions to the story you can't remember what was going on. She needs to find a way to weave these well written descriptions into the text without putting them in giant block that don't serve to move her story forward in anyway.
What saves this book is two things. One the writer is actually very talented, she can weave together a well written sentence and has a very strong voice. Two she's got some great plot lines going on, though they are extremely unorganized when presented in this story. If she'd expanded and explained more on any of the plots connecting them better, lengthening the time spent in each story line the book really would have been a page turner. Her ideas are excellent, it's her follow through that's not quite there yet. What Roberts really needs is to be paired up with a shrewd and experienced editor who can help her with transitioning and point of view. Someone who will point out the writing issues that make her story hard to follow before she publishes the story and an editor strong enough to make her voice heard. The combination of Robert's talent and imagination with a shrewd and experienced editor would make an unstoppable pair. However I will mention that this is a debut novel, her only other release being a book that she felt wasn't actually ready for publishing, and many writers are shaky on form and organization on their first novels. I can only hope that with experience her style will become more organized and easier to follow.