Ron C. Nieto

Rating: 3/5

Alice is one of the popular kids at her school, she's beautiful, smart and an active member of the theater club which she takes rather seriously. She has everything a girl could ask for, but there's something no living soul knows about: she secretly love the music played by Keith Brannagh, the outcast Goth boy of her school. Every night, she finds herself wandering in his neighborhood, standing outside his window, covered in mud and leaves, listening to the haunting and sad music he plays with his guitar.

When Keith is chosen to compose the soundtrack of the upcoming play she's going to be the lead of, they grow closer and closer but their happiness is of short due, because there's a piece of music that's consuming Keith's soul, literally. Soon, they learn that something nasty is after Keith and if they don't stop it within time, it might be too late to save him.

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I am slightly disappointed with this book: first of all, I don't know why, but I was expecting it to be fully contemporary, so I was very surprised when it turned out having bits of paranormal. It was not bad, not at all actually, I liked a lot Beatrice's story and her motives, but the confused moments I had kind of ruined my reading. For example, the abandoned mansion: why didn't anyone question the fact that they saw the couple just a few months ago? where did they go? were they ghosts too? Was the house part of their imagination? Too many questions left unanswered and that left me unsatisfied.

What pleased me, and I damn sure know it shouldn't, was that Keith wasn't overconfident, he was shy, insecure, had a lot of doubts, maybe a little too much, but that's how any boy would feel when the most beautiful and popular girl -- the one he'd been in love with his whole life -- in school is dating him. Alice too grew on me with her maturity, she learned how to step out of the Bitch Princess throne and just be a regular girl. Anna and Dave were very supportive and nice and accepted Keith right away and I liked them for that; being able to see what lays beneath the surface, no judging based on the looks (in both ways) are qualities I crave in my friends, but it is -- sadly -- not the case.

Other than my little puzzlement, I enjoyed reading about Keith and Alice, they had chemistry, some funny bantering and sweet tender moments, which are (for me) the ingredients for the kind of romance I love.



… (mais)

The Archangel of Secret Knowledge has been released from his long imprisonment in Hell and now has one major task - to free his brethren from their infernal imprisonment

But occupying a body - a life, a family - that is not his own comes with its own guilt and complexities; how do you explain to a mortal brother that you are trying to free demons from hell?

Especially when that mission becomes far more complicated, with more actors and manipulations with their own sinister motives than he imagined when he first found freedom.

This book has some really fascinating concepts

Fallen angels and demons are not unknown characters in urban fantasy - but I think this is the first time I’ve seen one with this kind of outlook. Henry is neither angsting about being unworthy of god and self-flagellating; nor is he raging about an unjust most High who must pay for his dastardly deeds. He is sensibly and doggedly trying to rescue his brethren. It’s a very personal story, one very much focused on him and not on big grand themes and revelations.

I also like Henry’s character - introverted, snarky, socially awkward but not in the arrogant-and-brilliant-way we see with so many protagonists. Just an inexperienced demon in the body of a man who was socially inept anyway. There’s a general sense with Henry that he’d much rather just be left alone with his books if he could get away with it.

I really like the conflict over what he is - because he possessed the human Henry Black. But he has all of Henry Black’s memories - and his opinions and even his mannerisms - including Henry’s OCD. Henry Black is dead… but how much of the angel/demon occupying the body is angel/demon and how much is Henry?

The concept of angelic power is also an interesting one - the nature of the word, the angelic inability to not speak truth and in changing reality to make it true. Divine power, the power angels can wield but cannot carry because only beings with a soul can do that. This idea that angels wield incredible power but that, ultimately, that power is human and divine and not their own. It’s a nice twist

Henry himself is both albino and has OCD. Both are parts of his character but while mentioned do not consume him. It’s good to see a disability which doesn’t become a character’s sole defining characteristic, but at the same time I rather think the OCD in particular was brushed over. We’re told Henry has OCD but that largely manifests with a need to have everything around him neat and tidy rather than actual compulsive behaviour

Siddik is a POC but his personality and history have been somewhat wiped with his possession/amnesia. There’s another random POC policeman who doesn’t play a huge role - and no LGBTQ people. But we do have a disabled protagonist

So why didn’t I love this book? Why did it take me so long to read? I’ve been turning this over in my head for a while now because it has so many elements I should love but, in the end, I didn’t. I found it something of a chore - and I think it comes down to it having a fairly laborious writing style. We seemed to slog our way through a lot of the text and there were a lot of explanations and activities that were just a little too abstract and theoretical and the big revelations about what was actually happening didn’t appear until the very end of this book. For a long time we had Henry Black moving to Detroit to explore the possibility of other demons escaping Hell without being summoned and then stuff happened. There’s hellfire humans I don’t entirely understand, and a secret organisation that isn’t explained until the very end of the book and a whole lot of personal drama and some other random events.

Read More… (mais)