Annihilation
I recently finished reading Seven Archangels:Annihilation, by Jane Lebak. For anyone interested it can be found online at Mindflights Magazine, or you can buy it through Amazon. I have to say it was really an awesome book. I read the first part quite a while ago, and then exam time got in the way, but once I got back into it, I finished the last three fourths of the book in three sittings. So it wasn’t quite a stay up all night book, but then there are only about 6 of those ever in my life. It was definitely a stay up half the night book. And while that list is long, everything on it is very, very good
I was a bit worried that it would be a preachy book. After all the major characters are the Archangels Gabriel, Michael, Remial, Raphael and the demon Mephistopheles. The minor characters include Satan, Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Within the first few pages, the angels are talking about God’s love. The main settings are Heaven and Hell. But within a short time it was clear that this book is no more preachy than any standard fantasy novel in which good and evil are clearly defined. In fact, it was a lot less preachy than a few of those that I’ve read. Annihilation reads very much like many fantasy novels I’ve read. Just to be clear, I say this as a compliment. I like good fantasy.
The story hinges around the idea that angels are immortal, until Satan finds a way to annihilate one of them. Imagine being immortal for thousands of years and then finding out you can be destroyed. Heaven goes into panic mode, Hell starts gloating, characters go insane. Overall, craziness ensues.
To make it even more fun, the author has added commentary for the various chapters on her blog. These add some interesting insight. I love it when author’s do this. I really think that it adds to my enjoyment of a book to know something about what the author intended, enjoyed etc. about writing the book. I suspect they would be even better read as you go. I read them all in one sitting after I finished the book. I did the same thing with Brandon Sanderson’s chapter by chapter commentary on his mistborn books.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, and I highly recommend it.
Megan Michelle's Random Rambling 