Tag Archives: religious fiction

The Passage

Book Review of The Passage, by Justin Cronin

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I borrowed an audio copy of The Passage (by Justin Cronin) through my local library.

Description from Goodreads:

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.” 

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Review:

When I finished this 800 page (37 hour audio) book and came upstairs to rant, “You will never believe…” at my husband, his response was that my review should read only, “Justin Cronin, fuck that guy.” And while that’s going a bit far, considering the book is pretty good, writing an 800 page epic that ends on a cliffhanger deserves at least an adjacent “fuck you.” For real! Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you Cronin. 

Outside of the lack of ending, the book has an interesting zombie/vampire blend going on and an engaging cast (just don’t get too attached to anyone), and a thought provoking plot. It also has an unexpected (by me) religious undertone. The thing is all a fairly blunt Noah/Floodesque purging of evil for the betterment of man parable. 

I do think it’s far too long. There just isn’t any reason it needs to be almost 800 pages long. It wanders and wends too much. While I’m interested in finishing the story, I’m not up for two more tomes of this length to get it. I’m stepping away. Maybe I’ll come back to it. Maybe. 

On a side note, the narrators (Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo, and Abby Craden) did an excellent job.

Book Review of Shauna Allen’s The Cupid Chronicles: Inked by an Angel & The Halo Effect

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Inked by an AngelI grabbed Shauna Allen‘s Inked by an Angel from the Amazon KDP list. Then I bought the sequel, The Halo Effect.

Description of Inked by and Angel:
Jed Gentry is doing just fine, thank you very much, running his tattoo studio in Austin, Texas. So what if people think he’s a bit on the surly side? He’s been burned by his ex who sticks around to torture him and he lives with a family heartache that he’d rather not talk about. But he’s got a thriving business, his dream car, and good friends. Not much to complicate things. At least, not until she walked in…

Kyle O’Neill has had it with being the sheltered daddy’s girl at the family accounting firm and is ready to spread her wings and fly on her own for the first time. Unfortunately, it seems she’s about to fall flat on her face when her first and only client is – gulp — a tattoo artist! Her country club upbringing certainly hasn’t prepared her for this place or the sizzling attraction her traitorous body feels for the grumpy owner.

But there is a Divine conspiracy at work here pushing these two together. And they are hell bent on bucking the Heavenly plan all the way. Luckily, their angel is a true believer and pulls every trick he knows from under his halo to make this a match made in Heaven.

Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Review:
I grabbed this expecting just a little bit of fluff. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of characters I found, as well as the humor and a solid story.

I loved the angels and their AA meetings. They were a lot of fun and funny to boot. They all felt a little naive and well meaning. You could really imagine them bumbling through their missions and meeting almost miraculous or divinely inspired success. Oh, and poor Uri! Having said that I loved them, and I did, they did get a little preachy on occasion. They’re angels after all. But it was never so blatant that the book slipped over into prosthelytizing and religious fiction in the stricter sense. As a non-Christian I was never made uncomfortable by it, but I would imagine a committed Christian looking for an inspirational read to underscore the omnipotent, loving altruism of the Holy Father would be happy with it too.

I did think that in the end everything wrapped up a little too well. All of a sudden, and for no apparent reason, Kyle’s over bearing and self-absorbed mother decides to make peace. Kyle suddenly becomes strangely emotive and confesses seemingly out of nowhere despite being emotionally shut down just days before. Michael at least bends a commandment to give Jed a kick in the right direction, even though he showed every inclination of being a rule follower until that moment. Charles isn’t mad in the least when he finds out the truth. One character jumped from denial strait to eternal commitment and marriage, while another suddenly finds herself contrite after years of being otherwise. I realise that if you haven’t read the book these examples make little sense, but you can probably imagine their context and while they brought about a wonderful happy ending, they didn’t really feel very natural.

I’m so glad book two is about Noble. I found him an intriguing character, which is saying something since he was practically mute. All in all, I got more than I bargained for out of this one and would be more than happy to read more of Ms. Allen’s writing. If for no other reason than to see how many more small religious exclamations she can come up with. They were a lot of fun and made for an interesting running joke.

The Halo EffectDescription of The Halo Effect:
He’s gotta earn his wings…again.

Love Detail’s favorite angel has his sights set on his next target: the stoic and mysterious Noble Blackfeather. And it just may prove to be his toughest case yet. Noble’s reclusive ways keep his angel at wing’s distance, and love even further. But he’s not playing a part – he’s truly masking a painful secret and a profoundly wounded
heart.

A cupid’s worst nightmare.

Noble’s been paired with Braelyn Campbell, the cute single mother next door. She’s adorable, friendly, fun…everything Noble needs. This should be a Love Squad slam dunk. Except she’s making a fresh start in Texas to protect her son from a volatile ex, and she’s not about to risk her heart or her son on another man. Even if he’s sexy as sin and always coming to her rescue.

Thank God for possibilities.

But, reluctantly, they are drawn together – thanks to their cupid’s dogged efforts and a whole lotta chemistry. Can the girl next door learn to trust again and help heal Noble’s wounded heart? Together, can they save the lost, hurting boy she’s raising? Can the angels help it happen before it’s too late?

Thank God for love

Review:
The Halo Effect is a nice continuation of The Cupid Chronicles. If I’m honest I didn’t like it as much as the first, but I still liked it. Braelyn is a forward woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it without coming across as easy. I liked that about her. I also liked her relationship with her son. She was protective, without smothering him and he was polite despite being 14 and in the midst of an emotional upheaval. Noble was, well noble. I felt really sorry for him and was so glad to see him finally opening himself up. I would have liked to get to know him a little more though. You learn his history in this book, but hear very little of his internal dialogue, except for lusting over his neighbour (which would be important since he isn’t much of a conversationalist). I was also little disappointed that Michael wasn’t as much of a character. This book is much more a romance with a little help from above as opposed to the story of how Michael goes about his Love Duty mission (as in book one). It was still a really sweet romance though.

Like the first book I felt that the author built up the emotional hurtles to be overcome and then let them fall almost miraculously. I was often not explicitly aware of where characters change of hearts came from. It was emotionally satisfying that they did change, but I would have liked a little bit more understanding of how or why instead of just when.

My only two real complaints are that It was a little predictable (and questionably realistic) and the preachiness was amped up compared to book one. In Inked by and Angel the religious characters spouted off about god a bit. Ok, makes sense that’s part of their character after all. In this one the narrator had a much more religious bent going on and as a result the whole thing felt much more Christian to me. I’m don’t mind religion in my fiction, but since I’m not in the market for a new religion I don’t generally enjoy mini sermons. Luckily, though more apparent, it wasn’t overpowering. I look forward to Eli’s story whenever book three finally comes out.

Grace Through Blood

Book Review of Grace Through Blood, By A. Jay Lee

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Grace Through BloodI grabbed A. Jay Lee‘s vampire novel, Grace Through Blood, from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Welcome to the Nightlife of the Palmetto City.

With an Arch-Demon masking itself as a serial killer, a NCSI agent hounding a Navy SEAL for crimes he didn’t commit, a clan of lycanthropes living secretly among the masses, and overseeing it all a congregation of pious vampires believing that they have ‘Divine Right’ over the city, the nights were wild enough. Add in one young woman with special abilities and in possession of a holy relic that threatens the existence of all vampires, and the stage is set for a dangerous mix of action and steamy sex over the course of hot, humid nights in this ‘Holy City’.

Jamie Grace wants nothing more than to lead a normal life, but her ability to see a person’s soul through an aura that radiates through every living person makes this wish impossible. Soon after arriving in her new home of Charleston, South Carolina, she encounters what appear to be humans that have no aura.

Jamie soon learns that the mysterious creatures are vicars of the Sanctum Damnatus and unfortunately they are as troubled about her existence as she is with theirs. Complications ensue when the vampire that has been sent to kill Jamie falls in love with her. With her would-be assassin turned protector, Jamie finds herself on the run from both the Damnatus and an Arch-Demon from Hell. Tangled with Christian dogma and biblical lore and set in this historic coastal Southern city, Jamie must find out whom she can trust and begin the journey of learning what she truly is in this first novel of the Holy Damned Saga.

Review:
Grace Through Blood had a really interesting premise in which vampires fill a specific role in God’s divine plan for the salvation of mankind. That’s all well and good. Here’s the thing for me though. There is a difference between using the Cristian mythology as plot material, and actual religious fiction. Dan Brown writes mysteries using Biblical material, but I don’t think many people would call his work ‘religious.’ I quite enjoy one, but not the other.

Unfortunately for me, Grace Through Blood turned out to be Cristian fiction, which I can’t say I was expecting. That left me cold. I just don’t enjoy being preached to in the books I read for fun. I realise some people will think this is a ringing endorsement for the book. There is a large Christian market out there. I’m just not part of it. I finished the book though. And when God wasn’t saving the pure souls of those who called on him in blatant scenes of proselytism it was pretty good.

It did tend to drag a bit and felt a little too long. I think the sex scenes could have been nixed to address this. This would have tightened the narrative up a bit and shortened the novel as a whole. But they also just felt out of place IMO. I read a decent amount of sexy PNR. I even enjoy the occasional spot of erotica now and again, so I have no problem with sex in my fiction. However, in this particular case I don’t think it contributed to the plot, was contrary to the tone of the rest of the novel and therefore distracting.

I assume there is more to come in this series as a number of heavy hints were dropped about the lineage of both Jamie and Grant, but no answers provided. I kind of wanted to scream about that, but oh well. If you enjoy vampires and christian fiction this is an interesting blending of the two. Lee does a good job of turning a number of Biblical passages to support the new vampire mythos and the writing itself is pretty good. I just probably wouldn’t have picked it up in the first place if I had a better understanding of what type of book it is.