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Author: Vivieene Malynn & Sean Kade
Publisher: Sutherland Press (January 3, 2012)
Summary:
Left by her mother at a young age, Kyra has grown-up in the foster system, leaving her angry and hateful towards the world. The only person she can trust is Hammond, her case worker who has watched over her since the time her mother left. When Hammond places Kyra in a foster home located in a small town, strange things begin happening and Kyra starts unraveling the mystery of her past. When Kyra's life is threatened, she is saved by an angel, her guardian angel, Ashur, who falls from heaven to save her. Together, Ashur and Kyra must figure out why her life is in danger and stop a strange cult from bringing about the end of days.
The Dawn of Angels was a big surprise for me. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was unprepared for this ride!
The story is fast-paced. The main character, Kyra, is an angry girl and the story opens on
her seventeenth birthday. Her issues are
valid. She’s been stuffed through the foster care system having been abandoned
by her mom. So, this book just dives into the story, no hesitations.
Which brings me to how this book felt for me: Rollercoaster. Pure Emotion. I rode up and down on Anger,
Good-will, Suspicion, Fear and that’s not counting the dream-like quality of many scenes, including actual dreams. The dreams and reality mix and blend freakily together.
You’ve seen the
cartoon movie Dumbo, right? You know that scene when shapes are blowing up and
shrinking and odd animals are growing protrusions? It feels like that. (I just sold this book
for someone!! Hahahaha)
There’s just
enough hint at real horror: moving shadows that can grasp and pull someone
under to cut off their breath; red-eyed wild dogs. And then there's these
angels. OMG! If I had been someone in the Bible, this is the sort
of angel I would imagine, with white-hot eyes, using the power of light to push
back the darkness.
And then the story takes over again, which is almost trite by
comparison.
There are no wasted characters watching from the sidelines,
every one of them holds a secret(s) and they all focus on Kyra (with hints or friendliness or wariness or hatred). The town being “small” does not
account for every single person being a critical player.
Kyra’s was bright spot in this story for me. She is the anchor on this wild ride, the one person who always makes real sense. Usually. Asher's cute and potentially more than cute - potentially amazing - but not revealed completely in this book. Ethan is also mostly mystery and I wouldn't go so far to call this threesome a "love triangle". Yea.. not yet. Each relationship Kyra has is deep and makes sense - like Liv, for example, is so sweet! She's very much a side character, but she has her own struggles and triumphs and a deep, special meaning for Kyra. Gotta love that.
As for the historical background, the angels know who God
is, which was comforting momentarily, and then the story gets wild. All written
books about God and angels, including but not limited to The Bible, only tell
parts of this historical backdrop. The information comes in thick heavy mini-doses that don’t make much sense on their own, but as the perspectives join together, the big picture does, uh, clarify itself in that dream-freaky way.
In this world... there are shadow men, there are
warring angels, various levels of angels, levels of heavens, odd cults that are
different and yet all point to something in this history. (This is a tad spoilerish to give you heads' up, but I would have appreciated knowing this stuff was actually intentional and not a side-dream moment. So, I share.)
Cover Commentary: It’s a bit of a surprise. Maybe the
layered angel wing is supposed to tip off the layers of history or
craziness? I’m not sure. It’s a deceptively innocent-lookin’ cover and did not give me head's up about what's inside this book. The title, however, is clear by the end.
This book is very much about the beginning of angels and how that relates to
present day.
My Rating: 3 - For writing, for content, for characters - "cute" doesn't fit with this book, though, more like "downright eerie". I'd give this book a higher rating for that complicated historical backdrop, but a lower rating for how it was delivered to the reader, so it evens out to a square 3 for me.
Catch more Reviews on this Hollow Reader's Tour:
MARCH 2012
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