Having a demon with a personal grudge against you is bad enough. But having that demon report back to Lucifer himself about you personally is even worse. The skies above Stratus, Oregon become crucial as the best of both heaven and hell converge for war. Brielle is thrown into the middle of conflicts on both the spiritual and mortal plans as the world around her crumples. Secrets are literally unearthed, Heaven’s plans for her future seem to be shifting, and Jake can only help her so much as her father’s return to alcoholism exacerbates his dislike of the young man.
Frequently I find I love the first book of a series, and then find that in subsequent books I dislike or become bored with the direction the author takes their story. As much as I loved Angel Eyes a few months ago and eagerly anticipated the next book, once I actually had a copy of Broken Wings and read the back, I wondered if, yet again, this would be a series I abandoned half way through. Father-dislikes-boyfriend-who-is-keeping-secrets sounded like it might have become too angst filled for my tastes. But once more this series has surprised me, and I found myself enjoying Broken Wings even more than I had Angel Eyes.
In many ways, I now feel that Angel Eyes was almost a prequel book. While plenty happened, all the action seems to have been nothing more than the set up of a far more spectacular board game. All the return characters are once more beautifully drawn (including my personal favorite: the orange tutu), but several new characters join the cast and are, if anything, even more complex and fascinating.
Once again, the most stunning aspect of these books is how the author handles the supernatural. I have found no other novel that handles the subject so reverently. Writing about angels and demons is a tight rope with too alien on one side and too familiar on the other. Yet so far, this series has managed to stay on that narrow margin and make it look easy. These angels are anything but human, and yet they are filled with a fierce love and gentle tenderness towards humanity. They will never be our buddies, but they are not the remote protectors portrayed in other books. And if the demons in the previous book weren’t scary enough, the picture of the sublimely beautiful Lucifer seated on his throne in unbridled arrogance and fear is definitely an image that stays with you.
If you’re fond of speculative fiction, I really can’t recommend these books enough. There are still enough moment of “fantasy action, extreme peril, and thematic elements” to earn it a strong PG-13 through my eyes, so keep it out of the hands of really young kids. Other than that, strap yourselves in for a profoundly beautiful action adventure.
My thanks to BookSneeze for providing me with a copy of Broken Wings, in return for my honest opinion of the book.