A sophisticated literary thriller that grips you from the first moment and on many levels. From the point of view of the writing, it is exquisite.The story is engaging, fast-paced, and original. The characters are intriguing, believable, and of increasing complexity as the story develops. The settings and time periods range from Paris in the 1940's, to the mountains of Bulgaria, to modern-day New York.
This novel revolves around the premise that there is a long standing organization of angelologists who study the angels and work against their hybrid children THE NEPHILIM, who are constantly struggling to exert their superior place in the world by ruling humanity through any number of schemes. This organization has schools and institutions for teaching new recruits (from every religion and sphere of spiritual and secular life) and they do what they can to learn how to defeat the Nephilim and have been doing so for a long, long time.
Verlaine doesn't know it but the man he's working for, Percival Grigori is a Nephilim-a powerful one searching for the lyre to restore his ailing heath. Verlaine has no idea angels exists at all in fact. But soon he is caught up as the angelologists, with Evangeline race to discover the hidden Lyre before the Nephilim can find it.
That's our story. The "present" parts of it take place over two days. Or less.
This could have been fascinating if anything was ever explained. The origins of angelology for example-never really mentioned. How one finds out or becomes part of this world-nada. Any kind of real history about the main characters is mostly absent too-as is any kind of information to make sense of this novel! There is just so much missing-so much description, so much information! )
This book hits a conundrum. There isn't enough information to explain the basic concepts but in order for there to be enough there would have to be several, much longer, books. Maybe a series that starts at the beginning or has a flashback system that makes more sense than the one big block of past in the middle of the book.
The gist of the story is an ever on-going conflict between the Society of Angelologists and a race of powerful "angels" who (unknown to most humans) have always lived among us with the purpose of bringing out the worst in humanity and influencing history to suit their purposes--much to humanity's detriment.It's "THE EVIL GUYS TAKING OVER THE WORLD" thing.But this group of people or whoever is of a mythological face in the sense they are not everyday people.They are the embodiment of the very worst in mankind and with no wish for improvement or redemption. This book covers a pivotal battle in that ongoing conflict.
It is a story of struggle against incredible odds; of commitment and sacrifice; intelligence and sheer grit. You wonder, as you first start, how all the different and seemingly unrelated threads will come together, but come together they do, and in a very satisfying and surprising conclusion.
This is one of a kind book that you don't want to miss!
(courtesy:Amazon)
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