Review of Angelology

Book #28. Angelology, by Danielle Trussoni. Unabridged audio.   

For thousands of years, a war has been waging between the Society of Angelologists and the Nephilim. The Nephilim are the descendants of fallen angels as described in the mysterious Bible passage of Genesis 6. And they wish to overpower humanity and take their rightful place -- ruling humanity.

A young nun, Sister Evangeline of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in upstate New York, becomes aware of a connection between the convent and famed philanthropist Abigail Rockefeller. She also begins to notice the importance of angelic imagery in the convent, and before she knows it, she and her sisters are thrust into the middle of the battle.

At this point, the novel takes a distinct turn towards The DaVinci Code and/or National Treasure, as Danielle and her allies are faced with a quest to assemble a mystical angelic lyre that will halt the Nephilistic advance. And that is the fundamental difference between Brown’s novels and Angelology  – this one contains actual supernatural beings. If this concept doesn’t work for you, the novel won’t work for you.

There are two mysteries in the novel, and I was confident early on that I had one figured out. And I did. But then in the last chapter, a character reveal occurs that took my totally by surprise. But in looking back, this plot point made sense, and was even foreshadowed. This “twist” excited me enough to definitely want to read the follow-up novel.

The book is a little slow-going at first, as if Trussoni couldn’t decide if this novel would be an epic fantasy or an action novel. Some of the world-building is done literally via lecture or diary entry, and those moments take some wading to get through. But the final half of the novel moves at a much quicker pace, and I hope that this is the style that manifests in the sequels.

The audio production was fine, with one minor annoyance. The narrator regularly referred to one character’s Renault automobile as a “Reh-Nalt,” where I am much more used to the more traditional (and correct?) French pronunciation.

Source: public library