Angels walk among us, but so do other unearthly beings in this brand new series by #1 New York Times Bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton.
A TERRIBLE FALL OF ANGELS
by LAURELL K. HAMILTON
Series: Zaniel Havelock #1
Publication date: August 17, 2021
Published by: Berkley
Genre: paranormal, fantasy
SYNOPSIS
Meet Detective Zaniel Havelock, a man with the special ability to communicate directly with angels. A former trained Angel speaker, he devoted his life to serving both the celestial beings and his fellow humans with his gift, but a terrible betrayal compelled him to leave that life behind. Now he’s a cop who is still working on the side of angels. But where there are angels, there are also demons. There’s no question that there’s evil at work when he’s called in to examine the murder scene of a college student—but is it just the evil that one human being can do to another, or is it something more? When demonic possession is a possibility, even angelic protection can only go so far. The race is on to stop a killer before he finds his next victim, as Zaniel is forced to confront his own very personal demons, and the past he never truly left behind.
The first in a new series from the author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHOTO CREDIT: Ma Petite Enterprises
Laurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.
REVIEW
A Terrible Fall of Angels by Laurell K. HamiltonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I just finished a four hundred page information dump on demons, angels, witches, spirit guides, animal guides, guardian angels, a baba yaga descendant, a voodoo priest, a "remote viewer," different specialties in the College of Angels, and abrupt, abstract descriptions of otherworldly interactions in the heavenly realm. As you would imagine, I'm feeling just little bit mentally exhausted after such a marathon of data. There was a slew of characters from Zaniel's past at the College of Angels, there was another huge set of police force characters-and if that wasn't enough, some of the characters had three different names. (Zaniel couldn't even get his best friend's name straight for the life of him.) So in other words, there was so much to compute that my brain is feeling a little numb right now. I'm going to try to sum things up as concisely and clearly as possible.
This was my first read by this author so I have nothing to compare this new series to. I've always been curious about Ms. Hamilton's work because of the popularity of her Anita Blake books. However, as a blogger I just didn't have the time to attempt an established 28 book series when I have so many ARC obligations on my plate. That's why I jumped at the chance to try out her new Zaniel Havelock series. My first impression here was that she's a big fan of detail. Normally that's a good thing to have intricate world building in urban fantasy. In this case, it was on the opposite side of the spectrum from "too little, too late." There were supernatural lessons like these littered through every chapter- even in the middle of character building, internal dialogue.
“Infernals take on the appearances of the human imagination nearest them,” Charleston said. “What?” Miller asked.“What he said,” the female security guard said.“It means they look like what the nearest human thinks they should look like, but they won’t appear in their true Hellish form, not here on Earth, except maybe for a second, then it changes,” I said. I didn’t add that a second could be enough for insanity or death for the human seeing it, but our minds protected us from so much, including demons. If a person could survive that second, then what they thought changed what they saw; demons used it to appear as our worst nightmares, but even that was usually less soul-destroying then the demon’s original form.
You take your time to get a good grasp on what is being explained, but the problem is that the infernal creature committing murders in the central mystery plot breaks all the rules in the rulebook. So this thing has abilities that contradict everything we've been told and by the end of the book, there was only the barest hint of why that could be. I understand that this is the introduction to a very long series and we should expect things to be drawn out far into the future, but I felt that the purpose of this book was to simply teach us who the characters were and begin to explain the world they live in. There were many different plot arcs such as Zaniel's marriage difficulties, his friend Levanael's mental illness recovery, his mysterious past affair with a Seraphim, the events that broke his faith in the college of angels, and attempting to piece together the mystery of the demon possessed/merged Cookson. The plot was so erratic, jumping from one point to another, that your attention never truly has time to engage with any one thing. To be frank, my favorite parts of the book were the action sequences where Zaniel was facing off with the demonic being. All of the other parts were often rambling, disjointed scenes stuck together.
For instance, why was Kate introduced? She is supposed to be from the lineage of a russian folklore witch called Baba Yaga. Zaniel seems notably attracted to her (despite his conflicted feelings about putting his family back together). He has an odd wound from her that keeps strangely seeping blood which we're led to believe has some deeper meaning. Then it just heals at the end and nothing ever comes of it. She never enters the story again, and we don't know why the wound behaved that way. Then there's the conflict that occurred with the spirit animal raccoon. We were told that this was a very strange and worrisome thing that the raccoon had been separated from a witch named Ravensong. She and Emily were both so distressed over the matter and then after the climax of the story it was never addressed again. Lila and Adam got only a hint of a romantic connection before disappearing from the story. Then we have the tangled mess of the College of Angels. I can't seem to get a cohesive picture of that place at all.
Zaniel grew up in the College of Angels. For a long time, he believed that he was training for a higher purpose and putting his supernatural gifts with angels to good use. He and his best friends Surrie and Lev were like the three musketeers in the strict religious faction he lived in until he broke away and joined the military. Something happened to severely disillusion him and I sensed that it was caused by the leaders in particular. However, what they were being taught about angels and demons actually seemed valid. Zaniel himself truly has the ability to communicate with angels and yet he feels as if he has just been indoctrinated by the group.
She was still comfortable and secure in the College of Angelsand everything they taught us there.No, not taught, indoctrinated.How do you know you’re in a cult?You usually don’t until something happens that is so terribleyou can’t ignore it, or pretend it didn’t happen,and then you start questioning everything.
Zaniel is able to withstand holy fire and speak with the higher forms of Celestial beings without dying or going crazy. Surrie helps heal people who are demon touched-once again, a true ability. She's even called in as a consultant for one of Zaniel's jobs on the force. And yet, the college is classified as a cult by Zaniel and the rest of society. There was even a Netflix documentary about their cult-like practice of recruiting children and then permanently keeping them from their parents. Why would the police force recruit help from a cult? That would be like recruiting a Scientologist even though its been established that they are brainwashed at best and criminals at worst. The definition of a cult is a religious sect considered to be extremist or false. Most of the time led by one charismatic or deranged leader. Holding the kids captive fits, the extreme rules forced on the members, the disassociation from members who leave...they fit. So then why are they teaching them legitimate skills rooted in truth? Why did Zaniel feel loyalty towards the "masters" at the College when they very clearly failed his friend and ruined his mind for over a decade? I was baffled as to why he seemed to be defending them when Levanael confided in him that they played a large role in his tragic break from reality. It didn't begin to come together for me.
“So, you are no longer Christian,” she said.“I am still a follower of Christ.”“How is that different from being Christian?” she asked.“I find organized religion difficult to deal with.”
Again, I get that there will be many books to come in the series that will potentially shed some light on all of my questions and inconsistencies. I just don't know if I am suitably invested in our hero Zaniel enough to wade any deeper into these murky waters. I felt like he was a good guy for the most part, but I didn't get a full grasp of what shaped him to be who he is now. And by the time book two comes around, the characters and plot points will need to be refreshed in my mind all over again. If you love complex stories and paranormal series with very detailed world building this could very well be the book for you. Unfortunately, this one was just okay for me so I think I may have to throw in the towel here.
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