Monday, 27 June 2011

The Fall of Lucifer Book Review

Three Archangels…
Three Brothers…
One Turned Renegade.
A sweeping epic of origins and mysteries. The Fall of Lucifer tells a tale older than the universe itself. Set in opulent palaces and frightening hell worlds, this is a timeless saga of doubt, of demons and Angelic Warriors. Of obsessive love and treason, and of an ancient evil that knows no bounds.
Soon the universe itself will be rocked by war…
A war between three angelic brothers…
A war fought for the greatest purpose in the universe…
That war for the race of men.
This is the first of Wendy Alec’s Chronicles of Brothers, and the thing that instantly struck me about this book and its 292 pages, was how shockingly real it plays out. Writing from the perspective of the heavenlies is certainly no easy undertaking, yet the way Alec breathes life into the characters and carries their personalities with such ease makes the book read more like a true-to-life biography than a fictional story. Where it branches into a part with some angelic scientists was a little odd, but it allowed Alec to show some stunning facts about the human race.

Be warned that you will be wanting a dictionary handy while you read, as Alec’s vocabulary is rather expansive. In most novels I find myself wanting to look up a few words over the course of the book, whereas in The Fall of Lucifer I was checking words at least 10 times a chapter. Also be wary that there are a myriad of characters interweaving their stories through this book, and you probably won’t catch the significance and meaning of them all on the first read.

But were these lengthy descriptions and host of characters what caused me to give it a rating lower than 5? Surprisingly no, they are actually rightly fitting to the requirements a story of this nature needs, and I came to greatly appreciate the attention to detail and the poetic writing before story’s end. The reason for my rating is that I felt the book didn’t have as much of a climax at the end as I would have liked, and some parts were quite slow.

Don’t get me wrong, it was tense and sets you up for the sequel nicely. I actually think that my problem with it lies more with the fact that the scenes would be so much more real on the silver screen, when you are completely immersed in the atmosphere rather than reading from a comfortable seat in your lounge. Bring on the motion picture!

So does it come with a personal recommendation? Absolutely. There’s a lot of mixed reviews about it, but it is really something you have to make up your own mind about. If you were deeply moved by The Passion of the Christ, I would say that this book will most likely lead you down a very similar path of insight, into not just the existence of Christ’s love, but the overwhelming depth of it. Even when it is being hurled back in His face. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what it’s all about.

Reviewed by Stephen Garton, Rating: 9/10
Click here to read a review of the second book - Messiah

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