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Monday, March 28, 2011

Book Review and Giveaway: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni



TLC Book Tours' latest offering is Angelology by Danielle Trussoni.  There are 18 blogs participating in the tour, offering reviews and giveaways.  TLC has graciously offered two copies for me to give away, so we'll have two winners!  Instructions to enter the Calico Critic giveaway are following my review.  Be sure to check out the other stops on the tour to learn more about Angelology and to enter to win a copy!


Participating Blogs:




My Review:


When I heard of Angelology and its premise, I was highly intrigued.  I was one of Frank Peretti's many readers 25 years ago when he released his supernatural thriller Piercing the Darkness.  And while his work is more of an evangelical tool, the subject matter is similar.  Those who enjoyed the puzzling religious mysteries of The Da Vinci Code, the forbidden paranormal relationships of Twilight and the adventurous treasure-hunting of the Indiana Jones books and films might also find this to be a good choice for them.

As in Peretti’s world, angels (and fallen angels) are real creatures, having an influence on the world around us.  Author Danielle Trussoni draws much inspiration from passages in the Bible, most notably from the book of Genesis.  During the time of Noah, angels were known to copulate with humans, thereby bringing about offspring known as the Nephilim. In Angelology, they managed to survive the Great Flood and have been on earth ever since, secretly holding great positions of power throughout history and enslaving the unwitting human race.  Unfortunately for them, a group of angelologists have been striving for centuries to resist their tyranny, and at the turn of the 21st Century, things seem to be in great upheaval.  A battle between the fallen angels and their enemies becomes inevitable.

This story is quite multi-layered, and difficult to summarize concisely.  There are many characters and more than one time period covered in the narrative.  Most of the plot is contained within about 60 years of time, yet most of the story takes place during the few action-packed days in which it is set, December 23-25, 1999.  At times the novel is slow, but never boring.  It took me a while to read this title, but I always enjoyed returning to it for another chapter or two.  Or three.  There are plenty of exciting scenes, and it doesn’t surprise me that Angelology has been optioned by Sony Pictures and is in development for a possible 2013 release.  I’m not sure how the screen writers are going to capture the essence of Trussoni’s work.  The story is long, rich and full of detail.  It should be an amazing film.

Danielle Trussoni
I loved the characters of Evangeline and Verlaine.  I could see Natalie Portman playing the young angelologist and David Krumholtz as the quirky professor.  Both of these characters go through so much in this story, with their lives as they know it being completely turned upside down by the supernatural world around them.  They certainly grew and changed as individuals throughout all of their ordeals.

To my knowledge, Angelology is Trussoni’s first published work of fiction.  She has done a masterful job. She’s an excellent writer and kept me fully entertained for hours on end.  I’m not an expert in all things angelic and from a religious standpoint I don’t believe in everything that occurred in this story.  However, it was a fun ride and it also gave me a few things to think about.  Don’t take this as a literal view of how things may or may not be in the spirit world.  Just enjoy the novel as an intriguing thriller that spans millennia and multiple planes of existence.  Angelology is quite an experience, indeed.







Angelology Giveaway!

Here are the guidelines:

  • Leave a comment below; this counts as your only required entry.  In order to filter out spam, all comments will not post until I've had a chance to approve them.
  • Entries accepted until 11:59pm EST on Monday, April 11th.
  • The winners must supply a US mailing address for prize shipment.
  • Make sure at least one posted comment includes your email address. If you'd rather not have your email posted here, you may contact me directly to give me that information after you've entered here.
  • I will compile the entries and the two winners will be chosen by Random.org, so even one entry can make you a winner.
  • Should you win, I will contact you on Tuesday, April 12th.  Please take measures to ensure that my email will make it past your spam filters, lest you miss my message. (CalicoCritic@gmail.com) You'll have 72 hours to respond before I pick another winner.
  • More information on the giveaway policies can be found on the Contact / Policies page.


Bonus Entries

Please make note of all your bonus entries in your comment(s).  You may post either separate comments or a single large comment.  Here are your bonus entry options:

  • Follow The Calico Critic by clicking on the Google "Follow" button on my sidebar (old or new followers both get the bonus entry, just please let me know your follower name).
  • Follow me (@LHartness) on Twitter and tell me your @UserName.
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter.com; be sure to use an URL linking back to this blog posting in your tweet. You may do this as frequently as every 8 hours between now and April 11th at 11:59pm EST.  For each tweet, please come back and post the direct URL link to that specific tweet, not just your @Username.  Here's a sample tweet; feel free to copy and paste:

@LHartness Giving away 2 copies of the novel "Angelology" by @daniellemybella, thnx 2 @TLCBookTours.
http://bit.ly/AngelologyContest #free



    That's it!  Thanks for stopping by, and good luck to all the entrants!























    One final note:
    When I had only read a few chapters, my eyes accidentally brushed over the last page of the book.
    BIG mistake. HUGE spoiler.
    Don't make the same blunder I did.







    CymLowell

    15 comments:

    1. TWEETED-
      http://twitter.com/#!/Holt9102/status/52516291994587136

      ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

      ReplyDelete
    2. Oh I've been wanting to read this.

      I'm a gfc follower
      twitter follower (@BooksThings)

      books (Dot) things (at) yahoo (dot) com

      ReplyDelete
    3. A most unusual book. Reminds me of Milton's Paradise Lost. I'd love to win a copy.

      I'm a follower - Harvee (Book Bird Dog)

      harvee44 at yahoo.com

      ReplyDelete
    4. Harvee:

      Yes, Paradise Lost is mentioned more than once in the book, and one of the main locations is Milton, NY!

      Laura

      ReplyDelete
    5. I am stopping by from Cym's...I always love your reviews! Thanks for bring this giveaway to the attention of all.

      XOXO

      ReplyDelete
    6. oh! I can't believe you accidentally hit the last page before reading the whole book! Even then, you still enjoyed it, so that's a GOOD thing! I've been reading wonderful reviews (including this one) on this title. Thanks so much for the giveaway!

      knittingandsundries(at)gmail(dot)com

      ReplyDelete
    7. Julie:

      Yeah, I like to flip to the back and see how many actual pages of reading I have, and my eye just so happened to hit one sentence that had a massive spoiler. Wanted to kick myself! I'm going to have to be more careful next time.

      But yes, still a good read!


      Laura

      ReplyDelete
    8. I'm a GFC follower (jewelknits)

      knittingandsundries(at)gmail(dot)com

      ReplyDelete
    9. Sounds like a interesting book. I like all these angel books coming out the last couple of years.

      I'm a follower

      I tweeted http://twitter.com/#!/galvezbookgirl/status/53452870535753728

      autumn.crochet (at) gmail. com

      ReplyDelete
    10. TWEETED-http://twitter.com/#!/Holt9102/status/53611312202256384

      ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

      ReplyDelete
    11. TWEETED-
      http://twitter.com/#!/Holt9102/status/54715836291743744

      ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

      ReplyDelete
    12. Please enter me. I am a follower.
      Laura
      laura.leahj@gmail dot com

      ReplyDelete
    13. TWEETED-
      http://twitter.com/#!/Holt9102/status/55337289567571968

      ashtreygonesmokeya@yahoo.com

      ReplyDelete
    14. enter me!

      americangirlie1991 AT yahoo DOT com

      ReplyDelete