I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
End of Days
by
Thomas E. Sniegoski
urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by Simon Pulse on September 6, 2011 and has 359 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Mean Streets, A Kiss Before Apocalypse, Where Angels Fear to Tread, A Hundred Words for Hate, Dancing on the Head of a Pin, An Apple for the Creature, In the House of the Wicked, The Fallen, Leviathan, Aerie, Reckoning, Walking in the Midst of Fire, A Deafening Silence in Heaven
Fifth in the Fallen urban fantasy series for young adults and revolving around Aaron Corbet, a Nephilim around whom prophecy revolves, for he is the only angelic being who can forgive those who sinned. Sniegoski is playing with the series numbers, so I’ve put together my own chronological list, chronological listing of The Fallen books, on my website.
My Take
I don’t think Sniegoski likes angels. I dunno, but it’s finally hitting me over the end what with how nasty the angels are in both of Sniegoski’s series: Remy Chandler and this one, The Fallen. I think I read the prologue three times because I couldn’t believe what Michaels did.
It’s an interesting interpretation of Hell, that it’s the horror Lucifer caused when he turned brother angel against brother angel. A horror that lives inside him. Sniegoski also interprets the coming of God and his light and its effect on what had existed in our universe before he created our world. Scary…!
There are scenes which are a little too vague for me, and I know that Sniegoski intends them this way, to drum up my curiosity. Only, they’re too confusing to do what I think Sniegoski meant. His scary scenes are good, terrors that prey on our fear of the monsters in the dark. That child-god on the island. Fred sliding in his regrets about the old days. Jeremy’s mother with her disturbing thoughts, as I wonder whose side is she on?
What I don’t understand is how God doesn’t see how his Powers have gone awry. How they’ve misinterpreted their mission so badly. Sure, I realize there’s a lot for God to be paying attention to, lots to keep him busy. And it’s been millennia. How does he miss all this? Nor do I understand how that island in the Aegean manages to slide under the Antarctic…
How can the angels have fallen so low? The excuses they use for tracking down the Nephilim are so lame, exactly the ones criminals use as an excuse for doing what they want.
No, I hate that trope. The one in which one of the characters has something important to tell, but no one has time to listen. I’m hoping that if someone has something to tell me, that I’ll stop and listen right then and there.
Hmmm, doesn’t seem that Verchiel has learned much of a lesson nor that he’s all that full of repentance. We do learn where the spark began that turned the Powers from their true mission. The scariest part of all, to my mind.
The Story
Lorelei is willing to give her life for the chance to speak to God as the powerful Archons did. To ask for help, for the Powers still hunt them, for they are losing their companions as they battle to save humanity.
The Characters
Aaron Corbet still dreams of his foster family: little Stevie and Lori and Tom Stanley. The only family he remembers or loved. He has learned that he’s Lucifer’s son, which makes him the leader of the Nephilim, the Chosen One. Gabriel is the yellow Lab he brought back from the dead who now talks to Aaron.
Vilma Santiago is another Nephilim, and she and Aaron are in love. Her only family is her uncle, Aunt Edna, and cousin Nicole.
Saint Athanasius School and Orphanage is…
…where the Nephilim are now living. They see their mission as one of saving other Nephilim and humans caught in terrible situations. Lucifer Morningstar has repented. Milton is his tiny pet mouse. Lorelei shares her visions psychically with other Nephilim and studies Archon magick — and it’s killing her. Janice, Kirk, Melissa, Samantha, Russell, and Cameron are most of the Nephilim. Even in an angelic gathering, there has to be one outsider, and that one is Jeremy Fox. William Dean is the antithesis of Jeremy. Handsome, outgoing, cocky. Kraus is now the healer for the Nephilim; he had been the blind healer for the Powers.
The Library at the orphanage had once belonged to Scholar, a former angel of the angelic host Principality and the keeper of knowledge.
Tobias Foster is a blind beggarman with a powerful horn given to him by the Archangel Gabriel. Corpse Riders, a.k.a., Riders, are demonic beasts who slip into our world and into our dead, and they are after that horn. Dustin “Dusty” Handy has always wanted to play the harmonica. Spenser was the dog he had loved. Jack is a trucker who gives Dusty a lift. Fred Leclaire picks up a hitchhiker.
Kemerovo Oblast, Russia is…
…a coal mine where the miners, Anatoli Olegushka, Pavel, Nikolai, Olik, Vadim, and others are trapped in a cave-in.
An island in the Aegean Sea was…
…there before Atlantis sank, and its inhabitants worshipped N’Ken-Thaa, the child-god and his family of monsters.
The backup Powers are…
…angels assigned to protect the earth, to keep God’s favored world free of evil, of anything that might offend him. Only the Powers have gone off track. Leonard Michaels is the undercover identity for Geburah, the leader of the backup team Verchiel, the vanquished Powers leader, set in place along with Suria, Anfial is the tracker, Shebniel has a sadistic streak (and that’s sayin’ somethin’), Tandal, and Huzia.
Siberian tundra
N’Karr is the tribal leader of the yetis.
Wormwood, the Abomination of Desolation, is an angel to be called upon if the world becomes tainted beyond repair. God then created a trumpet that would summon this angel who would destroy earth.
Satan, the Darkstar, the Lord of Shadows, comes to life from death.
Nephilim are the children of angels and humans whose powers emerge when they turn 18. Wings that allow them to fly and the ability to understand all languages are among their powers. The angels seem them as vermin to be stamped out. Archons are angelic sorcerers.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a black-and-white photograph of a bare-chested young Aaron in jeans with his wings flaring out behind him. The name of the series and author’s name are in a bright blue with the title barely seen in a very thin white font with a huge white “3” sandwiching (hiding?) the title between it and the series name. Might need a magnifying glass to find that title.
The title is the end, the End of Days that arrive at the end, to end the world.
