I was very lucky to obtain a prepublication copy of this book and I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect going in to it. The title I felt was a little odd and having an “ology” at the end of it made it sound a bit like like a textbook rather than a novel. However, I picked it up and decided to read a few pages just to see what it was like. That was my downfall as an hour later I was still reading and had abandoned everything else I had planned to do!
It has a feel about it, this book, that reminds me of a cross between The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. The problem with The Historian was that there were some parts of it (particularly at the beginning) were so slow that watching paint dry was a relief, and there were some parts of The Da Vinci Code that where the pace was so fast it was beyond ridiculous. I am happy to report that Angelology has none of these problems and all of the things that made those other books so enjoyable for me.
I really enjoyed the story which is told with multiple flashbacks to earlier events with the Angelologists and Evangeline’s background and family. I found it fascinating and while the book is not fast paced for most of the book, it is all very absorbing and I found myself lost in the history of the Angelologists. Then about two thirds of the way through, the past catches up with the present and the pace really starts to quicken, and the book is very hard to put down from that point until the end. The ending is left very open for a sequel with a lot of Evangeline and hopefully a lot of Verlaine.
