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Title: Archon: The Books of Raziel
Author: Sabrina Benulis
Genre: Science Fiction
Stand Alone or Series: Series (Debut novel)
Publishing House: HarperCollins
Pages: 385
Synopsis
Angela Mathers is obsessed with visions of angels, supernatural creatures who haunt her thoughts by day and seduce her dreams by night. Released from a mental institution, she hopes her new university, West Wood Academy, will give her the chance at a normal life.
But such is not to be. . . . For a secret coven plots within West Wood, and demons and angels alike walk the streets of Luz, searching for the key to open Raziel’s book–a secret tome from a lost archangel. Some wish to destroy Raziel, others, like the Supernal Israfel, one of the highest of the high, to free him. For when the Archon rises as foretold, they will control the supernatural universe.
Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, Angela holds the key to both Heaven and Hell, and both will stop at nothing to possess her. . . .
Review
Upon reading the synopsis of this book, I was intrigued by it. I’ve always found the concept of angels, demons, and hybrids very interesting. I’m also really intrigued by novels that use a private school setting and I’d been looking for one with adult characters. I wanted to love this story very badly. I had such high hopes for it, but sadly it’s all over the place.
On the Setting
The world, the way the author describes it, is really cool. It focuses on this area called Luz where magic and Christianity are mainly focused. Luz is where the Vatican resides and is the authority on angels, demons, and the in-between. It is also where people send their red-headed children to because one of them is supposed to be the reincarnation of Raziel and cause the ruin of man.
This place is located off of the coast of North American (I think) and pretty much cut off from everywhere else. The city is held up on stilts and is in a bad state. Buildings are built upon buildings. Due to the magic, electricity is scarce and things are all falling apart. Students get swept into the ocean quite often and the dark alleys hold dead bodies.
On the Characters
I’m going to focus only on a few of the character because it gets a little hairy.
Angela is the main character of this story. She is suicidal in the beginning and eventually found a reason to live. I had hope that she would have a substantial amount of character growth because she is the main character. In all actuality she gets less appealing as the story goes on. She has an obsession with an angel from her dreams and even when he reveals his true self, she is still willing to sacrifice for him. It’s a bit sickening. I did like that fact that she isn’t a goody-two shoes, but she’s more indifferent to most things. She also has no real motivation for anything beyond her angel. I blame that on the author for underdeveloping this character.
Stephanie is the typical mean girl character that dislikes the main character because she is the “chosen one.” She is also sleeping with both the main male character and the brother of the main character. Her back story is a bit more interesting and she actually has a reason for doing what she does. I still felt like she was a bit underdeveloped like the main character.
Kim is a half-Jinn who should have been killed at birth. Instead he was saved by his mother and ended up killing his father. He is now on death row in a sense and is awaiting the day when his cousin kills him. When the book begins they have a fragile agreement that allows him to stay alive for a bit longer. By the end of the book it is pretty much decimated. I actually liked his character. Out of all of the main ones, he has a bit more depth. He’s also a nice balance of dark and light with interesting intentions.
The villains intrigue me a lot more than the others. It feels like the author spent a lot more time on them because they’re so entangled in this world. Angela and Stephanie are just plopped in.
On the plot
The plot was all over the place. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on because it bounced around so much and there were so many scenes that had no real purpose. I also thought it was stupid that Angela couldn’t be killed through self-inflicted pain but she could be if someone else tried to kill her.
The way the author wrote it made me think that it was going to end early, but I still had a good 50 pages of confusion left. It was frustrating because it goes from Angela coming to Luz to her going to this sorority party where she must try to summon something to people trying to kill her and successfully summoning an angel-demon to a bunch of bs to her having to go to the underworld to release souls to a final battle that resulted in no winner. There was no real direction to this story and it frustrated me. It really could have been way better.
Memorable Quote:
“I loved him, but he didn’t want me anymore.
I suffered, and he laughed at my humanity.
This desire will be my end.” – Sabrina Benulis
Rating: 3/10
Later,
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
