Title: Angel Burn
Author: L.A. Weatherly
Series: #1 - Angel
Format: Hardback
Release Date: May 24th, 2011
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
Author: L.A. Weatherly
Series: #1 - Angel
Format: Hardback
Release Date: May 24th, 2011
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5.0
They're out for your soul.
And they don't have heaven in mind...
Willow knows she's different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people's dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. she has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces and that he's one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.
And they don't have heaven in mind...
Willow knows she's different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people's dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. she has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself does. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces and that he's one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil.
My Review:
Angel Burn I frankly wasn't sure what to think when I started this novel and I picked it up shortly on a random happenchance. I was thinking it would be a book about Angels and I thought at first the book would be about these evil Angels that terrorize everything. I was looking for something different and frankly I should have read Angelfire. I wanted something dark, and twisted from the Angels.
Willow, I frankly fell in love with. She was a mechanic, but also a posing psychic. People come to her, ask her about their future and answers to all their questions. However at times, the answer Willow gives (even if it is true and the future), they aren't willing to accept it. There is more to Willow than meets the eye. Mainly her attitude, it's so genuine, independent, and brutally honest. I enjoyed her chapters time and time again.
Enter Alex, which is the complete opposite of Willow. That in itself makes the stark contrast in their characters more apparent. Alex is a born and bred, well I guess it's as bred as you can get I guess, to hunt Angels. To the point that even his family, the brothers he loved, came at stake to the ideal. He was a great character, rash and stubborn. His character though stretches that boundary; even though there are realistic bits to his character, I just can't believe about sixty percent of what he does through the novel.
Then we have the Angels and they did everything but make me feel afraid. Giant glowing sentients that roam around a cathedral. They also have some ability that makes them change into a human form as well. These giant angels feed on happiness, of other people, and that to me doesn't even seem scarey. Well other than the people who are fed upon, walk around and are eerily happy for the rest of their life or frankly just a shell of who they were. I expected to see more of these beings, of these Angels, but it wasn't more of them. I wanted them to be something that's far different than what this book portrayed.
The world building was rather lackluster, and while I thought there was a scene in the mountains that I liked, the rest of the book was just bland. A common countryside that exists in nearly every book; a school, roadside hotels, etc. Than the chapters with the angels, there was a "magnificent" chapel that was constructed outside of Willow's home town or a nearby town (I got confused constantly on that aspect). The general scenery was overdone, and a good part of the book took part in a car or a hotel. It wasn't what I was looking for in the beginning and let me down, except for a few scenes.
On another note, the book was just too ordinary. Girl and boy hate each other because of who they are and what different lifestyles they have come from. They run across county and fight a common enemy, however trials and tribulations arise along the way. Its a simple plot, simple goal, however the small details about who they are, the backstory may change. I found myself asking myself if there was something different, something that set this book apart from other books that have a similar style/plot, but frankly in the end and after arguing with myself, I just couldn't find enough of a difference to set it apart.
Now, I wouldn't recommend this book, and normally I wouldn't read the next in the series. However, I am a dire completionist, so I will more or less complete the series. If you are a more dire completionist like me I would suggest staying away from the series in the first place. I would say this is worth a shot, but looking back on it, I am not sure it left an impression on me enough to warrant that statement. It's sad to say that, I just wanted and expected far more from this book.
Willow, I frankly fell in love with. She was a mechanic, but also a posing psychic. People come to her, ask her about their future and answers to all their questions. However at times, the answer Willow gives (even if it is true and the future), they aren't willing to accept it. There is more to Willow than meets the eye. Mainly her attitude, it's so genuine, independent, and brutally honest. I enjoyed her chapters time and time again.
Enter Alex, which is the complete opposite of Willow. That in itself makes the stark contrast in their characters more apparent. Alex is a born and bred, well I guess it's as bred as you can get I guess, to hunt Angels. To the point that even his family, the brothers he loved, came at stake to the ideal. He was a great character, rash and stubborn. His character though stretches that boundary; even though there are realistic bits to his character, I just can't believe about sixty percent of what he does through the novel.
Then we have the Angels and they did everything but make me feel afraid. Giant glowing sentients that roam around a cathedral. They also have some ability that makes them change into a human form as well. These giant angels feed on happiness, of other people, and that to me doesn't even seem scarey. Well other than the people who are fed upon, walk around and are eerily happy for the rest of their life or frankly just a shell of who they were. I expected to see more of these beings, of these Angels, but it wasn't more of them. I wanted them to be something that's far different than what this book portrayed.
The world building was rather lackluster, and while I thought there was a scene in the mountains that I liked, the rest of the book was just bland. A common countryside that exists in nearly every book; a school, roadside hotels, etc. Than the chapters with the angels, there was a "magnificent" chapel that was constructed outside of Willow's home town or a nearby town (I got confused constantly on that aspect). The general scenery was overdone, and a good part of the book took part in a car or a hotel. It wasn't what I was looking for in the beginning and let me down, except for a few scenes.
On another note, the book was just too ordinary. Girl and boy hate each other because of who they are and what different lifestyles they have come from. They run across county and fight a common enemy, however trials and tribulations arise along the way. Its a simple plot, simple goal, however the small details about who they are, the backstory may change. I found myself asking myself if there was something different, something that set this book apart from other books that have a similar style/plot, but frankly in the end and after arguing with myself, I just couldn't find enough of a difference to set it apart.
Now, I wouldn't recommend this book, and normally I wouldn't read the next in the series. However, I am a dire completionist, so I will more or less complete the series. If you are a more dire completionist like me I would suggest staying away from the series in the first place. I would say this is worth a shot, but looking back on it, I am not sure it left an impression on me enough to warrant that statement. It's sad to say that, I just wanted and expected far more from this book.
