Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Anne Rice (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Q&A with Anne Rice

Question: You’ve written about many kinds of immortal or supernatural beings. What inspired you to turn to angels in this new book?

Anne Rice: I have always been fascinated by the idea of angels--these perfect beings who are God’s messengers, sinless, bold, and unfathomable to the human mind. I was deliciously challenged to be biblically correct about them, and theologically correct: to present Malchiah as truly perfect, yet sent to interact with my hero Toby, and commissioned therefore to take a human body and reflect human emotions and respond to Toby’s human emotions.

Question: How did imagining a character like Malchiah the angel differ from creating one like the vampire Lestat?

Anne Rice: Well, again, Malchiah is perfect and sinless. And to make such a character appealing is a challenge; he has to reflect God’s love for human beings, God’s compassion. He’s not sent to judge Toby; he’s sent to guide him to salvation, and to enlist Toby in working for the angels on earth. He must feel things; he must have a personality, but with marvelous theological constraints. Doing Lestat was entirely different: Lestat is sinful and ferociously human, a rebel who wants to be good at being bad; a rebel who is seeking redemption but turning away from it all the time. There is a certain joy in writing about Malchiah because he is sent from God. There was never a perfect joy in writing about Lestat: Lestat suffers too much and does too many bad things with relish.

Question: The hero of Angel Time is Toby O’Dare, a boy who had a tough life growing up in New Orleans and who goes on to become a skilled assassin before meeting Malchiah. How does Toby compare to your past protagonists? What is unique about him?

Anne Rice: Well, Toby is deeply flawed, much like the vampires. He’s an assassin, and he has done terrible things, and questionable things. But he turns around in the very first book of the series and sets out to do the bidding of the angels in helping others. I think of all those characters I’ve created, Toby is most like Michael Curry in The Witching Hour. But Toby has done things Michael would never do. Toby is a deeply flawed human who is offered a chance to be saved; and he takes it. Maybe he’s a first among my characters in that he is given an opportunity to redeem himself through the mercy of God, and then to do good to make up for all the evil he had done before. Toby is also a crafty character. He’s pragmatic. Having been a clever assassin, he knows how to plot to do good. That was interesting to me, to have him struggling to save people from harm, and having to figure out a somewhat complex way to do it.

Question: People who have read your memoir Called Out of Darkness will recognize some elements of your own life in Toby’s story. Did you identify with him as a character?

Anne Rice: Yes, I did identify with Toby, though my life has been nothing like his. I know what it is like to struggle with an alcoholic parent; I know what it is like to care for younger siblings in an alcoholic household. But of course Toby suffers a family tragedy that I didn’t suffer, and he turns to evil in a defiant way, whereas I only turned to writing about evil.

Question: How did you imagine the concept of Angel Time (as opposed to Normal Time)? And what sources did you reference while reading about angels?

Anne Rice: I came up with the concept of Angel Time through meditating on it; really, figuring that from God’s standpoint there is no linear time. I felt certain that the angels would be able to move back and forth in our linear time, and to grasp how some one can be lifted from one century and put down in another to work a solution that then becomes part of the very future from which the original person came. I think meditation led to this definition of Angel Time, more than any actual reading. It seemed logical to me that the angels could do this. I did read theology about angels, of course, including St. Thomas Aquinas and books by Catholic writers who have studied angels and all the biblical references to them. It all starts with the Bible, of course and how angels appear in those pages. But the scholars Pascal Parente and Peter Kreeft help me to cover the sources. I stayed away from other writers’ more fanciful conjectures about angels. I wanted the biblical facts, and the way that the theologians interpreted them.

Question: People are clearly fascinated with angels. Why do you think even those people who do not consider themselves religious are so drawn to the idea of angels?

Anne Rice: People are drawn to angels because there is a deep seated instinctive belief that they do exist, that creatures from Heaven are here on Earth looking out for us and playing a special role in our care. Of course we read of this in the Bible. And it is a very seductive idea. It’s sometimes easier to pray to one’s guardian angel than to pray to the saints or even to the Lord. It’s easy to imagine that our guardian angel is right here with us. In my novel, Toby really does believe this, though after he suffered tragedy, he blamed the angels in charge for not stopping it. And he lived as a cursed human being for ten years.

From Publishers Weekly

Full of provocative moral reflections, this kickoff to bestseller Rice's new Songs of the Seraphim religious romance series centers on hired assassin Toby O'Dare, a one-time aspirant to the priesthood until personal tragedy unmoored his life. Guardian angel Malchiah visits Toby, who's just consummated his latest kill, and offers him redemption for his sins. After accepting the offer, Toby is whisked away to 13th-century England, where, in the guise of a Dominican friar, he becomes the protector of a Jewish couple accused wrongly by the gentile populace of having murdered their young daughter for her conversion to Christianity. Two eloquently told if clunkily joined digressions give the backstory on Toby and on the persecution of the Jews in medieval Europe. Readers will revel in Rice's colorful recreation of the historical past and in her moving depiction of characters struggling to reconcile matters of the heart with their personal sense of faith. 250,000 first printing. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; Stated First Edition edition (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400043530
• ISBN-13: 978-1400043538
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (137 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #30,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

170 of 181 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Listening for the Songs of the Seraphim, August 6, 2009

By	Cissy Rae (North Central Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim (Hardcover)

I just finished an advanced reading copy of Anne Rice's "Angel Time." I've never read an Anne Rice book before, and almost passed it by, but I was intrigued by the medieval aspect mentioned on the jacket blurb.

I literally held my breath throughout the entire book. It was "unputdownable." The suspension of disbelief necessary to accept the concept of an angel or "heavenly being" in an earthly reality is not so farfetched with Rice's masterful development - I could easily imagine the "songs of the Seraphim" from her detailed descriptions. The senses of character, place and time enveloped the reading. The dénouement was amazing and showed perfect symmetry; I didn't imagine - much less predict - the fantastic ending. Toby O'Dare's personal quest was the most compelling aspect, and Rice's Catholic background and research is reflected in his every thought, word and deed.

I'll make a point of reading Rice's books now, and will encourage others to do the same. Recommended for Rice fans, those interested in medieval England and France, Catholic history and concepts, angels and heavenly beings and - in an understated but very present way - the relationship of architecture to the spiritual journey.

42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anne Rice - Angel Time, October 4, 2009

By	DJ Deathwish (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I really like the story here and how the first and second halves of the book tied together, seeing as how they were so different. Those most familiar with Rice's earlier works may have some issues with the material being so preachy, and it didn't bother me too much, but it does hurt the story a bit in my eyes. If you are of a religious persuasion, you may enjoy it, but I'm not and it did come off a tad bit trite from my viewpoint. It is expertly written and extremely vivid, much like her earlier, more Gothic pieces, so that's definitely another plus. The pace of the book is nothing short of brilliant for the first half but it did start to drag in the second, not too bad but it was noticeable. Overall this is a great book and allows the imagination to flourish but I just couldn't get into all of the religious aspects.

55 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lacking, September 28, 2009

By	Samantha L. Sayre (WV United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

I loved the old style Anne Rice. I was hoping that she was back and she is in some ways. Her descriptive style is back and her ability to make you see and feel what she is writing is back. However, her plot in this book leaves a lot to be desired. The description on Amazon, the title and the back of the book make a reader think that this book is about assassins and angels. It's not really. It's about a man who is finding himself. I was confused throughout the book about where it was going and where it really wanted to go. I felt like Ms. Rice was struggling in getting her true meaning across. I'm very conflicted about recommending this book. In some ways, I definitely want to recommend it because Toby is a fascinating character and I hope that Ms. Rice explores his life further. However, the book doesn't really make complete sense until the final two pages. It was frustrating to say the least. Of course the last couple books by Anne Rice have been frustrating to most of her fans. I would love her to continue the series to see what she has in mind.