Angels on Fire [Paperback]

Nancy A. Collins (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: White Wolf Publishing (July 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565049098
• ISBN-13: 978-1565049093
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,426,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy A. Collins is the author of numerous horror, dark fantasy & comics stories. A native of Arkansas, she currently resides in Cape Fear with her Significant Other and their Boston Terrier, Chopper.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A brave effort that falls short, June 9, 1999

By 

G. Thornley "Grant" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angels on Fire (Paperback)

I adored the Sonia Blue books (I've given them as gifts more than once), and had also enjoyed Nancy's work on the Swamp Thing comic years ago. I would categorize myself as a fan - I think she can usually write circles around other more "successful" horror genre writers (who shall remain nameless).

I really looked forward to reading her as she tackeled something different from Sonia. It's a brave thing to do - depart from what your fans expect. I applaud her effort.

I think the effort doesn't come to fruition though, and, forgive me, this book came off as what I would call a "knock-off". The characters aren't TRULY fleshed out (although there's a nice start with Lucy). And the denouement happens in a "wham, bam, let's close up this book and pick up the check, ma'am" manner.

While I applaud not dragging the tale of the fallen angel out over a series of 4 novels, a la Anne Rice, this was too skeletal, too fast.

It's a shame really because in the way she handles the various mythos involved in the story, she again has her own unique spin on things. I could tell it's Nancy. I just found myself wanting it to be deeper, meatier.

That said, I enjoyed the read. If you like Nancy A. Collins, you definitely should give the book a read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nancy A. Collins at her Best, July 31, 2000

By 

D.C.Meyer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels on Fire (Paperback)

The protaganist is one Lucy Bender, a 30 year old artist living in Manhattan, with childhood roots (like author Collins) in rural Arkansas. Joth, a fallen Angel, lands on her roof. With the help of Ezrael the Muse, Lucy struggles with difficulties both mundane and supernatural as her life is turned inside out.

Collins again redefines old myths for the less superstitious modern world. Some very immaganative details are scattered through the tale. Good characterizations and storytelling. IMO, one of Collins' best books.

-- DCM "Froggy"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ozymandias...?, November 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Angels on Fire (Paperback)

With the Sonja Blue novels, Nancy A. Collins created an entire world beneath the one in which we everyday mortals lived, and then peeled back the veil to let us see its denizens. I considered her on a par with such writers of modern fantasy as Charles de Lint, and waited with bated breath for her next efforts. Sadly, she seems to have been victimized by one of her own villains.

Within this novel, a "sephiroth" (kakodaemon for we latter-day Neoplatonic purists, and don't let the Qabalists find out the uses to which the word "sephiroth" has been bent) makes the observation: "But it takes a true Infernal genius - a sephiroth - to encourage an artist to pervert his gifts by wasting them on lesser pursuits." With the gender of the artist changed to fit this circumstance, this seems an excellent description of the effect that White Wolf games have had on the formerly redoubtable talents of Ms. Collins.

In the Sonja Blue novels, the world which was created had a gritty realism which enticed without being overdone; an Impressionist view of the seamy side of life (both real and supernatural). This novel, however, has more in common with comic books than with Impressionism; it seems almost a parody of the former style with which she impressed such a wide range of readers. Making use of the predefined worlds created by White Wolf Games, "Angels" has a slick and glossy feel which brings back memories of the AD&D "novels" produced by TSR. Gaming companies should stick to producing games; I do not know if Ms. Collins is under contract to White Wolf to produce novels featuring their fantasy realms, but the union has done neither of them any great service.

The characters in "Angels" are all two-dimensional; no effort is made to develop them as people (or whatever they are), they simply roll along from event to event like goth punkers out for an evening's pubcrawl. Unlike Ms. Collin's previous tour-de-force, this is more of a tour-de-farce, with the good so good and the evil so evil that the novel could have been written by Disney, if Disney were to employ Vampire chic to make its points about the world... the points made remain the same: Good is good, evil is evil, love conquers all. How nice.