Customer Reviews

Angels on Fire

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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"

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.

Another great book from Nancy Collins (most of her stuff is great). I was a little skeptical on buying this book but wanted to read everything I could get my hands on at a reasonable price. It strayed away from her vampire and werewolf books, not that their's anything wrong with those books. Angels on Fires ties together what happens when on of the pretenders dies, the whole Heaven and Hell thing. Great book for all of us who are Nancy Collins fans and will make a fan out of you if this is your first novel by her.

This book is definitely well worth reading. I was skeptical at first, but I really enjoyed this novel. I really liked her Sonja Blue books, and this one did not disappoint me.

Nancy Collins, you are fantastic, the story is gripping, real to real, a love story and so believeable, I have been reading about Angels and reasearching them for quite long now and I just happened to come across this book by title and I am so glad I did, what a story, I only wish I could ask Nancy Collins what inspired her to write this, to me it sounds like an Angel whispered into her ear and revealed some secrets. The whole story is so grabbing, if you open the book, be prepaired to be enveloped with in it till the last word, a complete story, no short chance at the end, very full, so real...Thank you Nancy Collins! now onto the other books you have written, yes I am a new fan of your writing, and cant wait to open another book of yours.
sincerely,
frank h.

... but it seemed to be a little too drawn out. The story itself was very imaginative, but it just moved so slowly- until the ending. I thought the ending was a cool finale. The way Collins described the angel's point of view of heaven and hell was unique.

You know, I have to agree with that one guy who was ticked that it didn't have the depth of the Sonya Blue Collection. I found it very entertaining and touching however. I think the intention was to get you in there fast, give you a feeling, and then get you out of there. It was very good because it was fast paced and it did its job. I know that there could have been about 20 or more pages which could have been used to give more depth (it's not a fair comparison if you compare it to THE SONYA BLUE COLLECTION"), but it's an amazing book that has to be read.

My favorite of Nancy's books, and I've enjoyed them all. This book sneaks up on you!

I read this in one sitting and I have to say that personly ...I didn`t enjoy as much as the Sonja Blue novals . I love when authors try somthing different , but there are times where trying somthing different is not always going to work . This book is inbetween that notion . It went too fast . As I read this book I could almost see as a cable movie . That`s what it felt like to read Angels on Fire . I love Nancy Collins works , yet this book just dosen`t capture you as other writings do . Yet all in all it was a a good book . But this is my opinoin .