Customer Reviews

Where Angels Dare (Angelwalk Series)

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Now, first let me say, I loved Angelwalk, Fallen Angel and Steadfast. I even loved Darien, Guardian Angel of Jesus. I own the whole Angelwalk series and was delighed when I stumbled upon this book.

However, when I actually read "Where Angels Dare", I was left thinking, 'What is this?!' It's definitly NOT an Angelwalk book. Oh sure, Darien is in it and so is Steadfast, but it isn't even really a story. There's no plot to speak of. It's really just two angels who go down to earth and see all of the evil, horrible, vile things gambling does. This might make a good article, but makes for a boring story!

Plus, I personally feel even his arguement goes too far. He not only attacks those who gamble immorally and illegally, but also makes statments such as even the concenpt of gambling came straight from the pit of hell, all gambling income goes straight into the Mafia's pockets, and people cannot even live in cities like Los Vegas or Atlantic City without becoming corrupted.

I really loved a lot of Elwood's works, but this one is not worth even reading. It simply ruins a fine series with a poor excuse for a story. Elwood should stick with what he is good at, or write straightforward articles in Christian magazine about his personal feelings.

I love the Angelwalk books, but this one was not as good as the others. I was expecting to be left soul searching after reading this book like I was after the other books in this series, but I wasn't. The author makes several good points, but he didn't write them as good as he did in the other books.

yeesh.

first of all, this is NOT a novel -- not in any way, shape, or form. to call it a novel is an insult to the entire literary form. you want to know what it IS? it's a talking-head book. in other words, it's just a lengthy conversation between 2 angels & that's IT. i know it sounds incredible, but i'm serious! with the exception of a very few pages, the ENTIRE book is a dialogue between 2 angels called Darien & Stedfast ... other than that, NOTHING really happens. to reiterate what another reviewer said: no plot! at all! whatsoever!

second of all -- & this will be the "however" portion of my review -- this non-novel DOES have a lot of interesting information about the recent history of gambling in this country & a lot of compelling reasons NOT to gamble, in addition to a lot of persuasive arguments about why we shouldn't support communities that allow gambling. &, yes, it WAS boring, but, to keep myself from dozing off while reading this poor excuse for a novel, i kept a yellow highlighter in my hand at all times so that i could highlight passages like this:

"And the good people of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, the decent men and women, the Christians and others appalled by all that gambling stood for, but who had to live somewhere -- they could only protest, but not very effectively, because gambling's influence had become part of virtually every aspect of life. Many churches accepted money from the gambling interests; many rehabilitative charities depended on similar donations; state and local tax revenues were interwoven with the large sums that gambling generated; and all the rest of it. Meanwhile, an unstoppable cancer continued to spread." (p. 37)

(let me also add to this that churches receive TITHE money from income that was earned in casinos & from businesses whose sole function is to support casinos (eg. slot machine repair businesses, etc.) ... & i used to live in las vegas, so i should know. if you live in a gambling city, there is absolutely NO way to escape the taint of gambling money.)

so, to conclude:

if you're looking for a good read, keep right on looking, because you won't find it here.

if, however, you're looking for compelling arguments against gambling, you MIGHT be able to wade through this obnoxious format.

just be sure to keep a yellow highlighter in hand.