Angelopolis. Danielle Trussoni. Viking Adult. March 2013.
320 pp. hbk. ISBN #: 9780670025541.
Danielle
Trussoni in the second book of this series that began with Angelology focuses on interweaving discoveries of research on the
physical composition of angel’s DNA, etc. and the imminent major battle between
humans and angels. Verlaine, an “angel
hunter,” finds the angel Evangeline dead, lying in a pool of blood. He is totally smitten by her and yet knows
his secret love is an obstacle to his mission of killing all angels and their
angel-human peers. Evangeline is a
Nephilim angel, a pure angel of Grigori descent. It turns out she is not dead but has been
captured and taken away to a secret, deadly “angel prison” by those who want to
discover how she evolved from a total human to an angel. For the goal of all angels is to annihilate
humans and create another civilization; and the goal of these
researchers/scientists is the same on another level.
The
angel researchers who combine their forces to find Evangeline are Verlaine,
another angel hunter Bruno, and other researchers Vera and Nadia. All have been part of the project to
understand the angelic phenomena for years; all know the history that involved
many dying in the attempt to find the key to angelic identity. It turns out the
history tracks back to the days of Noah, who not only brought animals onto the
Ark but also seeds of every living plant that he could find existing at that
time. One was a metal no long existing, one that could actually be the final
element needed to create an angel “egg” with secret properties for a “higher”
or “lower” purpose depending on one’s point of view. The mystery also involves the famous Faberge
eggs created during the infamous reign of the Russian Tsar Alexander Romanov
and his family. The tale becomes rather enigmatic
here, involving the madman Rasputin’s scientific theories and attempt to find a
cure for the Tsar’s hemophiliac son that also involves “flower seed” experiments
which also pertain to angels. Some
so-called “facts” are offered that imply that several world leaders of that
historical time period were actually angels in human disguise.
The
story at times seems meandering to no purpose and the reader wonders where all
this talk of biology, chemistry and secretive plots is going to land. The answer is only partially supplied in this second of
three books in the series. What we wind
up with is plenty of battles, a tough journey through Greece and Siberia, a
putting aside of differences and forming a new union of hearts and minds to
destroy one man who is perverting the previously benign research to create a
master race of deadly angels. The final
confrontation is fierce, brutal and only partially concluded, obviously to
reach a final solution in the next and final book of this series.
Angelopolis is adventurous and fascinating reading,
a page turning whirl of incredible conflicts between an all-powerful angelic
team of warriors and humans who partially understand these creatures, know how
to bind them in controlled circumstances, and are still fiercely determined to
conquer them for the safety and security of humanity. What isn’t clear is why
sometimes the angel hunters can capture their prey and at other times are so
easily and brutally tossed aside by this super-human race whose enjoyment of
mutilating humans is the norm rather than the exception. At times it’s hard to
determine who is friend and who is foe!
Angelopolis is a fine series for those who love
intense, page-turning thrillers and fantasy!
