The novel begins with Sariel telling his story of how he's fallen out of God's favor and has become a fallen. The war between good and evil had been raging for 50 centuries already but it took on personal meaning for Sariel once the women he loved, Requel became a victim of this war. Thinking God has forsaken him, Sariel journey's to find his soul mate and their child. This love story is pure and is used as the driving force of determination for Sariel through his adventures, but it works well and does not get so sappy that the reader thinks they are reading just another romance novel mixed with fantasy.
I don't want to give too much away about this novel but there were a few things that stood out to me that I thought were very interesting. The novel splits the planes of creation into the Causal plane where the highest angels are born for example Sariel, Michael, Sammael (Lucifer), and Gabriel- Archangels. They refer to each other as brothers and have the most strength since they are most God-like. The next plane is the Astral. This is where the angels are. They are made up of 16 spheres which Lucifer tries to overtake during the war. The third and most important plane (in my opinion) is the Physical plane. This plane is pretty much known as God's playground... where humans preside. I loved this breaking up of heaven. It helped to get a mental picture of where everyone was and what the effects of the war had cost the fallen and angel alike.
Another thing that I found pretty interesting about this novel is that it deals with spirits, incarnation as well as reincarnation. It explains how we are all souls and what we do in one life translates how the other lives will be handled. I think this is a great message because so many people get caught up in their religion being the ultimate instead of realizing that there is only one God and the rest is just circumstance. Faith, love, and forgiveness are above all the greatest weapons and this is one point I have taken from this book. And there are many, but it's one of the ones that resonated most.
Aderton has a well written book that I found to be extremely engaging and worthy of the forthcoming sequels. This was an exceptional take on the beginning of creation and war. With extremely great imagery and narrating this book is gauranteed to hook readers of fantasy. The battle between good and evil are always great stories that people love to read and I think anyone looking for one should throw this debut novel into the fray. I thank Harry Aderton for writing such a great novel that I'm sure will be on my mind until the next comes out. *****
