by Jason Joyner | Apr 22, 2013 | Angel Eyes, Angels watching over me, Blog, Broken Wings, CSFF, Shannon Dittemore, speculative fiction
A question: how do you fly with Broken Wings?
The Christian Sci-fi/Fantasy Tour (CSFF) is back with the latest book from Shannon Dittemore. Broken Wings is the second book in her Angel Eyes trilogy. This is a unique situation for our tour, because we just featured the first book in the series, Angel Eyes, in January. We don’t usually get to review books in a series so close together. Readers won’t have to wait long for the conclusion either. The final book Dark Halo will release in August. Certified fresh content.
In the first book, Brielle Matthews had her eyes opened. In Broken Wings, she sees more than she may be able to handle.
Brielle had returned to her hometown of Stratus, Oregon, after tragic events happened while in Portland at an exclusive arts school. Thanks to her boyfriend Jake and her new look on life, things have settled down. However, her father has taken up drinking again and is seeing a younger woman that makes Brielle’s skin crawl. Jake is hiding something. And a startling event opens up old wounds regarding her mother’s death when Brielle was just a little girl.
Unknown to Brielle and Jake, the demonic forces they tangled with in Angel Eyes aren’t done with them yet. A new offensive is authorized to strike the small town of Stratus. This time, even having the eyes of an angel may not be enough to save all Brielle cares about.
That’s the preview. The review will be following tomorrow. Hope to see you there. My posts from the tour for Angel Eyes is here. If you want to see what others are saying, check out the fellow tour members below.
Gillian Adams
Julie Bihn
Jennifer Bogart
Beckie Burnham
Pauline Creeden
Janey DeMeo
Theresa Dunlap
Emma or Audrey Engel
Victor Gentile
Nikole Hahn
Becky Jesse
Jason Joyner
Karielle @ Books à la Mode
Carol Keen
Emileigh Latham
Shannon McDermott
Meagan @ Blooming with Books
Megan @ Hardcover Feedback
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Joan Nienhuis
Nathan Reimer
James Somers
Kathleen Smith
Jojo Sutis
Steve Trower
Phyllis Wheeler
Shane Werlinger
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by Jason Joyner | Jan 22, 2013 | Angel Eyes, Angels watching over me, Blog, CSFF, not Twilight, reviews, Shannon Dittemore, speculative fiction, young adult
Is Angel Eyes the Christian version of Twilight?
I hope that sentence doesn’t scare anyone off! I aim to explain.
Becky Miller addresses somewhat the idea of the similarity between
Angel Eyes and
Twilight. Both books feature a wounded girl moving to be with a single father in a rural area, and both girls end up meeting a mysterious guy who is also very good looking and intrigued with said female. Becky was surprised about the comparison.
I wasn’t.
Because I *ahem* read the Twilight series.
Okay, I guess I will hand over my man card.
Won’t be the first time. I was bored and had a lot of time to read that year. But I digress.
The trick is that anytime there are similarities, people are going to call it. And in the Christian market, where we do have a reputation (often deserved, but not always) of copying a trend or style in the mainstream market, it is going to come fast and furious.
So here’s a main difference:
Angel Eyes is way better.
I kept reading Twilight because I did like Stephenie Meyer’s voice. But aside from the questions the plot offers, her writing needs some severe editing. I’m not sure I could read it again after four more years of studying writing under my belt. Meyer gets too thick with her description, going on and on about how perfect Edward is.
Dittemore hits the right notes. Sure, there are points where someone who’s read both will see comparisons. I don’t think it was intentional.
There’s nothing new under the sun, remember. Her Brielle is not a whiny wimp that doesn’t feel good unless she’s around her hunk, and even then she’s a bummer. Brielle is damaged, like any good fiction character. There’s issues that create conflict, but they don’t drag her into a quagmire of blah.
The book has great description. For instance, in the book Brielle is always cold. She can’t get warm. It is a plot point, and it has to be repeated a lot. To me an idea that gets repeated over and over can really bog down a book if it is done poorly. Dittemore reminds us enough about this particular detail without being overly repetitive or boring us with the same words.
Another similarity is the attraction between Brielle and the mysterious guy, Jake. Now, I probably wouldn’t have used the name “Jake” (Jacob the shirtless werewolf, anyone?), but there is no love triangle in this book. There’s no sparkly vegetarian vampires. I repeat, NO SPARKLES. One criticism of the book I have is that Jake is sometimes too good – he doesn’t seem to be a fully three dimensional character. But again, the comparison between the romance is superficial.
Ultimately, this is a Christian novel. It deals with faith, doubt, suffering, and other real world issues in a touching and believable way. Believable considering a girl can see the supernatural and there are angels and demons. But the angels know their place. They serve the Lord Almighty, and that is brought out in the book in a very strong way. Not preachy, but it isn’t hidden either.
So, I do not believe Angel Eyes is the Christian Twilight. It stands on its own, with some shared conventions since they are both YA, both romance, and both supernatural in nature. But I would not hesitate to recommend Angel Eyes to a young woman who likes to read or anyone who enjoys speculative fiction. Which I would hesitate with Twilight with some people.
Well, shoot Becky. You forced my hand early. I’m going to have to get creative for tomorrow’s post. In the meantime, Becky keeps a tab of all of the posts for this tour, so
check them out for more opinions and info.
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