My Little Pocketbooks: Review: Angel Time   
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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Review: Angel Time


Series: Songs of the Seraphim
Author: Anne Rice
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
Release Date: August 9, 2011
Paperback: 352 pages
Source: Purchased at LA Book Fair 2012
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Description
It’s the present day.  Toby O’Dare—aka Lucky the Fox—is a contract killer of underground fame on assignment to kill once again.  He’s a soulless soul, a dead man walking.  His nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions is disrupted when a mysterious stranger, a seraph, offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives. O’Dare, who long ago dreamt of being a priest, seizes his chance. Now he is carried back through the ages to thirteenth-century England, to dark realms where accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews, where children suddenly die or disappear.  In this primitive setting, O’Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love.
Review
Angel Time is a story within a story.  With the beginning of the book taking place in the present, the reader follows the methodical Toby O'Dare on another assassination of a powerful person.  Anne Rice does a great description of the Mission Inn location and all the careful steps Toby takes.  Once Toby meets (more like encounters) Malchiah, a Seraphim the story turns.
Malchiah, a beautiful angel, gives Toby the chance to change his life and make amends for all the killing he did in his past which Toby eagerly accepts.  
I love that Anne Rice gives Toby a deeply religious conscience.  Most TV shows and movies give hired assassins a cold soulless character with little to no remorse for their actions.  Toby is the opposite in this book.  He prays with earnest words and really wants to leave that world behind.  It also makes it easy for Malchiah to recruit him.  
Then the second part of the book starts when Malchiah sends Toby to 13th Century England "to be the answer to the prayers" of a condemned Jewish family.  During this journey Toby finds himself in his childhood dream of being a priest and finds moments of love and enlightenment.  I love when characters come to learn more about themselves and use it for good.  Pure Good!  How often does that happen in a book?  Without supernatural powers?
I bet you are wondering why I gave it such a low rating then.  Well, it was slow.  The pace of the book was great until Toby is sent to the 13th century.  That's were I found it hard to complete the book.  It was so slow and I didn't understand why the chapters were divided if the chapter titles were the same and were just a continuation of the same story.  It was like someone else wrote this part of the book.  There were a few moments in the 13th century part that were interesting but overall it dragged on and on.  

Audiobook: 8 hours and 55 minutes
Narrator: Paul Michael
Yep, another half read, half listen to the audiobook.  Paul Michael did a great job as Toby O'Dare but I think I was pleasantly shocked at the very subtle changes in his voice for the other characters.  Honestly, in the beginning I thought he was boring and emotionally void.  But then as I was thinking about this review, I came to realize that is Toby O'Dare.  He was emotionally void in the beginning and Paul's voie grew on me as Toby began to grow on me.   
If the pace at the beginning of the book was constant though out the book then I would have given it a higher rating.    
I am reading the second book now.  Review coming soon!

Reviews by Other Bloggers

Recommendations
I recommend this book for young adults and older readers due to the subject matter.

Challenges
This book is number 13 in my Off The Shelf Bookshelf Challenge
This book is number 18 in my Audiobook Reading Challenge 
This book is number 1 in my Anne Rice Reading Challenge
This book is number 23 in my Women Reading Challenge
This book is number 14 in my TBR Reading Challenge
This book is number 5 in my Dusty Bookshelf Challenge
This book is number 5 in my Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
This book is number 34 in my Goodreads Challenge

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