The Fallen is a series I recently picked up, it’s written by Thomas E. Sniegoski and features a male protagonist, Aaron Corbet, and his discovery of his Nephilim nature, being the son of an angel and a human, and everything that follows. Now I haven’t reviewed anything by a male author yet and in fact I haven’t read anything recently, that I know of, by a male author as the young adult fantasy section seems to be becoming dominated by female authors. That’s by no means to say that either gender has a monopoly on the category, after all we have Tolkien to thank for the epic Lord of the Rings, Branden Sanderson and Garth Nix wrote Mistborn and The Old Kingdom trilogies respectively, two of my favourites.
The series was originally printed in 2004 as four books, The Fallen, Leviathan, Aerie and Reckoning.
But they have been rebound and recovered into two omnibus’ so The Fallen and Leviathon form Book 1, Aerie and Reckoning form Book 2 and Book 3 and 4 are new works detailing Aaron’s struggle after the events of Reckoning. I have to admit I hadn’t realised this when I was reading the current Book 1 so when I came to the divide expecting a change in theme or a time skip and instead I found myself reading a summary of the events of the previous half as if it was the beginning of new book I was somewhat confused. While looking into the books I found out there is also a movie that was re-released in 2010 but it’s a loose adaption, going so far as to change the gender of the main villain Verchiel, a change that makes little sense as all angels are apparently male in the books.
The book introduces Aaron as being a child of the system who has been fortunate enough to fall in with a loving family, the Stanley’s, with their autistic son Stevie (who is younger than Aaron). He also has a loyal golden Labrador called Gabriel. In a strange turn of events Aaron finds himself able to understand his dog, as well Vilma, the most beautiful girl in school and Aaron’s crush, who he communes with in her native Portuguese to both their surprise. The fallen angel Zeke is drawn to Aaron and helps him to awaken the angelic nature within him that has already begun to manifest as it does for all Nephilim on their 18th birthday.
Aaron’s power is great and his awakening had drawn him attention from more than one side. Verchiel, leader of the angelic host Powers, whose heavenly task is to destroy all things that offend God, to him this has become the Nephilim in their entirity. This is in fact due to a prophecy that details the coming a chosen one, a Nephilim, who will redeem the fallen. A prophecy that drove the original leader of the Powers host, Camael, to abandon his post and the violence that had surrounded him, and search for the one, saving many along his way and losing more.
These powerful forces come to clash resulting in the deaths of Aaron’s foster parents and his younger brother Stevie is taken by the Powers. Aaron flees with Camael and Gabriel. Camael is searching for Aerie, the rumoured safe haven for the fallen and the Nephilim alike and hopes to see Aaron fullfil the prophecy but Aaron is not so sure and more focused on retrieving his little brother from the clutches of the powers.
Their flight takes Aaron away from everything he knows, including Vilma, which leaves little room for romance in the books. This was something fresh for me, along with a male protagonist. I’d become accustomed to female protagonists and the subsequent romantic element with a prospective male suitor who usual did most of the action. But here we have a male protagonist by a male author and I have to say it did show. There were elements of phrasing, views on the world and comments or descriptions that seemed like a very masculine way of thinking.
Also the priorities were different, there was a lot of well described action, too much in some cases for my taste. There’s a relatively small cast, easy to keep track off and in two distinct groups, Verchiel and Aaron, but their clash is the obvious end and in some instances it felt drawn out. The roles of the different hosts and types of angels is well explained however, as is the nature of the Nephilim and though set in our world the descriptions of places visited were more than enough to build a picture in the minds of those who had never been there or anywhere like it.
Aaron is also remarked to have his father’s eyes and Aaron’s angelic parentage plays a major part in the progression of the story throughout Book 2 leading to a climactic finish.
It’s definitely a series I’d recommend as being refreshing and solid.
To save on spoilers I won’t summarise the beginning of Book 3, End of Days, which I have begun to read. Book 4, Forsaken, is due to be released on the 14th of August this year and part 2 of this review of the series will come out after I’ve read that as Books 3 and 4 are set some time after the end of Book 2 and cover a new stage in Aaron’s life as a new danger threatens humanity and old ones rear their ugly heads.
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