About “Heavenward” by Olga Gibbs::
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Adventure
“In a dull and misty English town, an ordinary girl lives her trying life.
But alongside her boring world another world lingers.
The world of angels: with Heaven and Hell, with cities, suspended high in the skies and cities, hidden deep beneath the surface, with creatures, harvesting humans… and prophecy of assassinated archangel one day reborn within a human.”
I loved this introduction into the world of angels. Typically angels are seen as pure, loving creatures, but “Heavenward” reaches back into the actual lore and religious accounts to bring us more accurate representations. Angels are powerful entities who, though light in nature, are violent to the success of their cause.
We’re introduced to Ariel (note to the author that this is my wife’s name and she has also been met with ‘like the mermaid?’ several times), a human teenager who has already seen much tragedy in her life. A loner with a bit of an anger problem, thanks to these circumstances and her mental health status, Ariel finds herself the center of attention for three strange new students at her school.
After a nearly successful attack on her life, it is revealed that these strange kids are actually angels hiding in plain sight. Each of them have a different agenda regarding the human, leading her on an adventure where she wants to, but can’t trust anything. What she does find to be true is that this angry part of her which she tries to repress is the incarnation of an archangel who was assassinated by her peers in Heaven long ago.
The journey is full of betrayal, romance, action, demons, and fantastic supernatural lore. The book itself is well-written grammatically and in terms of world-building.
Although not a center-point for the story, something I also very much enjoyed was the depiction of Ariel’s mental struggle and believing her dreams were merging into her reality as a result of schizophrenia. She’s not schizophrenic; these things are really happening, but however slight, I love accurate representations of mental illness as a Schizoaffective and PTSD patient myself.
If you like angels, fantasy, and powerful heroines, definitely check this series out.
You can find Olga Gibbs on:
Twitter @olgagibbsauthor
Facebook @AuthorOlgaGibbs
Goodreads
Amazon
AllAuthor
Personal Website
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~Sahreth ‘Baphy’ Bowden
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