Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Angelopolis
By Danielle Trussoni
I received an e-Arc of Angelopolis through Edelweiss. I have to admit that I was watching closely for this release because I loved Angelology. I was excited to have a chance to review this book a bit before its release. I did not love it as much as I did Angelology though I have a strong like for it. I think the biggest thing that struck me is that there were 3 points-of-view from which Angelopolis was told. One was Evangeline's, the other was Verlaine and Bruno, and the other began later in the story when one of the other angelologists, Vera, went a different direction. I think the one thing missing for me was spending more time with Evangeline. Her part of the story was not as big as I would have liked, especially since so much of the story was about her and her family and given the suspenseful ending of Angelology. Another thing that I’m mulling over is the “Angelopolis”. There was something odd with the prison nomenclature in Siberia and I was not sure if it was meant to be two different terms for two different concepts or if there was a change in terms. Possibly the angels called it one thing and those that new what the place eventually turned into called it something else, Panopticon. Are these the same place or have we not seen Angelopolis yet?

There were some great scenes with some of the more prominent angels and I loved learning more about the different types and hierarchies of angels. We find out more about the relationship between the angelologists, the Nephilim in particular. There is a great depiction about the history of not only the angels, but also of some of the angelologists, particularly Angela Valko and her father, Raphael Valko. Part of what was hard for me to follow is the gap in time and possibly I should have re-read Angelology before embarking on this experience and I can describe it as just that, an experience. I think I understand why there was a gap in the time between the two stories and if it is designed for the reason I believe then it works well and would have been even better if Evangeline was in the story more. We only get to see her changes and growth a small amount and maybe that will be developed more in the next book. But, it would have been great to experience more of her changes in this book.

There are some surprises in this book and some real displays of power by the angels, though I am wondering more about one of the new characters, Yana. I get the feeling like she has some gift that we are not privy to yet. Eno has one of the largest roles in the book. We don't know much about her other than the accountings of various run-ins told by Bruno and what was reported in other angelologists' reports. She appears to be ruthless and very violent and epitomizes the reason the angelologists exist in the first place. There are more angels that we see developed in this story specifically who will likely have bigger roles in the next book, like the Grigori twins. We also get to learn more about Russian history and some Biblical references with a nice tie-in to Faberge who still has a presence in the European and U.K. shopping districts. The ending was quite exciting and it did give a big buildup to the next book which I hope comes without another 2 year wait. I did stop to check Danielle Trussoni's website to see if this is a series or trilogy but did not find any information that gave me a clue. I can say that fans of Angelology will likely enjoy Angelopolis as much as I did.

Review can also be seen at Lady Techie's Book Musings http://LadyTechiesBookMusings.blogspo....