Angels on Fire
Nancy A. Collins
White Wolf, 234 pages
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Nancy A. Collins is known for her vampire and werewolf fiction, particularly her popular series featuring punk
vampire anti-heroine Sonja Blue. In Angels on Fire, she turns her hand to more celestial subjects.
Lucy Bender's life is a mess. Her boyfriend has left her for a woman with a trust fund, and the artists' collective
she's a part of has voted her out. She goes up to the roof of her ratty apartment building to contemplate whether
or not to throw herself off. On the way, she stumbles over...an angel. Not an alien, or a man with wings tied to
his back, but a real heavenly being, guileless and genderless, with an encyclopedic knowledge of Creation but not
a clue about human society.
Lucy's first thought is to make a fortune by taking the angel, Joth, to the tabloids. But she quickly discovers
that Joth appears differently to everyone who sees it--and that no one sees it as an angel. Or almost no one. In
her bid for tabloid fame, Lucy unwittingly draws the attention of someone--or something--who not only recognizes
what Joth is, but means it harm.
There's more at stake, it turns out, than just a single fallen angel. A cosmic battle is being fought between the
forces of Creation and Entropy, between the divine and the demonic--and Joth, earthbound, is now a pawn. Through
encounters with various avatars of heaven and hell, Lucy discovers that Joth hovers on the cusp of three different
fates: to be cleansed of mortal corruption and taken back into the realms of Creation, to become fully corrupt
and descend into the pits of Entropy, or to choose of its own free will to abandon both heaven and hell and become
human. This last is what Lucy, who has become very attached to Joth, wants it to do. There's just one problem:
Joth--a very low-level angel, a kind of drone in its own environment--has no free will, and is incapable of independent
choice.
Angels on Fire is billed as "a romantic dark fantasy"--something of a misnomer, for Joth, the
romantic object, is genderless, and the main demon, despite his ulterior motives, is oddly likable. There are some
creepy moments, and some violence, but mainly Angels on Fire is a warm and engaging tale of human relationships,
touching on the paranormal but firmly rooted in the real world. The characters are fully-rounded and sympathetic--even
Joth, whose essential alienness Collins skillfully evokes, while making it believable that a human woman would
come to care for such a being. I also found Collins's cosmology interesting, with a heaven and hell that are nothing
like the Christian ones, and emissaries that in human terms are equally terrifying, no matter which side of the
balance they represent. If the story's central moral issue--how a creature without free will can acquire enough
of it to make a true choice--is dodged a bit in the climactic moments, it still adds up to a satisfying ending.
Technically, the narrative isn't always as successful as its characters and ideas. Flashbacks are awkwardly inserted
into the text. Some of the coincidences that drive the action seem a little forced. Big chunks of expository conversation
slow the middle section--necessary to acquaint the reader with the principles of Collins's cosmology, but not very
believable as dialogue. And, stickler that I am, I was bothered by the misapplication and misuse of various theological
terms. But the drive of the story, its humor and warmth, is strong enough to carry the reader through these pitfalls.
Overall Angels on Fire is an excellent read, and should not only delight Collins's existing fans, but win
her many new ones.
Copyright © 1998 Victoria Strauss
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