Book Review of The Fallen: Raziel

Title: The Fallen:  Raziel

Author: Kristina Douglas

Release Date: January 25th, 2011

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

She was just an ordinary mortal . . .

“You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.

. . . until death catapulted her into a seductive world she never imagined.

Raziel is unsure why he rescued Allie from hellfire against Uriel’s orders, but she stirs in him a longing he hasn’t felt in centuries. Now the Fallen are bracing for the divine wrath brought by his disobedience, and they blame Allie for the ferocious Nephilim clawing at the kingdom’s shrouded gates. Facing impossible odds at every turn, the two must work together to survive. Raziel will do anything to defend his spirited lover against the forces of darkness—because Allie may be the Fallen’s only salvation.

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: After I finish a book, I usually write the review immediately, pouring all my thoughts out onto the page.  With this book I finished and then had to sleep on it before I could write anything down.  Now that I am sitting here typing it, I am still not sure how I feel about it.  There were a lot of elements to the book that were different from other paranormal romance titles I have read and I am not sure if I like them.

For example, in paranormal romance the perspecive usually goes back and forth between the lead male and female role but remains in the third person.   In Raziel the alternative views were told from the first person.  It was a little confusing at times and I did not like having to double check who’s perspective I was seeing the world from at any given time.

Another problem for me was the romance itself.  It was slow building, which did not bother me, but by the time the two characters actually give into what they are feeling things seemed to progress a little too quickly.  By the end of the novel, I was not even really sure Raziel was truly in love with Allie and I don’t know if she felt it from him either.  They were bonded, but I did not feel any more than that.  I think if we did not have to wait until page 200 to see characters explore their emotions further then they could have developed a relationship a little more naturally.

One more thing, the women The Fallen fall in love with are human, so they grow old and die eventually.  Then after a period of mourning The Fallen usually fall in love again eventually.  I am just not sure how well that idea sits with me, it probably should not irk me but it does.  I know happily ever afters aren’t always in the cards, but in this world it definitely isn’t.  Especially if you are the human mate of a Fallen angel.  I am not sure how content I would be if I were one of those women and therefore that aspect of the book bugged me a little.

The story itelf does have a lot of potential and I am intrigued by the world.  I did enjoy this book, but I am still a little hesitant as to whether or not I will enjoy the series as a whole.  The next book is called Demon and comes out later this year.  I am going to give it a shot and read it, hoping to be more captivated by The Fallen and the world they live in.