Posted on Tue, Jun 10 2008 @ 00:39
253 comments

The One With The Heavenly Week

Private and password-protected.

The One With "Fallen" and Other Books

I just realized that I had finished reading the 4 "Fallen" novels and never blogged about them. Shame on me.



So… they were nice. Not exactly mind-blowing literature, but rather nice. I have to admit that, especially with the first one, I was more than a bit disappointed from the writing style because it just seemed to be perfectly tailored for teenagers. That was a mistake for the simple reason that the core ideas discussed would probably be more appealing to adults, but said adults would find the over-simplified writing style rather off-putting, as did I. I'm not expecting a Dostoyevski here, just something I can sink my teeth into, if you know what I mean. Is that too much to ask?



Admittedly, it got better as the books progressed and book #3 and especially #4 were much, much better. All around, I'd say I would recommend them… if you can get past the writing long enough to concentrate on the message, that is, but if you are really used to adult writing and would not compromise no matter what, I suggest not to bother because it'll be lost on you. That's about it, really.



I have to say that the books are far better than the films in many respects. Firstly, the characters are much more fleshed out and developed. Secondly, many things that made little sense in the films – regardless of how good the series was – turned out to be completely different in the books and so actually made sense within the story. Namely these would be Aaron's struggle with his Nephilim aspect and his character development, Gabriel's growth as a character and vitality to the plot and many aspects of the mythology employed in the story, such as the fact that angels were all male (fuck the feminism already, if they can be female, what's the point in coming down to earth and knocking up human women in the first place? Common bloody sense here), including the main villain, Verchiel.



But the best of them all was Lucifer. The Lucifer found in the books was the Lucifer I, and I assume many others, expected to find in the films, but instead were fed with the network's surrender to fanatic religious sectors that literally vetoed his authentic portrayal. Let's put it this way, if you used your brain for one microsecond while watching the films, you could see through the sham and recognize the Lucifer they intended to portray under the fake layers of the one they did. If you didn't… well, I don't know what you were watching. But regardless of whether you did or did not, there was no denying that Lucifer's portrayal, due to the numerous compromises the network had to settle for, often left questions unanswered and frankly, made little sense at times. In the books, however, I finally found the real Lucifer and hell, the pleasure was all mine.



What is hell? Hell is not a place. Hell is all the pain and suffering caused by the war of all wars – the War in Heaven – forever carried inside the soul of the First of the Fallen. It is his punishment, his eternal prison. For thousands of years he carried that burden, and now Verchiel decided to play god and unleash it upon the Earth, but Lucifer would not let him. In the book, the riddle of Aaron's very existence is clearly stated as the Creator's promise of forgiveness to his favourite Son. He was born because one day, Lucifer would repent his crimes and would be forgiven. The 'Devil' as he is known in popular culture is not senselessly evil. He is a Fallen Angel who understands more than his share of responsibility and knows exactly what he had done. He barely dares to believe in his own salvation, but he keeps hoping, keeps praying. He is also witty, charming and intelligent, but every word that leaves his lips reflects centuries of torment and repentance that seem to have gone unfulfilled. He had no idea he had ever fathered a child, he had no hand in the prophecy and never attempted to steer it in his favour.



Like in Milton's epic, he was the victim in this tale rather than villain. In fact, with Verchiel in the picture, there was never a spec of doubt regarding who the actual villain was, and Verchiel, mind you, was an angel in the service of the Creator, leaver of the Powers. An angel for whose Fall Lucifer was to blame once told Aaron that if his father really had been the evil incarnate popular culture had designed him to be, he would never have been able to father something as good and pure as him; the embodiment of the Creator's forgiveness. The marks on Aaron's flesh were not the named of the Redeemed as the film indicated, but rather the names of the Generals in his father's army; the angels that had given their lives for Lucifer's cause. He was, in fact, the embodiment of his father's atonement.



All I can say is that, having read the books, especially "Reckoning", everything just fell into place in such a way that looking back, I could no have not read them. It definitely was not a miss.



Well, at the moment I'm not actually reading any novels of any kind, but rather something different. My passion for mythology of the ancient world and Andy's passion for particularly ancient Egyptian culture and myth ended up with me borrowing his books, so in this case, I'm brushing up on my Egyptian knowledge with "Gods of Ancient Egypt". Interesting is all I can say. Wonder if I finish that before he gets through my copy of Milton's "Paradise Lost" .

Mood: Tired
Listening to: Believe it or not... silence