Skip to main content

The Day the Angels Fell by Shawn Smucker

It was the summer of storms and strays and strangers. The summer that lightning struck the big oak tree in the front yard. The summer his mother died in a tragic accident--and young Samuel Chambers would have done anything to turn back time. Even today, he can hardly believe it all happened . . .

Prompted by three strange carnival fortune-tellers and the surfacing of his mysterious and reclusive neighbor, Sam begins his search for the Tree of Life--the only thing that could possibly bring his mother back. His quest to defeat death will entangle him and his best friend Abra in an ancient conflict, forcing Sam to grapple with an unwelcome question.

Reading The Day the Angles Fell by Shawn Smucker was a really interesting and engaging reading experience.  The magic realism he uses is fantastic. I love that it is set in our world, but that the spiritual world has a visible and  powerful presence in all of it. The writing was engaging and made for a quick read. I am also very intrigued and interested to read the next book by Smucker as he left it open for more to come. I am especially interested in his explanation of how the angles work and what else it takes to protect the tree of life. I will admit, I found the character of Abra more interesting than Sam and I would continue to read this series to learn more about her, most of all. A great debut novel one that will be enjoyed by a YA audience (maybe even upper middle grade) and adults alike.


Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Perspective

I have already mentioned my "Word of the Day" screen saver that I have on my laptop that is hooked up to the projector in my room. I am learning that the words go in cycles a bit, so the same word will pop up in several classes during the day. Today's popular word was "entitlement." A fantastic word to share with teenagers who often think they are entitled to a whole lot of stuff. In fact, we as humans often think we are entitled to a whole lot of stuff when really we are fallen people who deserve nothing but death. We so often miss how wonderful and blessed our life really is and we get caught up on the little things. This video sort of puts that in perspective in a rather humorous way. I am by no means promoting this comedian, but if you take what he says to heart, it is so true. We live in an amazing world, created by an amazing God. We really should be happy with the blessing we have been given.

The 49th Mystic by Ted Dekker

In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong. When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle's sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality.  She is the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals--in both worlds--before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness. I am a big Ted Dekker fan, and became a fan when I read the Circle Series. So when I heard Ted was writing more books in the Circle world, I could not wait to go back. And Dekker did not dissappoint. The only thing I don't like about this book is that I have to wait until October to get the second half of the story. Dekker is a master world builder and write interesting a complex characters. And Dekker masterfully weaves truth throu...

American Thanksgiving

One nice thing about being from two different countries is that we can celebrate more holidays. And since there are a few more people from the states here, last night we had our own American Thanksgiving feast. There were six couples and all of the wives and two of the husbands were from the States. So the Americans out numbered the Canadians, which doesn't happen very often. And we had a feast. There was turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, stuffing and three different kinds of pies for dessert and a pumpkin cake. It was wonderful. And the fellowship was great too. The hosts said there was no assigned seating, so the ladies all sat together at one of the table and guys at the other. It was funny how it worked out, but we had great conversations full of laughter. It was a great way to celebrate a holiday. Hopefully we have started our own tradition here.